Slow Cooker Chicken Apple Stew

A couple weeks ago I was completely overwhelmed with things to do. I had so much work to do, I was cleaning like a fiend for house guests, I had too many social things on the docket in a very short amount of time, and my husband was out of town for work. 

...And I had committed to cooking for our house guests who have eating restrictions. (WHAT WAS I THINKING?!)

It was time to whip up the old trusty crock pot. 

I love slow cookers because once you set them, you forget them, and your house smells amazing for hours. It is pretty awesome. I am also absolutely awful at making up recipes for slow cookers. I truly just don't get how to get the right flavors to mix properly when they are cooking slowly for hours. It is a very clear gap in my culinary experience. It's on my to do list. 

I turned to Whole Foods for a perfect recipe for the occasion. This slow cooker chicken apple stew was super satisfying, and my dinner guests loved it. They talked about it all weekend. <3

This dish felt perfect on a chilly autumn evening! The Whole Foods recipe is below, but I made some minor tweaks and notes: 

•  I had purple sweet potatoes, and I swapped one out for one of the normal sweet potatoes.
• Another confession is I am actually notoriously bad at following recipes. I chopped the apples a bit too small, which made it look a bit mushier than I would've liked.  
• The original recipe indicated it serves 6-8. I would say it comfortably served 4 with everyone wanting more! (Also, those were big bowls, not the baby one shown! Everyone ate before I took the pics :) ) 

I think this recipe is a knockout. Especially if you want something gluten and dairy-free! I will definitely be making this again soon! 

Slow cooker chicken apple Stew

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 teaspoon whole fennel seeds
• 3 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs
• 3 firm, sweet baking apples, such as Braeburn or Gala, peeled and cut into 6 wedges each
• 2 medium sweet potatoes (10 ounces each), cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks
• 1 large sweet onion, halved and sliced
• 2 tablespoons sliced fresh sage leaves
• 1 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

Toast fennel seeds in a small skillet over medium heat until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Cut chicken thighs in half. Add chicken, fennel seeds and all remaining ingredients to a slow cooker. Cover and cook on low until chicken and apples are very tender, 6 to 7 hours on low or 3 to 3 1/2 hours on high.

Because this came from WF, I have nutritional info: 

Per Serving: 300 calories (70 from fat), 8g total fat, 2g saturated fat, 165mg cholesterol, 610mgsodium, 19g carbohydrates, (4 g dietary fiber, 11g sugar), 39g protein.

Spaghetti Squash Bolognese

I really don't have much to say about this, except for that rarely I give myself a 10/10 on a recipe, and this meal 100% gets a gold star.  Please make it. You deserve this dinner. It's so freaking delicious.  You may think you don't need to eat the full serving, but I'm telling you in advance, you will eat all of it. 

Be sure you pick a marinara sauce with less than 4gs of sugar per serving. I used Trader Joe's Organic Marinara. It has 3gs of sugar per 1/2 cup. This marinara also has parmesan in it (missed that at the grocery- which would make it month 1 #shedapproved. I would recommend a marinara sans cheese so you can make it throughout the duration of the program. Also skip the Romano at the end as well, if you are a month 2 shedder!) 

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Spaghetti Squash Bolognese

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 1 spaghetti squash

• 2 tbsp(ish) olive oil

• salt and pepper

• 2 large garlic cloves, minced

• 1 lb ground turkey

• 1/2 25 oz jar of marinara sauce

• 1/4 cup grated Romano cheese

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. 

Cut spaghetti squash in half lengthwise. Deseed with a spoon. Coat basin and sides with 1 tbsp olive oil. Place on a shallow baking tray greased with olive oil. Salt and pepper. Place in oven. Cook for 50 minutes. 

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic to pan. Stir occasionally until garlic has a bit of color. If it is browning too quickly turn heat down. Add ground turkey to the pan. Use your spatula to break it up into smaller bits. Keep cooking on low, stirring occasionally, so it is nice and brown. 

Remove spaghetti squash from oven (at 50 mins) and let sit. (I was impatient and waited 5 minutes and used a mitt to hold it.) Take a fork - scratch to create “noodles”. Add noodles to ground turkey mixture. Add 1/2 jar of TJ’s organic marinara. Add in almost all the Romano in (saving a bit for garnish) stir to coat. 

Serve back in the squash (I prefer this way because you maximize the amount of squash you can eat!)  or in a bowl. Top with remaining Romano as garnish. 

I tried Eat Purely for the first time, here's what happened.

Y'all know I find lots of joy in cooking. But cooking every day is exhausting. Meal prepping in advance is great in theory, but does not play out as often as I would like. Make enough for leftovers? Yes, great idea until your husband eats it all in one sitting (love you, boo). Then what? You don't necessarily want to blow your healthy eating on some indulgent carryout. You still want to keep "living the lifestyle" but you don't want to cook right now, dammit. Where can I get healthy delivery for dinner?

Does anyone remember Sprig? It was in Chicago a couple years ago and I was OBSESSED. It was super healthy, organic meals delivered. But they closed down in Chicago, and I cried. I don't know how it is possible they closed because I was probably single-handedly keeping them in business. I'm still so sad I still haven't deleted the app off my phone. Pathetic. I have been looking for a replacement since they closed down. Cue: Eat Purely. 

I had heard about the service a bit and I had been meaning to try it for awhile. Last week, the perfect opportunity arose. It had been a busy productive day, but no time to grocery shop. I was tired. I didn't want to go anywhere. But it was a weeknight- aka "you need to keep it clean, Alexandra". Then boom! Epiphany- I could try Eat Purely. 

Okay so what exactly is Eat Purely? From their website: "artisan chefs use fresh, seasonal ingredients to create a diverse range of restaurant-quality meals and sides. Select from a daily rotating menu of locally-sourced meals. Order on demand or schedule up to a week in advance. Meals arrived chilled so everything stays fresh. A few minutes in your oven or microwave and dinner is piping hot when you're ready to eat." 

Okay so that sounds great but is it healthy? 

"Our chefs create food that never relies on excess salt, fat, or refined sugars to taste great. We’d rather let our locally-sourced ingredients do the talking... Our vegetables are fresh and seasonal. Our animal proteins are raised, not grown. Our meals are made without chemicals, preservatives, or GMOs."

Hmmm... well this sound good theoretically. Seasonal and locally-sourced is important for produce. Interesting that they don't use the term "organic" if everything is made without chemicals or GMOs. It's great that animal proteins are "raised" but what are they really committing to? It's hard to say because I couldn't find any further information on the website. :/

At the end of the day, this information was good enough for me. Why? Because this sounds about equal to the standard I hold myself to. I try to make sure that my animal proteins are grass-fed, no hormones added, and raised humanely- but even at Whole Foods this is hard to accomplish sometimes. You do the best you can for where you are at. And its helluva lot better than most carryout. 

I went on the app and instantly found a #shedapproved* meal - an incredible looking Coconut Glazed Salmon- but alas- sold out. 

I was looking through for another option that would be comparable. I landed on the Cuban Steak. It looked great- gluten free, dairy free, grass-fed meat! And if you follow me at all- you probably know I'm obsessed with sweet potatoes. So this meal is looking pretty fantastic. Unfortunately, when I looked at the nutrition facts, it has more sugar than I would've liked. 15 grams- but sweet potatoes add sugar. The key distinction was the addition of brown sugar. Brown sugar is not #shedapproved and is in the middle of the ingredients list. Bummer. The was rice was tricky too- it seemed by the look of the photo to be brown rice- but the ingredient list said it was "long grain"- which could be both white or brown! What a conundrum. 

I order it anyway because I was very hangry (no time- for debating) and it comes incredibly fast. I think it was 15 minutes. I set the oven for 350 degrees per the "heat and eat" directions. I put foil on the top of the container and put it in the oven. I followed the directed amount of time (8-12 mins) but it wasn't hot enough. So I put it in the microwave (no aluminum foil! lol) for a minute and that did the trick.

It came in this pretty container. 

Straight out of the box, still has pretty presentation! #impressed

It was realllllly tasty and was super satisfying. I loved that there was a variety of veggies. I really was "eating the rainbow": from the sweet potatoes, salsa verde, black beans, to the parsley and pickled onion salad- we got quite a few colors/nutrients in there. By flavor alone I would definitely order again. It is definitely healthier than 95% of most takeout (please don't take that stat seriously). 

Conclusion? While I love the service and the quality of the ingredients- it is not the easiest to eat #shedapproved meals. You still have to be vigilant checking the ingredient list to see if you are eating within the elimination guidelines. It IS possible to find great healthy options, but don't just order anything off the menu. I also support this for Shed maintenance meals 100%! 

In the end, it tasted like brown rice to me, so I'm going to stick with that for now. :) 

If you do decide to give Eat Purely a try-  use my promo code for a $20 credit for you and for me! :) Promo code: ALEXANDRAS21

Hmmm looks like white rice in this photo! 

*(It was month 1 approved- soy has gluten- which makes it a month 2 nono)

**LEGIT - No one paid me to write this. I wish they did, though.**