Southwestern Chicken Stew

This stew is a great alternative to chili. It would be great to feed a group!
I got this recipe inspiration from Pinterest. The original recipe came from http://thelarsonlingo.blogspot.com/2011/05/easiest-dinner-ever.html. I made a few changes to it though. The best thing about this one? Crockpot!! 

2 ears of fresh corn, cut from the cob
1 can tomatoes with jalapenos
1 can pinto or black beans
1 block of cream cheese
1/2 c. chopped green onions
2 T chopped fresh chives
4 chicken breasts
3 garlic cloves
1 T salt
1 T pepper
Zest of 1 lime
3 avocados
1 lime
Tortillas
Grated cheese, optional


I began with fresh corn that I shucked and cut off of the cob. If you have don't have time to do this, frozen would work too. Drain your cans of beans and tomatoes. You may choose to rinse them in a colander to remove excess salt too. Throw your canned ingredients, chicken, cream cheese, garlic, onions, chives, lime zest, salt and pepper into the crockpot on the low setting. Let it cook for 6-8 hours. 1-2 hours before serving use 2 forks to shred the chicken and put it back in the crockpot to continue cooking. At this point, I decided the stew was a little thinner than I wanted so I added a handful of flour to thicken it up.

Just before serving, cube the avocado and dress it with the juice of 1 lime. Coat all pieces with lime juice to combat discoloration. Top the stew with the avocado and the grated cheese, if desired.

When I served this stew I served it on tortillas (cornbread would be yummy too) because I have a debilitating carb addiction but you could also just serve it in bowls. Here is a picture of my husband's tortilla during construction.

This was a very easy recipe that my husband and friends loved! It definitely got a permanent spot in the dinner rotation. Let me know if you like it or if you make some delicious changes!