Recipes

Cilantro is one of those ingredients that people either l’ve or hate, and I happen to love it.  This Puerto Rican Chicken stew is a hearty, warm dish perfect for a cold dish and made with a cilantro sofrito.  It is perfect by itself or you could serve it over some brown rice.  I make it with dark and white meat chicken, but you could also use skinless drumsticks instead of the chicken breast.  This recipe was adapted from a Food and Wine recipe to be made weight watchers friendly.

Weight Watchers Crockpot Puerto Rican Chicken Stew
Points: 4 Weight Watchers PointsPlus or 4 Weight Watchers Points
Servings: 8
Serving Size: 1.5 cups

Ingredients for Soup
1 ½ cups low sodium, fat free chicken broth
6 skinless boneless chicken thighs
1 lb skinless chicken breast
4 cups chopped cilantro leaves
6 garlic cloves
2 large jalapeños, seeded
1 medium chopped onion
1 chopped red bell pepper
1 chopped green bell pepper
1 lb red skinned potatoes, cut into cubes
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin

Instructions

1. In a blender, combine the jalapenos, onions, cilantro, cumin, salt, pepper, garlic, red pepper, green pepper, and a little water and blend until smooth.
2. Pour the blended sauce into the crockpot and add your chicken.  Cook on high for 2 hours or until the chicken is mostly cooked through.Add chicken broth as needed if the sauce becomes too thick or dries up. You likely won’t need very much.
3. Taste the sauce and add salt and pepper as needed.
4. Add the potatoes to the crockpot under and around the chicken and make sure they are covered completely by the sauce.  Cover and continue to cook on high for 30-45 minutes until the potatoes are cooked through.
5. Serve in bowls and consider adding a little bit of fresh squeezed lime juice.