A No-Fail Chicken Stew-Soup

This recipe started off in the most random of ways. Earlier the week before, I went a little crazy at the grocery store and bought two bags of baby carrots…one of which I hadn’t even opened yet! As I was meal-prepping, I realized they were going to go completely bad within the next few days if I didn’t use them.

All week I had tried to force myself to eat carrots for snack, but a girl can only eat so many carrots in a day! You know? Anyways, I knew I needed to make use of these bad boys before they went sour, so I started thinking about something with cooked carrots and the other ingredients in my fridge: chicken, cheese, veggies.

I decided a crockpot stew would be best–a way to blend the mix of things I had and actually make them taste good, plus be actually awesome for my body.

My No-Fail Chicken Stew-Soup

Ingredients:

1 pound chicken breasts
1-2 potatoes, chopped thin (I left the skin on for texture!)
1/2 onion, chopped thin
6 cups chicken broth
4 tbs. minced garlic)
3 large carrots chopped (or in my case, an entire bag of baby carrots, chopped!)
1-2 cups broccoli florets chopped (or little pieces are ok, too!)
1 cup frozen peas (I love my veggies!)
1 15 oz. can sweet corn, drained (you can also use frozen corn, too!)
1/4 -1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper (this really does spice it up, so be careful! I added a about 1 tsp. and it had a good kick!)
1 packet Hidden Valley Ranch dressing/seasoning mix
1 cup flour
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 cups milk or half and half (I use skim!)
1-2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, grated (I liked sprinkling this on top)

*You can sub. fresh or frozen veggies, it’s your choice!

Directions: Add chicken to the crockpot (frozen or not, doesn’t matter!) then cover with all the ingredients up to the Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing/Seasoning. Cook on High 3-4 hours or Low 6-7 hours. About 30 min before serving, blend flour, milk/half-and-half, and cream cheese and stir in. Then mix in cheese or add on top.

**The more flour or the fattier your milk/half-and-half, the creamier the soup. I added more flour, slowly to thicken and keep my fat content down.