Tuscan Chicken & Sausage Stew

This is a variation of a recipe I got out of the my Weight Watchers cook book.  For you who are dubious of Weight Watchers...IT'S NOT A DIET! I am not eating diet food. It's a lifestyle of better food choices.

This is sooo good. It called for chicken thighs, artichokes, and red pepper flakes.  I had chicken breasts, no artichokes, and my kids wouldn't eat anything spicy so I left out the flakes. So here is my version:

NOTE: USE CHICKEN THIGHS.  I've now done it twice with breast meat and twice with thigh meat...THIGH MEAT IS WAAAAYYY BETTER...but breast meat is good too if you don't know what your are missing.

6  chicken thighs
1 lbs (6 large links) of sweet or hot italian sausage (remove casings and break it up  a bit as it cooks with a wooden spoon)
2 cups of cremini mushrooms chopped
1 red onion chopped
1 bell pepper diced
3 garlic cloves minced
1 can of artichoke hearts
1 pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)
1 tsp of dried oregano
1 cup of chick broth/stock
pinch of salt & pepper


Because I didn't want to use more than one pot I cooked mine on low in a dutch oven for 4 hours. You could also cook it on high in a crock pot for 4-5 hrs or on low for 8-10.  You basically want the chicken falling apart with a fork easily and the veggies completely soft.

Brown chicken in a saute pan in a little olive oil and then transfer to crock pot.  Do the same with the sausage.  Add veggies, garlic, oregano, chicken broth, salt & pepper to the crock pot. Put on the lid and walk away.

three things my mom never was able to get me to eat growing up. 

I went the lazy route and browned everything at the same time because my dutch oven is big enough

so pretty

I will never be a hand model. Speaking of sausages and hands, my brother-in-law once described my hands to a jeweler as  "sausage fingers". I will never let him live that down...and he will probably never stop thinking that.

give it a nice big stir and walk away

Ta-da! This was so good and it smelled amazing.