Creamy Chicken & Mushroom Stew

Do you ever start out making one dish and then change your mind in the middle of preparations?

That's what happened to me.

I started out making Chicken Pot Pie and then thought about how I'm not a real fan of the crust--so the dish changed to Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Stew.

I made the stew with leftover chicken, but you could buy a rotisserie chicken to cut down on the prep time.

I don't have pictures of the preparation of this dish because another one of my camera memory cards became unreadable.

Thankfully, I finally figured out what I have been doing wrong after doing some research online.

I had a habit of snapping the camera 'off' after taking a series of photos, and apparently the camera didn't have enough time to write the photos to the memory card--and the memory card became damaged.

Now I am leaving the camera 'on' and letting it turn off by itself after a minute or so--hopefully I won't damage any more cards!

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 large sweet onion, chopped

1 1/2 cups chopped celery, leaves and all

2 carrots, chopped

1 package mushrooms, sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 russet potatoes, diced

2 bay leaves

a pinch of dried rosemary, thyme and oregano

3 cups cooked, shredded chicken

4 cups chicken broth

1/2 cup white wine, if desired

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour

2 cups milk, half & half or cream

optional: 

2 tablespoons cornstarch mixed with 1/4 cup water if the soup needs further thickening

Shred or dice the cooked chicken and set aside.

Heat a soup pot and add 2 tablespoons olive oil and the chopped onion, celery, carrots, mushrooms, garlic potatoes and spices. Saute over medium high heat until the vegetables are wilted.

Add the chicken broth and white wine, if desired. Bring to boil and simmer gently until the vegetables are soft.

In another small pan, melt the 2 tablespoons butter, add 2 tablespoons flour and whisk together until evenly combined. Simmer for a few minutes, lower the heat if necessary, being careful not to let the mixture turn brown. Slowly add the milk, stirring constantly so lumps don't form. Mixture should be thick since you're going to add it to the stew. After mixture thickens and the consistency is even, add it to the stew and combine well.

Simmer for 5 minutes, season with salt and pepper, taste and adjust seasonings.

Add the 2 tablespoons cornstarch mixed with 1/4 cup water if the soup needs further thickening by bringing the pot to a gentle boil and adding the cornstarch mixture while stirring. Simmer gently for 5 more minutes.

Garnish with chopped parsley, chives or jalapeños.

Itadakimasu!

***

This is my sister Margaret.

This photo was on my Tuna Poke post, if you've been following along, you may have seen it before.

That was when I began to add something personal after the recipes.

As you can see, Margaret is a lot of fun.

Margaret is about a month old in this photo.

That year, all I wanted for Christmas was my two front teeth.

Because I already had a baby sister.

And my brothers Gordon and Warren.

Margaret has had long hair her whole life.

This is one of my favorite photos of Margaret and Ken.

This one, too.

Margaret is an athlete.

In high school she won the Wilson Award to honor the outstanding senior girl for scholarship, athletics and leadership.

These days Margaret's a runner.

Margaret married her high school sweetheart, Andy, in my mother's wedding dress.

As I've said before, my mom and my sister have a lot in common. 

They are both gentle souls with a calm, reserved manner, fun, funny, talented, humble, thoughtful and patient.

I tend to be a little on the emotional side, and they are always such great sounding boards for me.

I don't know what I'd do without either of them.

It's funny that just recently, Margaret told me that she thinks I got all the talent.

I don't think so.

Margaret's very artistic--she can draw--and I can't.

She's crafty too.

Several years ago, her family moved to Hawaii.

I miss them.

I cherish their visits, they always seem so short!

When she was here visiting earlier this year, she got Warren and I to go to The Price Is Right with her.

Like I said before, 

She's a lot of fun!

Love you, Margaret!