So yeah. Monday sort of got away from me. I looked up from my computer and saw it was almost 5 pm and was like “Welp, guess that recipe post will go up tomorrow.”

But it is a good one, so I hope it is worth the wait.

I’ve waxed poetic about my crock pot before and this is the first time I have attempted at creating my own crock pot recipe. And it was pretty delicious.

I was inspired by a recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks, Everyday Food. It is a Mediterranean Chicken Stew that I made a lot a few years back. It takes about an hour on the stove so I figured why not adapt it for a slow cooker and make everyone’s life a bit easier?

I served it over baked polenta, but you could just as easily pair it with couscous, quinoa or nothing at all. It is a good pick as the nights get cooler.

Mediterranean Chicken Stew with Baked Polenta

For the stew
1 lb chicken breasts
1 15oz can crushed tomatoes
2 gloves chopped garlic
1 tsp dried oregano
2 zucchini, cut in to 1 inch pieces
1 can chickpeas, drained
1 can artichokes, drained

For the polenta
1 cup ground cornmeal
4 cups water
2 tbls butter
salt, to taste

1) Place chicken breasts, tomatoes, garlic and oregano in crock pot. Cook on high for three hours. Remove chicken from crock pot and shred. Return to crock pot. Add zucchini, chick peas and artichokes, cook for another two to three hours on high.

2) With an hour remaining on the crock pot, combine the cornmeal and water in a casserole dish and bake at 350 for 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and stir in the butter and salt, return to oven for another 10 to 15 minutes. The polenta will not jiggle when it is fully baked.

3) Spoon the stew over a portion of baked polenta. Serve immediately.