Rosemary Chicken "Stew"

Fall is here! The air is crisp, the leaves are turning and I am constantly craving stew! Last night I made this chicken stew by adapting a recipe from a Company's Coming cook book. It was supposed to be a slow cooker recipe but I never think far enough ahead to make those properly so I usually just end up making them on the stove as a "pseudo stew." Here's what I did...

Ingredients:
1 tsp Olive Oil
2 large chicken breasts
Salt, pepper and a pinch of rosemary
1 Tablespoon Olive oil
1 yellow onion (chopped)
2 chopped medium-large yellow flesh potatoes (chopped)
1.5 carrots (sliced)
1.5 celery stalks (sliced)
1 parsnip (chopped)
3 roughly diced cloves of garlic

1 can of cream of mushroom soup (10oz.)
2 cups chicken broth
approx. 1/4 cup of fresh rosemary
1 large bay leaf
1 tsp table salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup corn starch
1 cup frozen peas
1 small lemon

Instructions:
Place chicken breasts in pan, spread olive oil, salt, pepper and rosemary on top of them and bake in the oven until cooked through (avoid overcooking). Set aside until cool and use a fork to shred the chicken.

Place a large pot (one you might use for boiling pasta, best if it's one with a lid) on your burner and turn the burner to medium, add olive oil and diced onion, let onion cook for a moment before adding the other 5 vegetables in order listed, stir the vegetables and let them get nice and hot before adding anything else. Add the mushroom soup right out of the can and add the chicken broth, salt, pepper and rosemary, stir again. Drop the bay leaf in and place the lid on the pot. Cook over medium heat (the stew should be bubbling a bit) stirring occasionally until the potatoes and carrots are tender and cooked. (I wasn't really paying attn to the time but this could take up to an hour).

Mix the corn starch into the 2nd amount of chicken broth in a small bowl until the mixture is smooth and then add it to the pot. Add the frozen peas, the shredded chicken and the juice from the lemon, stirring again. Let the stew cook another 15-20 minutes until the sauce had thickened. Find and remove the bay leaf. This yields four huge servings or 6-8 servings if you are having it with something else.

Note: I adapted this recipe from a book and totally winged it from there. You can probably add or substitute whatever ingredients you want as long as they function in the same way as those you are replacing (eg. cornstarch thickens sauce so don`t sub it for sugar). Cooking times will also vary depending on your stove, pot and ingredients. Enjoy!