Brunswick Stew

By DomesticMuse

A tasty, on-the-table-pronto version of the Southern Classic. This originally came from Desperation Dinners, and I have modified it slightly.

Ingredients

• Vegetable oil (not olive oil)
• 1 1/2 cups cubed, frozen hash-brown potatoes
• 1 cup chopped onions
• 1 can (141/2 ounces) fat-free chicken broth
• 1/2 16 oz. bag frozen corn kernels, preferably White Shoepeg
• 1/2 16 oz. bag baby lima beans
• 1 can (15 ounces) black-eyed peas
• 1 can (141/2 ounces) stewed tomatoes
• 3 cans (5 ounces each) white-meat chicken
• 1 tablespoon reduced-fat real bacon bits (not imitation)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

Preparation

Step 1

Spray a 4 1/2 qt. heavy soup pot with non-stick spray. Add enough vegetable oil to cover the bottom of the pot. Heat the oil in the pot over high heat. Add the potatoes and onions. Cover and cook for 4 minutes, uncovering to stir about every 30 seconds. (The potatoes will stick to the pot bottom.) Add the chicken broth and stir. Scrape the brown bits from the pot bottom.

Add the corn and the lima beans, then cover and cook while opening the cans. Rinse and drain black-eyed peas, and add them to the pot. Then add the tomatoes and the chicken with its juice.

Stir in the bacon bits, sugar, Worcestershire, pepper, basil and thyme, then re-cover and bring to a boil, uncovering occasionally to stir. Reduce the heat to medium-high and continue boiling, stirring occasionally, for 8 minutes. Serve at once.