If my hubby still owned a BB gun, if I were a sharp shooter, and if I relished the idea of beheading and de-furring a fuzzy grey squirrel, you can bet I would have made this dish with it just to try what's traditional. Am I ever so glad that chicken is now the meat of choice when preparing this dish, at least according to Betty Crocker. The inspiration came from Breadchick.

I keep a Crockpot on hand just because everyone says I should have one. We got two of them as presents on our wedding day, but they sat and sat in the cupboard, taking up space, until a few years later I gave them away. As I got to know other moms, though, I began to realize just how many of them depended on crockpots. I finally realized I *had* to get one when my aunt (who by the way is a great cook) came to visit and help take care of our youngest when she was a newborn, and one of the first things she asked when she stepped into my kitchen was "Do you have a Crockpot?". I shook my head, embarrassed, but as fate would have it, just a few weeks later I found one at a thrift shop, unused, for $3. Of course it was destined to come home with me.

I'm still not a Crockpot cook, not by a long shot, but I have learned to take it with us on long trips. I pre-cook whatever stew or soup or other saucy dish it is that I want to take along -- the "regular" way, in a pot or skillet on the stove, or in the oven, and THEN I transfer it into the Crockpot, where it stays until we get to the hotel. There I plug it in and heat it up.

There are only two dishes that I really like cooking in a crockpot -- chili, and white chili :D. And now there are three!

Brunswick stew, as it turns out, is the subject of some controversy, most of which does not interest me. I'm providing a link to some information about it though, because it might interest you, dear reader. I followed Breadchick's recipe, except I changed the amounts, and the time, to suit our schedule the day I cooked this (a Sunday when we were out most of the day and came home for dinner).

1 tablespoon canola or other cooking oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 3-4 lb chicken, cut up (I didn't use the breasts and saved it for a stir-fry instead)
1 large package ham steak, cubed
1 quart chicken stock
1 28-oz. diced tomatoes and their juice (I used fire-roasted from Muir Glen)
1/2 lb. boiling potatoes, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 lb. frozen baby lima beans
1 lb. frozen corn
1 tsp sugar

Heat oil in skillet over medium heat and saute onion until golden, about 4 minutes. Transfer to crockpot and add chicken parts, ham cubes, and chicken stock. Cook 2 hours on "High". Remove solids from pot and de-fat cooking liquid if desired.

Return everything to pot. Add tomatoes and juice, potatoes, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Cook 4 hours more on low.

Add lima beans, corn, and sugar and cook on high 1 hour more. Add sugar and adjust seasonings with salt and pepper. Serve over noodles or rice if desired.

The results were very good and my brother who is somewhat of a picky eater even asked how to cook it. A good thing since he's moving into his own place soon and should learn to cook a greater variety of dishes for himself. If I make this again I'll take a suggestion from one of my cookbooks though and add some hot chilies -- yeah! However, I will leave the squirrel slaughtering to people who might actually get a kick out of it.

Breadchick adapted a recipe from this book:
If you're looking for other soup, stew or crockpot recipes, here are some more you might want to check out: