For Christmas my mom gifted me Canadian Living: The Slow Cooker Collection and ever since I’ve been wanting to try out the amazing looking recipes.  Yesterday, my slow cooker arrived and I promptly ran out and bought ingredients to make the pozole.  There’s something so nourishing about any meal slowly simmered in liquid over a long period of time.  Not only is it a wonderful method of winter cooking but it also really helps to replenish the adrenals and baseline energies.  I changed out some of the ingredients from the original recipe to work with what I have, but the outcome is absolutely delicious.  Onions and garlic are wonderful for building immunity and the pumpkin seeds add wonderful omegas and zinc.  When cooking soups or grains you might also consider adding some dried seaweed to benefit from the additional minerals without altering the taste.

2.5 lbs of organic chicken thighs

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, chopped

4 cloves of garlic,

4 teaspoons chili powder

1/4 teaspoon himalayan sea salt and pepper

1/2 a bay leaf

2 cups of organic chicken broth

4 cups of water

1/2 cup of pumpkin seeds

1 jar of salsa verde

4 teaspoons of dried Mexican Oregano

2 cans of organic, gmo free corn

Tortilla strips:

4 small corn tortilla strips

1 Tablespoon olive oil

Garnish:

Organic sour cream or goat yogurt

Diced avocado

Goat cheese

Diced radishes

Cilantro

Shredded cabbage

Lime wedges

Tomatoes diced

Place the chicken in slow cooker.  In frying pan add oil, onion, garlic, chili powder, bay leaf, salt and pepper.  Saute until onion is soft and then add mixture to slow cooker.  Add chicken broth to pan and bring to a boil, add to slow cooker.  Add water, salsa verde, pumpkin seeds, corn and oregano (please note the original recipe calls for sauteing pumpkin seeds and then pureeing with salsa verde and oregano which might also be delicious) .  Cook on low for 4 to 5 hours.  At the end of cooking time, brush tortillas with oil and cut into strips.  Bake on sheet at 350 for 10 minutes or until crispy.  Enjoy pozole with garnishes to your taste!