Chicken Stew

Well, the most exciting thing I've done today is make chicken stew. Again, I don't use a recipe for this. Unlike the chili, I've NEVER used a recipe for chicken stew. Why? Because until I started making it myself, I couldn't STAND chicken stew. But I have several guiding principles that I use:
(1) Should almost be able to eat it with a fork
(2) LOTS of vegetables (the more variety in color, the better)
(3) Add quinoa, rice, or something similar as a thickener
(4) Add whatever spices smell good to me that day
(5) Don't forget the chicken or it's not chicken stew

My mom tells me that it's not chicken stew without carrots or potatoes. My response: "It's got chicken in it. It's stew. That makes it chicken stew." I did add carrots this time, but I don't always. My ingredients this time around were:
7-8 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 yellow bell pepper
1 orange bell pepper
1 sweet onion
4 cloves garlic
2 cups chopped green beans
7-8 daikon radishes, cleaned and chopped
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, baked until done and then cut into pieces
1/2 cup wild rice
1 1/2 cups mixed brown rice
enough water to cover
Assorted spices, including red pepper (LOTS!!!), basil (slightly less), cardamom, sage, marjoram, oregano, rosemary, garam masala, and I forget what else. Basically, I look at all the spices I have, smell 'em, and if it smells good to me that day, it goes in. If it smells REALLY good, I put in a lot of it. The only exception is red pepper. I always put in lots of that.

I had wanted to get a jicama to put in it as well (wonderful vegetable; you can boil it for hours and it's still crisp), but Fred Meyer didn't have any, and I never made it anywhere else to look. Just as well. What I did have nearly overflowed the pan! :-D It's got about ten more minutes to cook (I used wild rice as part of the thickener; wild rice takes a long time to get done), and then, "Voila! She is done."