White Chili with Chicken

I love chili. I could eat it almost daily. As a matter of fact, when I was pregnant for my second child, I went through a phase when I did eat it daily. He still loves spicy food to this day. But not chili. Go figure. I guess it's the beans. But you can't very well have chili without beans, now, can you?
Well anyway, he did manage to eat a bowl of this white chili and said it was "Okay". The rest of us liked it, and I'll definitely be making it again.
With that, let's begin...
Here's what you'll need:

• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped* (optional) (and I skipped this. The cumin gave it a little bit of a spicy flavor, and that was enough for us.)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 4 cups chicken broth (I had about a cup of drippings left from the chicken I made on Sunday which I used, to that I added 3 cups of water and 3 chicken flavored bouillon cubes. Wasn't sure what would happen, but it worked out.)
• 2 cans (15 1/2 ounces each) great northern beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley (which I don't ever have, so I poured about a teaspoon and a half of dried parsley into my palm, decided that looked reasonable, and threw it in. It worked. I know, SO Rachael Ray. If I'd used 'EVOO' you'd be thinking I was her, wouldn't you? No, I know...not in a million years....)
• 1 tablespoon lime juice (why, I don't know, but I used it, and it was fine. Honestly not sure if I'd notice if it was gone. But maybe...)
• 1 to 1-1/4 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/4 cup cold water
• 2 cups cubed cooked chicken (I actually ROASTED A CHICKEN yesterday just so I'd have some for this recipe. No, really, I did. My husband thinks I did it so he would have a nice meal, but NO, it was for THIS recipe.)

Let's get started...

In a large saucepan, or dutch oven style pot, cook the onion, jalapeno (if you're more daring than me) and garlic in oil until tender. Stir in the broth, beans, parsley, lime juice and cumin. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir occasionally. Combine the cornstarch and water until smooth. Stir into chili. Add the chicken. Bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. I think I went with three minutes myself.

I had planned on taking the leftovers in my lunch tomorrow. Well, there aren't any leftovers to take! This was delicious! And easy (okay, not 'easy-peasy', but still...). It took just over 30 minutes to make, and that included the time spent chopping the onion and taking my 2 year old to the bathroom.

Enjoy!!

*a note on the chopped jalapeno. Now, I don't really know much about them, except they're hot, hot, hot, mon. I've never actually worked with a raw jalapeno, but I do know that you have to be very careful handling them. You should always wear rubber or plastic gloves while handling them, and avoid touching your face.

Taco Soup

I stand corrected. Last night’s plan of stew didn’t pan out, because the hubby took all the leftovers to work with him. Here I thought there was plenty for both him AND stew. He confessed that it was just a little bit too much for him, but insists I didn’t have enough for the stew.
He did say there were some very jealous people at work last night. Pure goodness on a plate, I tell you.
So we couldn’t have stew. We ended up just having grilled cheese sandwiches and french fries. It was a good meal, but certainly no beef stew.
Tonight, if we have the beans, we’re going to have Taco Soup. My boys love this. My daughter loves part of it – the corn, the chips, and the cheese. It’s just like Chili (which they say they DON’T like) but it has corn added.

Here’s what you need:

* 1 ½ pounds ground beef
* 1 envelope taco seasoning
* 2 cans (15 ¼ ounces each) whole kernel corn, undrained
* 2 cans (15 ounces each) chili beans, undrained
* 2 cans (14 ½ ounces each) diced tomatoes, undrained
* Crushed tortilla chips (or Fritos – that’s what we usually use)
* Shredded cheddar cheese

And here’s how you throw it together:

In a dutch oven (I love my dutch oven) cook beef until done, drain (you could probably add some diced onions to the beef while cooking too, I sometimes do if I have an onion lying around). Stir in the taco seasoning, corn, beans and tomatoes. Cover and simmer (stirring occasionally) for 15 minutes or so, until heated through.
Place chips in soup bowls, ladle soup over chips, and sprinkle with cheese. OR, do chips, cheese, then soup. OR, do soup, cheese, then chips. Order doesn’t matter – the end result is the same. It’s all good!