White Chicken Chili...and a Handy Trick.

When I married Darren, his mom supplied me with a handful of recipes that he enjoyed.
Such a great idea!
It has helped him (and continues to help him...) through my endless cooking experiments. At least, every few days, he would get something that was familiar, he for-sure enjoyed, and didn't have too many vegetables. Ha.

This is one of them.

It's delicious on its own...but even better with a little cheese sprinkled on top. Darren also adds sour cream. It's a family staple; it freezes well, tastes great as leftovers, and is every-one friendly (Renae will even eat "cheekin-and-beans"). We chop up the onions super-fine, so they're indistinguishable...or super-big so they can be picked out by those who don't like 'em.

Most recently, I made it for camping, and threw in some zucchini, chopped in chunks. Totally worked, extra-delicious. Also, it doesn't just have to be made with white beans, if all you've got are... coloured?... beans. And I usually half it for our small family...and make the full when I'm stocking up on freezer meals.

Sorry. Another random internet photo. I forgot to take a picture before we scarfed it the last time. 

White Chicken Chili from Sharon Roberts

-2 med onions, chopped
-1 Tablespoon cooking oil
-4 garlic cloves, minced
-2 (4oz.) cans green chilies (these are found in the "Mexican" section of grocery store)
-2 tsp. ground cumin
-1 tsp. dried oregano
-1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
-1/4 tsp ground cloves (I actually have never put this in...just because I don't have it around.)
-2 (14oz) cans chicken broth (I always have the cartons of chicken broth on hand, so I just add around 4.5 cups broth)
-4 cups cubes or shredded cooked chicken (see the handy trick below!)
-3 (15oz) cans Great White Northern beans, or Small White Beans, or White Kidney beans...

Saute onions in oil until translucent, add everything else, and simmer in crockpot (on high) or on stovetop (med-low) for an hour or two .

Mama Roberts also added that she also saute's chopped green pepper with the onions and adds them to the mix. Also sounds delicious!

Serve with grated cheese, sour cream, some garlic toast on the side...or just by its scrumptious self.


Okay....Now the Best Trick Ever.
My mom shared this tip with me recently and it has changed my life.
Boil some chicken up til it's not pink inside...then toss it into your power mixer (Kitchenaid, Bosch, whatever!...I'm pretty sure it might even work with an electric egg beater...but don't quote me on that) , turn it on....and it will shred the chicken for you!

Photo Source

Seriously. It works, and it saves so much annoying time spent shredding chicken with a fork and knife. I usually buy boneless chicken breasts and boneless thighs in bulk, so right when I get home from shopping, I shred about half of it: toss it in salted water, bring to boil and let boil for a while...shred, toss in a few smaller freezer bags...and voila! Chicken ready to be thrown in salads, chillis, soups, on pizza, for chicken-salad sandwiches, whatever.

Speaking of chicken salad sandwiches...and earlier...garlic toast....I have got THE BEST RECIPES in the WORLD for both those.

I'm sharing. ASAP.

Quinoa and Black Bean Chili

I love my vegetables.
And tasty veggie dishes.
My hubby does not love his vegetables. And so, when I find a recipe that gets him to put vegetables in his mouth...and enjoy it...I consider the recipe to be a success. And when I love the recipe, too, and want to make it again within the same week, I consider it to be awesome.

This recipe is an awesome success.
And I wish I had taken a picture. But it was gone too fast.
It's not only delicious, it's really preeeeetty.
I'll steal someone else's picture to show you...

K, so it's teensy.  
Oh well. You get the idea...

Quinoa and Black Bean Chili from Taste of Home, found on Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 1 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed
• 2 cups water
•  
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 2 (19 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 zucchini, chopped
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
• 1 tablespoon minced chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• salt and ground black pepper to taste
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Bring the quinoa and water to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the quinoa is tender, and the water has been absorbed, about 15 to 20 minutes; set aside.
2. Meanwhile, heat the vegetable oil in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in the onion, and cook until the onion softens and turns translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, chili powder, and cumin; cook and stir 1 minute to release the flavors. Stir in the tomatoes, black beans, green bell pepper, red bell pepper, zucchini, jalapeno pepper, chipotle pepper, and oregano. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer 20 minutes.
3. After 20 minutes, stir in the reserved quinoa and corn. Cook to reheat the corn for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, and stir in the cilantro to serve. 

Here's my confession: I didn't add the key ingredient (the chipotle peppers) and it still was really yummy. I just added extra chili powder to make up the flavour and added a little cayenne for heat. I just couldn't find chipotle peppers...but I am desperate to! I love the flavour of chipotle peppers...and if this is good even without them? Daaaaaang.
If anyone finds chipotle peppers, I'm begging you to let me know where they showed up. Pleeeeeeeeeease...?

Four Corners Lentil Soup

I use a lot of recipes from a blog called My New Roots.

This is one of them.

She calls it "Four Corner Lentil Soup" because she says she knows for a fact that it's been eaten on every continent of the earth. Count me in!

It's really yummy, AND---like everything on her blog---it's uber good for you. The overall taste is very Indian? Middle Eastern? so if you're not really a huge fan of that genre of food, this might not be your thing. If you do, make this soup STAT. Have I mentioned it's yummy? Oh, good.

I'll make a batch of this and eat it for lunch for several days. And I use green lentils...because that's just what I have on hand...and it tastes great. It calls for stock...and she means veggie stock...but I've used both chicken and beef stock, also with great success.

Four Corners Lentil Soup from My New Roots

Ingredients
1 cup red lentils, picked over and rinsed very well
1 large onion, or a couple leeks, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. minced ginger root
1 Tbsp. Ground cumin
¼ tsp. cayenne pepper
1 15 oz. can of tomatoes; or 4 large, fresh tomatoes, chopped
4 cups stock
salt to taste
1 un-waxed, organic lemon

Directions
1. Rinse the lentils very well until the water runs clear.
2. Heat oil in a medium pot and sauté onions, garlic and ginger for 5 minutes until soft. Add a pinch of salt.
3. Add spices and stir for another minute or so, until fragrant.
4. Add tomatoes, 3 slices of lemon and rinsed lentils, then add vegetable stock. Stir well.
5. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the lentils are soft. Squeeze in the rest of the lemon juice.
6. Serve hot with some cilantro, green onions or parsley on top with a slice of lemon. Delicious!

Serves 4.

Taco Pizza

I really felt like making homemade pizza today.
But I'm bread-stupid. I just assumed that you can use one bread recipe for everything 'bread-y"...and I used this super-fast bread recipe for the pizza crust. It tasted great...but turned out too thick and puffy, even though I poked it with a fork. Does anyone know what the difference is between a regular bread recipe and a pizza dough recipe? Yeast amounts? Kneading amounts? Told you: Bread-stupid.

But at least it all turned out tasting good. Well...I think it tasted good. Ha. I have a seriously stuffed nose. I'll have to get Darren's opinion once he gets home later this evening. It's possible that it could actually taste completely repulsive. Baha.

In the meantime, I've got to get down the things I tossed into the sour cream sauce before I forget. I never measure when I'm making something up. Oops? I probably should. I'd probably be more likely to replicate good results. I'll estimate this time.

Sour Cream sauce for Taco Pizza....or tacos, or dip, or drinking. HA.
-approx 1/2 c. sour cream (use more next time if doing a whole cookie-sheet-size pizza)
-1-2 T. finely chopped fresh cilantro
-1/2 t. cumin
-1/2 t. garlic powder (try minced garlic next time)
-1/4 t. onion powder (try finely chopped onion next time)
-hefty sprinkle of cayenne pepper
-couple big pinches of chili powder...(I think it would be hard to add too much of this yummy stuff.)
-pinch of salt
-teensy squeeze of honey

Taco Pizza
-Pizza Dough...note to self: find good recipe for pizza dough
-Sour Cream sauce
-grated cheese
-chopped tomatoes
-black beans
-chopped lettuce
-cooked, seasoned ground beef
-roughly crushed taco chips
-olives
-chopped green onions
-chunks of avocado
-okay, I'm actually just spouting stuff off here. Ours only had up to the black beans...I didn't even get to the lettuce because I was just hungry and lazy. But oh the possibilities! Yumm...

Bake the pizza crust for 10-15 min, or until lightly browned. Then top with the sour cream sauce and whatever else your heart desires that is vaguely related to tacos. I didn't put the pizza back in the oven to melt the cheese or anything, but I suppose you could if you wanted.

Enjoy the eats!