White Chicken Chili

I have one chili recipe and it's the only kind of chili I make. Well, I've been hearing so much about "white chili" lately that I thought I'd give it a try. I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and only made a few changes. Saryn loves chili so I left out the can of diced jalepeno peppers to reduce the spiciness. Believe me, it still had some kick to it without them. We liked this, and I'll make it again but it's not as good as MY chili recipe. ;)

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 (4 ounce) can diced jalapeno peppers (I omitted these)
1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
2 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth
3 cups chopped cooked chicken breast (I cooked 2 chicken breasts then shredded them instead of chopping)
3 (15 ounce) cans white beans
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Directions:

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Slowly cook and stir the onion until tender. Mix in the garlic, jalapeno, green chile peppers, cumin, oregano and cayenne. Continue to cook and stir the mixture until tender, about 3 minutes.



Mix in the chicken broth, chicken and white beans. Simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.



Remove the mixture from heat. Slowly stir in the cheese until melted. Serve warm and I'd recommend some sort of toasted bread served with this as well.



It's been so cold this week - you should go make this recipe right now! Enjoy!

Three Recipes You Should Try!

December was a busy month for us. I was in our kitchen cooking in December more than other month in 2008. I made A LOT of food but didn't get photos of everything. I seem to have a hard time remembering to take pictures of the end result of my food when we have company over. Something I'll work on in 2009. :)

I would still like to share the recipes that I made. All three of these recipes I found on Pioneer Woman Cooks and I've noted any changes I made to the original recipes. You can click on the name of the recipe and it will take you to the recipe on her food blog.

The first one is Olive Cheese bread and I didn't make any changes at all to the recipe. I thought it was really good and would definitely make it again. I served it at one of Saryn's birthday parties and there wasn't any leftover so our guests thought it was good too!

The second one is Christmas Cookies that you brush on a glaze before you bake. I did like these but probably wouldn't make them again until Saryn was older. It is definitely something children over the age of 3 would enjoy. I think these tasted good (I'm not a big Christmas cookie fan) and looked pretty too.

Last, but certainly not least is her Roasted Beef Tenderloin. I had never made beef tenderloin before and was a bit nervous since I was making it for Christmas Eve dinner. And the fact that it was a very expensive piece of meat didn't help. All I have to say is, wow. It was AMAZING!! Seriously, this is by far (in my opinion) the best thing I have ever made. It wasn't hard at all, had great flavor and was extremely tender. The only thing I changed was I didn't sear the meat. She only used the butt in her recipe and I had the whole tenderloin. I also served the meat with a horseradish cream sauce from Martha Stewart's Living magazine. The recipe called for 1 cup sour cream, 1/3 cup prepared horseradish, 1 tsp coarse salt - combine, cover and refrigerate until ready so serve.

I thought all of these recipes were very good and will make them again. Especially the tenderloin!

Hope you had sucessfull kitchen creations in December as well!

Chicken Cacciatore Soup

This recipe would have presented much better in a low bowl but we don't have any of those. Yet. :)

I have never made Chicken Cacciatore before but wow, this was good. We served it with Parmesan Polenta & toasted bread. I found the recipe in one of my Cuisine at Home magazines a long time ago but just never made it. I have a habit of marking recipes that I'd like to make and then on a random day going through and finding one that I marked months ago. This recipe came from an April 2004 magazine!

Anyway, it's definitely a keeper - let me know if you give it a try!

Ingredients:
2 oz pancetta or bacon, diced (I used bacon)
1 pound skinless chicken breasts, seasoned & sliced
1 cup yellow onion, diced
8 oz button mushrooms, quartered
2 Tablespoons fresh basil
2 teaspoons garlic, minced
1 teaspoons red pepper flakes
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
3 cups chicken broth
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes
1/2 cup roasted red peppers, drained, diced
1/2 cup kalamata olives, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

For the polenta:
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup instant polenta
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
salt to taste

Directions:
Saute pancetta (in 3T oil) or bacon (omit oil) in a stock pt over medium heat until crisp.

Add chicken and saute 8-10 minutes to brown and cook through. Transfer to a plate.



Saute onion and mushroom for 5 minutes or until onion becomes translucent. Stir in basil, garlic, and pepper flakes. Cook 1 minute.

Deglaze with wine and vinegar. Cook until liquid has evaporated.



Stir in broth, tomatoes and peppers. Simmer, partially covered for 15 minutes.
Add reserved chicken & simmer 5 minutes to heat through.

Combine olives & basil for the garnish while soup simmers.

While soup is heating through bring chicken broth for the polenta to a boil. Slowly whisk in polenta. Reduce heat and continue whisking for 5 minutes. Stir in Parmesan cheese and salt. Remove from heat.

Serve cacciatore over polenta and top with olive-basil garnish.