November 6, 2013

White Chicken Chili

I have been seriously slacking in the cooking department lately.  You haven't gotten much of anything new around here.  That's probably because I haven't been in the mood to experiment in the kitchen.

You see, my days go like this:

5:30-7:00 Wake up, drink coffee, get ready, take care of dog, read blogs/check email, clean up the house.

7:00 Leave the house (let's be real. this usually doesn't happen until 7:15)

7:30-4:00 Work

4:00 Drive home.  Debate the gym.  Sometimes go, sometimes don't.  If I don't, it gives me a jump on laundry, errands, etc.  Sometimes I'll take Scout for a walk.  This is usually when I write a blog post while I eat an after-school snack.

5:30 Start dinner and feed the dog.

5:30-7:30  Dinner, spend time with Scott, etc.  If Scott's not around, I usually play with the dog and/or read stuff online.

By 7:30, I'm pretty much done.  Sometimes I'll grade papers or write lesson plans.  I'm doing pretty well staying ahead at school just by working while I'm at school.  I'm starting to feel like I have a system in place again.  Now that I have my kids working independently (read: they're trained), I don't need to hover as much as I did 6 weeks ago.  (I still subscribe to the theory that if you need to spend every night and weekend in your classroom, you're doing it wrong.)

It may seem like I have a lot of time at night, and maybe I do, but my to-do list is so long and I feel like I have something to complete every night.  Be it grocery shopping, a craft I want to finish, laundry to put away, blog posts to write, a movie to watch...and then I usually end up playing with Scout for half an hour and my timeline is shot.

My options are usually: A. Cook a good dinner, or B. Go to the gym. Never both, because then I start to feel overwhelmed, which is really silly.  It's 20 minutes to the gym and 20 minutes back so, combined with a workout, it's a large chunk out of the evening.

I made this chili on Halloween. It was rainy. I expected trick or treaters.  I just went home after school and cooked dinner.

This is what I came up with.  I will be making it again soon.  We really liked it and I thought it was much better than regular chili.



White Chicken Chili
inspired by this recipe

1 lb. ground chicken (or cooked shredded chicken)
1 14.5 oz can chicken broth
1 small can corn
1 can Ro-Tel
2-3 T. diced canned green chiles (if you like heat, the whole can)
1 can white beans
1 can black beans
1 onion, diced
1 bell pepper, diced

2 t. cumin
1/4 t. cayenne
1 t. chili powder
1/2 t. nutmeg
1/4 t. cinnamon
1 t. smoked paprika
1 T. sugar

1/4 c. cream or half-n-half
1/4 c. sour cream
(You could also up the richness by adding 3 oz. of cream cheese.  I didn't have any.)

Lime
Cilantro (do not skip this..it's the best part)
Shredded cheese

In a large saucepan, brown the chicken in you're using ground.  Add in the onion, bell pepper, and seasonings.  Cook until the vegetables are tender.  Stir in the broth, corn, Ro-Tel, chiles, and beans.
Cook over medium heat, just so it simmers, for about 30 minutes.

Take off the heat and stir in cream, sour cream, and/or cream cheese.

Garnish with lime and cilantro.  Serve with rice, quinoa, or chips for dipping.


*You could also easily adapt this to the crockpot.  I would make sure the chicken is cooked first and then put everything in a 6 quart crockpot for 6 hours on low.  Add in the cream/sour cream/cream cheese after cooking. Let me know if you try it!*

8 comments:

  1. Thank you! I needed this! I LOVE LOVE LOVE white chicken chilli and even just made some yesterday in the crock pot. It was good... but didn't have as much flavor as I usually like. Next time I make it, I'm using your recipe!

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  2. Oh this sounds delicious! I'll have to give it a whirl. I always have so much chicken in this house I never know what to do with it all (hence the inordinate number of quesadillas I consume). Thanks for sharing!

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  3. I know what you mean about feeling overwhelmed in the evenings, I feel like there's never enough time and it gets frustrating. I try to make a meal or to at the weekend, or at least some prep to make weeknights easier, but lately that hasn't been happening either.

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  4. Yum! I just googled white chicken chili recipes yesterday because I've been craving it! I'll have to try this recipe, thanks!

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  5. We are having a chili cook off fundraiser in 2 weeks....I will have to make this one for it. :)

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  6. I make a somewhat similar chicken-bean chili-type soup in the crockpot, but I've never though about adding corn! I bet that would be tasty!

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  7. I haven't been cooking much of anything either. I feel busy. Scott and I barely see each other between my work schedule and his. I don't like feeling so busy and overwhelmed. This sounds yummy, though...even though I don't like cilantro. ;)

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  8. I definitely have nights where I don't do ANYTHING work-related, but that's kind of a choice I make in order to have a life. Teaching is a job where you definitely COULD spend every night and weekend on it because there is ALWAYS more you could think to do or work on; however, I've learned that I need to draw a line and keep some "me" time. If I'm not happy, then I'm not going to be a good teacher anyway, so helping myself is really helping my students. Having a baby has helped this because I HAVE to go home at a reasonable hour, and I have other things to worry about when I get home. It has given me healthy boundaries.

    It's been hard for me to get a routine down because my teaching assignment has been changed three times in 6 years, and I have had to move classrooms each time. Then, next year, though my assignment should stay the same, I will have to switch classrooms AGAIN due to a realignment of the grades/buildings. Between getting married, having a baby, and all this, I have had times where I do spend a lot of time playing catch up, but my ultimate goal is to get so good at a routine that I can let that part go. Like, today, is catch up on grades day since it's a weather cancellation. Tomorrow is probably going to be catch up on lesson plans day, and then, for a while, I'll probably take it easy until I need to play catch-up again. I'm a procrastinator to the max.

    I'm hoping that, if I stay in this assignment for a while, I will settle in and things will be more organized. It takes a while to figure things out, for sure. Plus, I'm pretty much having to re-write the curriculum because the person who taught this position before me took EVERYTHING with her and left me no novels and no units to teach, except for the grammar textbook. *Sighs* At first, I was so mad, because we were supposed to leave all curriculum materials behind for the teachers filling our positions, and she clearly violated this rule. However, I was able to go to the curriculum director and request new books! :) So, I got three new class sets of novels, and I only had to pay for one of them with my classroom budget money. Now, that other teacher hates my guts because she wanted new books, too. Well, I guess she should have shared/followed the rules then. I am thrilled to be teaching stuff that I have chosen, so hopefully, once I get these novel units figured out, next year will be gravy! :)

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