Yeah, Chili. That’s right. It’s chili season! Who doesn’t love chili? Well, several people actually. But that is their problem. They are missing out on a whole boatload of yumminess!
As I mentioned in my introduction (left side menu if you still need to read it), I work part time evenings and weekends. This week I have worked the last 3 evenings in a row. I really don’t mind that, because I love my gig. However, I do feel bad that I am not at home making dinner. My husband is great though. He gets pretty creative with hamburger helper and the like. But that can get old for the boys. Not for Matt, he loves it. And I feel bad that he has to make dinner after working so hard during the day. His job is physically draining on his body.
Cue: solution —Make ahead meals. Crockpot meals seem to be the easiest for all involved. Sometimes I will make a hotdish. All he has to do is pop it in the oven.
Yeah, you read that right. I said hotdish. Not casserole. I am a Minnesota girl. That is just what it is. Hotdish. Deal with it bitches.
Ok. So anyway, this week I did two different chilis on two of those nights. Regular chili on Wednesday, which is easy peasy. I didn’t do anything fancy this time. Speaking of fancy, my mom makes THE BEST chili I have ever had. She has shown me, but it’s a lot more labor intensive and uses more expensive meat. I am trying to stay on a low budget lately. Afterall, it’s looking like we will have playoff tickets to start thinking about. Back to the chili. Essentially, it’s a pantry dump meal with some ground beef. But it’s yummy and we have leftovers. We use the leftovers for chili dogs, Frito Pies or canning. There wasn’t much this time. Not sure what I will do yet. Something. We don’t waste around here. Try not to anyway.
Tonight was White Chicken Chili. And Jesus it was good! Like, really, really f’n good. I had some before work and then again after. I wanted to get this typed while the flavor was still fresh in my head. I have never made it before. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I did what I do. I looked at various basic recipes online to get the jist of it. Then I improvised and created my own. I will get to the recipe shortly.
To go with all this chili, I made a loaf of homemade bread yesterday too. It was the perfect size to feed these guys for 2 nights. I use a bread maker machine. I like it. It’s easy, it’s fun and you can get creative. Below is my basic bread recipe. Sometimes I add various spices, depending on what I am serving it with. This time was plain white bread. Again, I did what I do. I researched, and experimented, and created my own from that.
Here are two recipes mentioned above, along with just a couple pics to give you some visuals. Sorry, I didn’t take any photos of the finished bread or regular chili. I hope that you enjoy them as much as we all did! Stay warm, the temperature is definitely dropping outside!
Bread in bread maker
1 cup and 3 tablespoons of water
1-2 teaspoons of salt
2 tablespoons of oil (veggie, olive…whatever you have on hand)
2 tablespoons of sugar
3 ¼ cups flour (I just use regular flour, nothing special. You can use bread flour if you really want to. I don’t care)
2 teaspoons of active dry yeast.
- Add water, oil, salt and sugar to the pan (and seasonings if using them. I use Italian often)
- Add your flour, by the end you should have the other ingredients completely covered by the flour. This is actually pretty important. You don’t want the yeast to touch the wet ingredients, salt or sugar.
- Make a “well” in the flour and add the yeast, as shown here.
- Put the pan in the machine and turn on.
Boom. In just over 3 hours you will have amazing fresh bread and your house will smell wonderful!
White Chicken Chili
4 lbs. chicken
1 brick of cream cheese
3 boxes of chicken stock. You can get by with 2 if you want less broth. Or use water. Your call.
3 cans of white beans. I used Cannellini, Great Northern and navy. I like using a variety. You don’t have to. But 3 total cans. Drained and rinsed.
1 can of corn, drained
1 small can of mushrooms. Or fresh, again, whichever you prefer. If fresh, I would suggest a quick sauté
1 small can of green chiles
Some green tabasco sauce—season to your own liking on this bad boy.
2-3 teaspoons chili powder
1-2 teaspoons of onion powder
Salt—optional. I forgot to put that in and it was still great
Cornstarch slushy if you want to thicken
Cilantro for serving
Real simple here. I boiled the chicken in the chicken stock. When ready, I shredded and dumped into the crockpot, along with the stock. Add all of the other ingredients minus the slushy and cilantro. I added the slushy later. Because I made this in the morning, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to add that super early. It might be OK. I don’t know. I am not an expert by any means. When ready to serve, add some chopped cilantro (my favorite herb). Ding Ding Ding, you have a winner! Seriously. Try this. Its good. You can thank me later.
