White Chicken Chili

White Chicken Chili

Mmmmm, one of my top 3 fav soups!

The Ingredients:

(not pictured: garlic, oregano, cayenne)

1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1  Med Onion Chopped
1  Can Green Chilis diced
1-2  Cloves of Garlic minced
1 Tbsp Ground Cumin (I use about 2 1/2 Tbsp because I love a strong Cumin taste!)
1 tsp Dried Oregano
1/4 tsp. Ground Cayenne Pepper
1 32 Oz box of Chicken Broth
3-4 Cans of white, Pinto, black beans or a combination of all three
2 Cooked Chicken breasts diced
1/2 Cup Cream
2 Tbsp Flour

Directions:

1.  Heat oil in a large saucepan over Med heat, add onion and sautee for 2-3 minutes until tender.
2.  Add Chicken, Chilis, Cumin, Oregano and Cayenne pepper sautee another 1-2 minutes
3.  Add Chicken broth and bring to a boil
4.  In a small bowl combine flour with some of the soup broth until smooth and add back to pan and bring to a boil
5.  Rinse and drain beans, reserve 1 can of beans to puree or mash, add the remaining beans to the pan.
6.  Add pureed beans to the pan and stir
7.  Just before ready to serve, add 1/2 cup cream (I use fat free half and half) to the pan and let warm up (NOT BOIL)
8.  Serve with a dollop of sour cream, shredded monterey jack cheese, and chopped green onions

Notes:
1) Roasted corn is also good in this soup (...or frozen...or canned)
2) Diced jalepeno can be added as well as another can of chilis to spice it up a bit

Enjoy!

K

DIY Paperwhite arrangement...and a little Brie on the side

I have had these paperwhites for a few years now and have been meaning to do something with them.  While we were organizing and purging our basement I came across some black rocks, a shallow bowl/vase and a bottle of wonder water.  I've used wonder water before and really like it.  I needed a new arrangement for our new coffee table and I thought these would work out great since it's almost spring.  What??  I know, "almost" is a stretch isn't it.  It's actually pretty easy to put together one of these displays, it's hard to believe that they sell for so much at some places.

I ended up using one and a half bottles of wonder water

I followed the directions and heated up a pan of water to 130 degrees and laid both bottles into the pan for approx 20-30 minutes or so until it was liquified.

Once it was liquified, I poured them over the rocks in my vase/bowl.  I also placed the bowl into a dish of warm water.  This is also in the directions, it helps to get rid of air bubbles in the liquid.  I let it sit for 30 min (according to the directions on the wonder water).  Once it had set for 30 min I placed the paperwhites where I wanted them and used scotch tape as a grid to hold them in place.  I saw this once on The Barefoot Contessa show on Food Network.  Ina has that great friend who owns a flower shop, you know what I'm talking about?  Right, so anyway it worked out very well although I had a little fight with the tape (no worries...I won) so it looks a little less than desirable.

Unfortunately the flowers are a little heavy and due to the shallow nature of the bowl, the tape just didn't seem strong enough to me so I also added a string to hold them together.

The directions say that it should harden in a few hours but I left mine set overnight.  I removed the tape and voila...a nice little arrangement.  I noticed that one stem is leaning a little bit, but the great thing about wonder water is that you just heat it up and you can re set them!

 

 

Now....just to show you how easy it is..I will have you know that I also made this while creating the arragement.  Sinful, but oh so good for dinner with some wine.  Dried Cherries, Pecans & Rosemary Brie En Croute.  I'll share the recipe below.

Dried Cherries, Pecans & Rosemary Brie en Croute

Ingredients

1/2 of a 17.3 ounce package Puff Pastry (1 Sheet)
1 Egg
1 TBS water
1/3 cup dried cherries, softened*
1/4 cup chopped toasted pecans
1/4 cup honey
1/2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary or 1/8 tsp dried rosemary leaves crushed
1 13.2 oz Brie cheese round

Directions

Thaw the pastry sheet at room temperature for 40 minutes or until it's easy to handle.  Heat the oven to 400 degrees F.  Beat the egg and water in a small bowl with a fork.

Unfold the pastry sheet on a lightly floured surface.  Roll the pastry sheet into a 14-inch square.  Stir the cherries, pecans, honey and rosemary in a small bowl.  Spread the cherry mixture into the center of the pastry square.   Slice the rind off of one whole side of the Brie (this will be the top).  Put the cut side of the brie down on top of the cherry mixture.  Brush the edges of the pastry with the egg mixture.  Fold two opposite sides of the pastry over the cheese.  Trim the remaining two sides of the square to 2 inches form the edge of the cheese and press the edges to seal.  Place the pastry wrapped cheese seam side down onto a baking sheet.  Brush the pastry with the egg mixure.

You can decorate the top with the scraps of pastry or additional rosemary if desired.  Brush with egg mixture.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the pastry is deep golden brown.  Let stand for 45 minutes-1 hour.  Serve with crackers or bread.

*To soften cherries, mix the cherries and 1/2 cup hot water in a small bowl.  Let stand for 1 minute.  Drain and pat the cherries dry.

Cinnamon Waffles

Happy New Year!  I thought I'd make my first post of the New Year the same way we started out our day this morning, with yummy cinnamon waffles.  To be honest they are just classic waffles with cinnamon in the batter but they are oh so yummy!!  I hope you enjoy them as much as we did!

Cinnamon Waffles

2 Cups all-purpose Flour
1 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 Tablespoons white sugar
1-2 teaspoons of Cinnamon

2 eggs
1 1/2 cups warmed milk
1/3 cup butter melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1.  In a large bowl, mix together flour, salt, baking soda and sugar; set aside.  Preheat waffle iron to desired temperature.

2.  In a seperate bowl, beat eggs and vanilla.  Stir in milk and butter.  Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture; mix until well blended.

3.  Ladle the batter into a preheated waffle iron.  Cook the waffles until golden and crisp.  Serve immediately.

My Tips:

I first melt the butter in the microwave, then warm the milk in the microwave.  Combine the two together, then very very slowly wisk the milk mixture into the eggs.  This will temper the eggs so that they do no scramble with the warm milk/butter.

Enjoy!!

K