White Bean Chicken Chili!

This is a perfect soup for a rainy day (like today)! It is easy, quick, and doesn't require a lot of ingredients. Hanz went back for seconds and asked to take some with him to work (it must have been good!). The best part? It is pretty healthy! YAY!

1 tbsp Oil (olive, vegetable, etc)
1 lb boneless/skinless chicken breast, cubed
1/2 large sweet yellow onion, diced
3 jalapenos, diced/minced (depends on you)
3 cans of white beans (I used 2 Great Northern, 1 Navy)
1 8oz can of diced green chiles
1-2 cups of chicken stock
Spices: Salt, black Pepper, Garlic Powder, Cumin, Cayenne pepper

Heat up a large pot (to medium heat) and throw in your oil. Add in onion, jalapeno, and season with salt, pepper and cumin. Cook until onions are almost translucent. Season chicken with a pinch of salt & a little pepper. Put onion & jalapeno mixture around the side of your pot and throw in the chicken & let it brown a bit. Stir it around until all sides are cooked (3-4 minutes). Throw in your beans (drain 1 of the cans), green chiles, stir, and then add in chicken stock until everything moves freely in the pot. Season with garlic powder (couple of dashes), cumin (1 1/2 tbsp), and a couple of dashes of cayenne pepper. Bring to a boil and then allow to simmer as long as you want (I did for about 30 minutes). To serve, ladle soup into bowl, top with monterrey/colby jack cheese & enjoy! I made a loaf of corn bread and topped it with some cheese just before taking it out of the oven.

NOTE: This did have quite a bit of heat from the jalapenos, it was something I could handle, but if you are concerned about too much heat maybe try 1 jalapeno first.

Chicken Cacciatore

My Mom came up with this recipe, and over time I have made it into my own. It was my easy go-to meal when I was living by myself, the leftovers lasted for lunches almost all week, and it is a pretty healthy meal! I hope you enjoy!

~1 lb Chicken breast (boneless, skinless), in strips
1 medium onion (I always buy sweet yellow onions...), in rings or strips
1.5 (1-2 really) Bell peppers (I love to mix 1 green and 1 red, but only had green today), in strips
1 tsp Olive Oil
1 can Diced Tomatoes (mine were flavored with olive oil & garlic)
1/4-1/3 cup Tomato Sauce

Slice up the onion and bell pepper. Usually I leave the onion in rings, 

but cut it the wrong way and ended up with strips.

Cook the onion and bell pepper in a pan with oil on medium heat. Add in some salt, pepper, and oregano (sometimes I will experiment with other spices for new combinations, tonight I added Rosemary) to taste. 

When the onion starts to brown, remove from pan and set aside. 

Throw chicken into pan, season with salt & pepper, brown chicken on all sides, but don't worry about cooking completely through.

Add onion & bell pepper and then stir.

Top with the diced tomatoes and tomato sauce.

Cover and simmer on medium-low (around 4 is good on my stove) for 45 minutes, quickly stirring every 10 minutes or so.

Eat on its own (low carb!) or add in some pasta. 

Feel free to top with some Parmesan 

(we did tonight, but usually I don't add it).

The best part about this recipe is it is so simple, you can REALLY make it your own. I've used a can of Rotel (diced tomato & green chiles) for a Mexican flavor, it was delish!

Enchilada Casserole

For some reason, I've been in the mood for Mexican food (see below...fajitas & chicken avocado enchiladas...ha) and decided to make Enchilada Casserole! It is a pretty easy recipe and is packed with flavor! Enjoy!

1/2 Sweet yellow onion, diced
1/2 Green bell pepper, diced
2 jalapenos, seeds removed & diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp vegetable oil
Cumin, Salt, Pepper, Season All, Oregano
1 pound ground beef (or turkey)
1 can red Enchilada Sauce
1 can Ranch Style Beans (I used the kind with onions)
2 cups Monterrey Jack cheese, shredded
Corn tortillas

Corn tortillas, bell pepper, Monterrey Jack cheese, jalapenos, Ranch Style beans, Onion, & Enchilada Sauce

Oregano, Black Pepper, Garlic, Cumin, Salt, & Anita's (Hanz's family's recipe) Season All

Chop up onion, bell pepper, jalapenos, and mince garlic. 

Chop in half from top to bottom, lay flat

Cut into slices, but keep together

Dice in the opposite direction you cut slices

 

Throw into hot pan with vegetable oil, season with cumin, salt, pepper, and season all, then cook until they just start to brown (5-7 minutes). 

Remove from heat and set aside in bowl. Throw in beef and start to brown, season with some cumin, salt, and pepper. Throw in cooked vegetables and stir until meat is thoroughly cooked. 

Stir in enchilada sauce, but reserve about 2 tablespoons to put into the bottom of the baking dish. The sauce will probably need to cook down a bit until it is a favorable consistency.

Once the sauce is where you want it, take it off the heat and it is time to assemble to casserole! 

Cover the bottom of the baking dish (I used a 9x13 glass dish) with the reserved enchilada sauce.

Cover with corn tortillas. You can either tear them all up, or just tear up a few so it covers the entire dish.

Top tortillas with the meat sauce mixture.

Add some beans.

Top with cheese.

Repeat. I did a total of 3 layers, using about 16 corn tortillas.

Bake covered at 350F for about 30 minutes or until bubbly, then take off foil for the last 5 minutes of cooking to get some good color on the cheese.