Crockpot Chicken Chili

This was an easy dish that I took to a church luncheon. It is just delicious and is very simple to adjust to your tastes and what you have on hand in your pantry. Somehow the chicken and black beans felt more like a spring/summer kind of chili. I left some of it at home for us to enjoy later, and it was excellent with a Fat Tire beer. Perfect out-on-the-patio supper!

* 3-4 chicken breasts - cut in half, or thirds if large
* 15 oz. canned black beans, drained
* 15 oz. canned pinto beans, drained
* 3 cloves garlic, minced
* 1-2 tsp. cumin
* 16 ounces salsa - I ended up using about 1 1/2 pints of my homemade salsa
* 1 C bell peppers, chopped (frozen works too if you need a shortcut)
* 1 jalapeno, chopped or 1 medium long green chili, chopped
* 1 C chopped onion
* 1 C frozen corn
* salt and pepper if needed - I didn't use any

* Garnishes - fresh cilantro, sour cream, shredded Manchego cheese, chopped green onions, or anything else that pleases your family. I served this with blue corn chips and it was great!

Place all ingredients into crock-pot, placing chicken pieces on top. I pushed them down slightly into the liquid ingredients so they would cook well, but I wanted to be able to retrieve them easily later on. Cook for 6 hours on low, or 4 hours on high. Remove chicken from the crockpot to a cutting board and check for doneness with a thermometer (should be 165 F per USDA). Shred chicken pieces and put back into crock-pot and let them heat through for another 20 minutes. Adjust seasonings and serve.

***Note - For the potluck, I shredded the chicken, stirred it back into the chili, then moved the entire mixture into a casserole dish and refrigerated it overnight. At the potluck, I placed the casserole into a medium oven to re-heat, and it was nice and bubbly by the end of the morning service. Of course this might vary according to how long your pastor preaches!

Fajita Salad

What started out as fajitas in corn tortillas, eventually became a new twist on a salad! I decided not to deal with the usual mess of sauce and peppers, and whatever else dripping out of the ends of the tortilla, and instead cut the tortillas into triangles, and quickly sauteed them in a little oil in a fry pan, turning them to lightly brown both sides. I put them on paper towels to drain, and sprinkled them with salt and a little chipotle pepper from this nifty new grinder (pictured above) that my hubbie found at the grocery store. The final product tasted a little like fry bread - yum!

The rest of the salad was just a matter of assembling. The first layer was organic lettuce greens, topped by the fajita mixture, then Colby-jack cheese, the corn tortilla chips, a little homemade salsa for dressing, a drizzle of yogurt, and finally some cilantro leaves. Here's what I put in the fajita mixture:

thin slices of round steak
slices of green and orange bell pepper
thin sliced onion
one 15oz. can of fire-roasted tomatoes (drained)
2 tsp. crushed garlic
1-2 tsp. cumin
2-3 tsp. chili powder
1-2 tsp. oregano
salt and pepper to taste

Simply saute the meat, peppers, and onions in a little oil until the meat is slightly browned, then add the tomatoes and spices, cover and cook for 10-15 minutes until the meat is tender. Enjoy!

Salsa Baked Burritos

We canned a good amount of salsa this year and one of my favorite things to do with it is make smothered burritos. It's much tastier than using tomato sauce. These were made with beef that was braised with onions, mushrooms, garlic, and tomatoes. Then it was rolled up into whole wheat tortillas, covered with our salsa and baked. I topped it with cheese near the end and then served it on lettuce with more salsa and sour cream. This could easily have been spiced up with any kind of peppers in the filling too. My mantra once again, make it your own!

Roasted Tomato Tortilla Soup

When you have a day with a high of ZERO degrees, you just have to think about a warm soup! A few weeks ago when I was down with a very bad cold, DH brought home some tortilla soup from a local health market and it warmed me from the inside out. Then today I came across another recipe for tortilla soup, and I just had the urge to make some. I wanted a cross between the two soups, so I took the basic ingredients in both, and adapted them. Here in the photo are most of the components. Frozen roasted tomatoes and hot peppers from our garden, local wine (for drinking with the soup!) and chicken, plus lots of other good organic ingredients.


Dinner is served! The two biggest recipe changes that I made were removing the chicken after it was sauteed with the veggies, and pureeing the finished soup with a hand held blender. Then to serve, I topped the soup with the chicken, some home toasted tortilla strips, and a dollop of sour cream. A piece of our homemade bread and some melted Jack cheese made for a great dipper!

Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe

Ingredients:
2-3 lbs boneless, skinless chicken cut up, OR use leftover cooked and shredded chicken
2 Tbs. olive oil
1 onion chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 large jalapeno or other hot pepper of your choice, chopped fine
2 C of chopped carrots
32 oz. chicken broth
2 tsp. cumin
3 C canned, or frozen roasted tomatoes
4-5 medium potatoes, cubed
1/4 C cilantro, or more if your a big fan
1 Tbs. lime juice
salt and pepper to taste

If using raw chicken, saute the chicken in the oil, with the onion, garlic, carrots, and hot pepper, in a large soup pot. (If using already cooked chicken, add it at the end or use it on top of the soup as in the picture above.) Cook until the vegetables start to color up just a bit, but be careful not to burn the garlic. If you prefer, you can add the garlic after the chicken and other veggies have been cooking for a couple of minutes. Then add the chicken broth, cumin, potatoes, and tomatoes. Bring this to a boil and reduce to simmer for about 25-40 minutes, until the vegetables are tender. Add the cilantro,lime juice, and salt and pepper, (and the already cooked chicken if that's what you're using), and cook about 5 more minutes. See my notes above if you want this to be a creamy-textured soup. Top with tortilla strips, a dollop of sour cream, or whatever strikes your fancy!