Happy Cinco de Octobre!

Who says you can only celebrate the tastiness of Mexican food on Cinco de Mayo? In my opinion, Italian and Mexican food are the easiest to replicate at home. Foods like Thai and Indian are often better/easier at restaurants because of the sheer number of ingredients and the time involved that it takes to create such feasts. However, Mexican food can be just as yummy and comforting at home as at a restaurant.

Now, as the two previous blog posts mentioned, we are now entering soup weather. So, I am including a recipe for white chicken chili (pictured above). I'm including the original recipe (which I found to be a little too bland for my tastes) as well as my adapted recipe (which is much more flavorful, and therefore satisfying). I'm also including a recipe for chicken chalupas (basically, enchiladas) that my family got from our next door neighbor. They aren't low-fat or low-calorie, by any means, but my oh my, they are tasty! I apologize that I don't have a picture of the chalupas. I made them for a family dinner and they got gobbled up before I could get a snapshot.

White Chili (Original Recipe)

This dish uses hot pepper sauce made from jalapenos; it's milder than the red hot pepper varieties. Stirring frequently toward the end of cooking time prevents the bean-thickened broth from sticking to the bottom and scorching.

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons canola oil
1 1/2 cups chopped onion (about 1 large)
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups fat-free, less sodium chicken broth
5 teaspoons green hot pepper sauce (such as Tabasco)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/4 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
2 tablespoons stone-ground cornmeal
1 (19-ounce) can cannellini beans or other white beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup plain fat-free yogurt
2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onions (about 1)
Lime wedges (optional)

Directions:

Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add chopped onion and garlic to pan; cook 5 minutes or until onion is tender, stirring occasionally. Add broth, hot pepper sauce, salt, and chicken to pan; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer 15 minutes. Remove chicken from broth mixture; cool.

Add cornmeal and beans to broth mixture, stirring with a whisk; simmer 15 minutes. Mash about 1/4 cup beans against side of pan. Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces. Add chicken to pan; simmer 5 minutes or until mixture thickens, stirring frequently. Top each serving with yogurt; sprinkle with green onions. Serve with lime wedges, if desired.

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: about 3/4 cup chili, 4 teaspoons yogurt, and 1 teaspoon green onions)

Nutrition information: 198 calories, 4.1 g fat, 1.6 mg iron, 56 mg cholesterol, 63 mg calcium, 14.3 g carbohydrate, 456 mg sodium, 24.8 g protein, 3 g fiber.

Source: Cooking Light, September 2008

  
White Chili (My Version)

1 tablespoon canola or olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped onion (about 1 large)
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 jalapeno pepper, minced (ribbed and seeded, if you prefer less heat)
6 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth (about 3 cans)
5-10 teaspoons green hot pepper sauce, to taste (such as Tabasco)
2 lbs skinless, boneless chicken breasts, diced
5 tablespoons stone-ground cornmeal (heaping tablespoons, if you want to make the chili even thicker)
1 (4 oz) can diced green chiles
2-4 tablespoons lime juice (fresh or bottled), to your taste
3 (19-ounce) cans cannellini beans or other white beans--2 cans rinsed and drained, 1 can blended in a blender, undrained
1/2 cup plain fat-free yogurt or fat-free or low fat sour cream
2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onions (about 1), optional
Lime wedges, optional
Cilantro, chopped, optional
Favorite shredded cheese, optional

Directions:

Heat oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add chopped onion and garlic to pan; cook 5 minutes or until onion is tender, stirring occasionally. Add salt, cumin, chili powder, and minced jalapeno and stir just until fragrant (30 seconds to one minute). Add broth, hot pepper sauce and diced chicken to the pan. Bring to a low boil and continue until chicken is cooked through (about 15-20 minutes).

Reduce heat to low and add cornmeal, diced green chiles, lime juice, and beans (whole and blended) to broth mixture, stirring well. Simmer for 15 minutes (or until the cornmeal has thickened the chili and the beans are heated through).

Top each serving with the toppings of your choice (yogurt or sour cream, green onions, cilantro, lime wedges, cheese, etc.)

Notes: Obviously, my recipe makes a lot more soup (I like to have a lot of leftovers). Also, my version isn't as low calorie with the addition of more chicken and beans. Additionally, there is no reason to cook the chicken and then pull it out, cut it, and then return it to the chili. Adding diced uncooked chicken to the broth and allowing it to cook that way, adds more flavor and cuts out unnecessary steps. This version is much, much more flavorful. I love it and I hope you will too.


Carol Todd's Chicken Chalupas

Ingredients:

1 dozen flour tortillas
1/2 cup chicken broth (liquid from poaching the chicken breasts)
2 cans cream of chicken soup
4 green onions, chopped
1 pint sour cream
1 lb grated Monterey Jack cheese
1 lb grated Cheddar cheese
4 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed (poached in water--reserve water)
1 (4 oz) can chopped green chilis
1 small can sliced black olives

Directions:

Allow tortillas to come to room temperature so they will roll more easily.

Boil chicken breasts, and set aside 1/2 cup broth. Cool, de-bone, and cube chicken.

In separate bowl, mix together: soup, green chiles, green onions, sour cream, olives, and Monterey Jack cheese ONLY. Take 2 cups of this mixture and add to cubed chicken for filling.

Put generous portion in each tortilla dn roll up. Set in greased pan (9x13). After tortillas are filled, add the reserved broth to soup mixture without chicken and stir together, then pour over filled and rolled tortillas. Sprinkle grated Cheddar cheese over top.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes.

Notes: This recipe calls for A LOT of cheese. That's one of the things that makes it so scrumptious. You probably shouldn't have this main dish more than once or twice a year as a result! I haven't done this and I'll have to try it, but I think if half the cheese was used (1/2 pound of Monterey Jack and 1/2 pound of Cheddar), low-fat sour cream, and 98% fat free cream of chicken soup were used instead, it would still be yummy, but it would cut down on the calories and fat significantly. Also, if you have picky eaters, you can omit the green onions and olives in the filling and instead serve them on the top for those who do like them. Finally, I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts instead of bone-in chicken breasts and it still tasted great! Oh, and this is also a freezer friendly dish. Rather than cooking it, freeze it in an aluminum or freezer friendly casserole dish and cover it with aluminum foil (don't forget to label and date it!). When you are ready to cook it, either defrost it in the fridge overnight or place it frozen in the preheated oven (still covered with foil) and bake for 40-50 minutes. Then, remove the foil and continue to cook for an additional 25-35 minutes, or until the chalupas are hot and bubbly and the cheese is nicely browned. Adjust the cooking times accordingly depending on whether you cook it from frozen or defrosted.