My mom has been wanting to host an annual chili cook-off for several years now. We kind of had one last year, but really it ended up just being a chili fest and it was awesome. This year, she is hoping to have one again, and despite my hesitation to post this recipe since it will most likely be my entry - it's just too good to pass up posting, especially with today being the first day of Fall and the weather starting to have a chill in the air.
I brought the leftovers of this over to my brothers and they were enamored by it - can you even use that word to describe how someone feels about food? Probably not for normal people, but for my family, its completely acceptable. We love food. Plain and simple. It's an event in the Shirahama household, an emotion, a conversation topic. When I was away at U of I for school, any time I spoke to my mom around dinner time, she would ask what I was having and then unknowingly torture me by telling me what she was making. As I treked to the dining hall where I found very few things enjoyable (and also was horrified at coming home in the fall with the dreaded "freshman 15" - I opted for turkey sandwiches and salads most of the time. I love making something that I can share with my family and that elicits "ohhh's" and "ahhh's" because that's exactly how we were raised. Dinner is still always shared because we all enjoy discussing how delicious the meal my mom made was and laugh about those meals that weren't so great (which is rare, but you can bet my poor mom never lives those meals down).
My mom thinks this will be the winner of the chili cook-off - I think she's just being a good mom and praising me more than I deserve, but I think it will at the very least be enjoyed by whoever makes it!
Jalapeno Popper Chicken Chili
Ingredients
1 tbsp EVOO
1 small sweet onion, diced
4 Fresh Jalapeno Peppers, seeded and diced (leave in some seeds if you like more heat)
3 Cloves Garlic, minced
1 1/4 lbs chicken tenders, cut in chunks
2 TSP Chili Powder
1 TSP Cumin
1 TSP Oregano
1 1/2 C Chicken Broth
1 - 10 oz Can Diced Tomatoes with Green Chiles
1 - 14 oz Can Navy Beans, drained
1 - 14 oz Can Sweet Corn, drained
4 oz Cream Cheese
4 oz Neufactel Cheese
1 lb bacon or turkey bacon, cooked and crumbled
Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Cook bacon, remove and drain. Add bacon fat to large stock pot with 1 TBSP of EVOO. Add in jalapeno peppers, onion and garlic and cook until tender. Add salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin and oregano. Season chicken with salt and pepper, add to stock pot and brown on each side (add more EVOO if needed). Add diced tomatoes, chicken broth and corn and increase heat allowing to simmer for 30 minutes. Add cream cheeses and stir until melted - stir in bacon and additional salt, pepper and seasoning as needed. Serve with shredded cheddar and corn bread.
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