Our latest meal to share is Trisha's interpretation of a recipe she got out of this really cool recipe book that my cousin Bevin, who's an amazing artist and designer, put together for my Grandma Malec's 80th birthday. It was a recipe book of all Grandma's recipes for such things as baked chicken, goulosh, kilbasa and sauerkraut and many other delicious appetizers, main courses and desserts. Also in the book were many dishes by many other members of the family. I'm sure there will be many more of these recipes to come on this blog in the future since it is an eclectic resource that inspires both Trisha and I to step up our game to get near the level of a woman who is truly a magician in the kitchen. We both had Grandmother's who loved to cook and for both of them, as I stated before, the most important ingredient to cook with is love. With my Grandmother, as anyone who's eaten at my Grandma's house can attest, she not only cooks with love but forces you to keep eating with it as well. "Did you get enough?", "You should go get some more", and the ever belly filling "You barely ate anything!". Okay, she's never said that last one to me, but I've heard her tell other people becasue I've never barely ate anything. What is neat to me has been watching the passion for cooking take hold of Trisha because she is so creative and her willingness to please her family through food is second to none, just like her Grandmother before her and mine as well.
One of the recipe's Trisha found in my Grandma's cookbook was a recipe for Chicken Chili put in the book and perfected by my Aunt Monica. The pictures you see are a very close interpretation of that particular chili, but as we've stated now many times, Trisha loves to experiment and she did so with this chili, and the outcome was a bright, bold, and unbelievably flavorful chili that would be a hit on any menu in the area, seriously. Now, I have to be honest, I hate chili. Hate it. Kidney beans are simply the worst texture of food known to man, and I won't ever bend on that particular piece of food, it literally makes me cringe even looking at them. Trisha being the wonderful wife she is and knowing I hate Kidney (and most other types of) beans, and her being the coneseur of coming up with new things for me to try, included in this Chili Great Northern white beans. She loves chicken dishes the most of all the proteins and that lead her to want to try this recipe when she saw it. So she didn't have the easiest time convincing me to eat it, cause the word "chili" usually means I'll be making hot dogs and mac and cheese for dinner that night. As most men can attest, when it comes to food, we are more willing to give up fighting something after a short amount of time because women can often times be relentless in their persuit of an argument, and also because, lets face it, happy wife, happy life and fighting over food just isn't worth it. Trish puts a lot of effort into these dishes, the least I can do is try a couple bites to make her happy. So her persuasive ways of trying to convince me to try this chili really paid off because it was simply the best chili I can ever remember eating.
Ingredients:
2 cans Northern Beans
3 Cups cooked chicken breast - diced
1 jar Chunky Medium Salsa
1 small can Campbell's cheddar cheese soup
24 oz. Chicken Broth
1 tsp cumin
3 cloves garlic - minced
1 tsp Zhenders chicken seasoning
1/8 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp seasoned salt
1/4 tsp Cajun seasoning
1 can whole kernal corn - drained
2 Cups Monterey Jack and/or Cheddar Cheese - shredded
Preparation:
1.It's Chili! Throw it all in a Dutch oven or large soup pot, mix thoroughly.
2. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for at least one hour.
3. Add 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese, continue to simmer at least 15 more minutes.
4. Pour into bowls and top with remaining cheese.
This Chili was a huge success at our house and its also a great alternative to those who don't eat beef. I know it's not many of you, but Trisha is one of these people. She enjoys the occasional steak, but ground beef just isn't a element she enjoys so we use ground turkey as our beef substitute in many things such as regular chili and even meat loaf, as you will see in our next post.
Another quick and easy meal that just takes very little attention to detail and one that anyone can make. Try it out and throw your own ingredients into the mix and let us know how it turned out. Enjoy!
