White Chicken Chili

Ok, so like what, a year later? Now I'm ready to actually start this blog! Life has calmed down slightly, and it's time to focus on family and healthy eating. Let's start out with a classic in our house, white chicken chili. In order to be a "one handed chef" 15-30 mins to prep the night before. I wait until after the little one has gone to bed, usually this is a time for my husband and I to talk, and spend a little time together, so I truly don't mind the prepping time (although if anyone wants to do the dishes...). To make my prepping easier, I simply put my food in containers (that can be thrown in the dishwasher the next day!) and back in the fridge. Once I get home, it is usually a rush to get dinner on the table so I try to do as much a head of time that I can. Also, my daughter (2.5 years old) ALWAYS "helps" with cooking so having the ingredients prepped at least eliminates the fight of her wanting to use the knife...

Night Time Prep (15 mins total including cleaning):

• Dice half of a large onion (white or yellow-whatever you have on hand)
• Dice 1 jalapeno (for less spicy discard seeds and ribs)
• Cut 3 chicken breasts in to bit size chunks (don't you love that word?)
• Cut 2 slices of bacon in to bit size pieces 

Day Of (30 mins total)

• In a large dutch oven put about 2 tlbs olive oil and bacon over medium heat. Once the bacon has began to render, add onion. You may or may not need to add a little more olive oil-just keep an eye out for anything starting to stick.  (if you don't like bacon, or trying to be a little healthier, you can leave it out. We've made this dish several times without, and it is still great. It is only 2 slices of bacon for the whole dish though...)
• Once your onion has cooked down a bit (7-10 mins) add about 1 tbls cumin and 1/2 to 1 tbls oregano. This can be adjusted to your families taste. Next, add about 1-1.5tbls flour. This will be a thickening agent in your chili and form a "rue" with your olive oil and bacon. Next add about a 1/4 cup chicken stock, be sure to get all the good "bits" off the bottom. Finally, add the chicken to the pot. You may or may not need to add more stock, just be sure that everything is not getting dried out. 
• Add salt and pepper to taste. 
• Once chicken is cooked through, add 1 bag of frozen corn and 1 can of chick peas. If more stock is needed-add it but be careful not to add too much. You don't want this to be a soup. 
• Cook until everything is heated up and cooked through. 
• EAT! The great thing is you can keep this on low on the stove so if family is coming and going at different times, it stays warm. Also, the left overs are amazing. My daughter had 3 bowls of this last night (my husband and I one larger bowl each) and there is plenty for one more meal.

We usually will also make (or buy a head of time) corn bread and serve with sour cream and if we have it, cheddar cheese.

The great thing about this is day of, everything just goes in to one pot. So only one pot to clean and all of the rest of the dishes can go right in the dishwasher. I've given a breakdown of approximate prices below. As far as spices-we usually buy ours at World Market-you can buy in bulk and the usually ahve 10% off or $5 off coupons that make the spices super affordable.

1 package organic chicken $5.35 (always stock up when on sale!)
1 bag frozen corn $.80
1 jalapeno $.40
1 can chick peas $1
1 onion $1
2 slices bacon $1.50 (I buy my at the butcher so I'm not buying a whole packages...mainly because then my family will eat a whole packaged. I usually just by 5 slices at a time, then add them to dishes as needed throughout the week).
Chicken Stock (we always have some in the freezer from coking whole chicken-for another day, so this is basically a freebie in my house. If you are going to buy, buy high quality and keep in the freezer)
Cumin, oregano, olive oil and flour-lets just call it $2
(optional sour cream and cheddar cheese-$2)

Total $11.05 ($13.05)-this meal has at least 6 LARGE servings so you're looking about $1.80 ($2.18) per serving. Factor in cornbread, bring it up to about $2. Come one, how great is that!