White Chicken Chili

This White Chicken Chili is so flavorful.  Link here.

White Chicken Chili

Recipe by Our Best Bites

I call this a chili, but it’s really a soup consistency.
If you want it thicker, just reduce the amount of broth.

1 T Extra virgin Olive Oil
1 lb boneless chicken, cubed (about 3-4 boneless, skinless breasts)
1 medium onion, diced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
2 cans Great Northern Beans
1 3.5 oz can green chilies
1/2 t cumin
1/2 t dried oregano leaves
1/2 t coriander
1/2 t salt
fresh cracked pepper
1 lime
1/2 C chopped cilantro

1 32oz box chicken brothCondiments: (in addition to measurements above)
Sour cream
Chopped cilantro
Pepperjack or Jack cheese, shredded
Avocado
Tortilla Chips or make your own tortilla strips

In a large pot, heat olive oil. Add chopped onion and cook for about 2 minutes- just until it starts to become translucent. While onions are cooking, drain beans and rinse with cold water and set aside. Sprinkle chopped chicken with a little salt and pepper and add to pot. Add garlic as well. Cook until there’s no more visible pink on the chicken, probably 3-4 minutes.Then add green chills- along with all of the juices in the can. Add beans, cumin, oregano, coriander, salt, and a few turns of fresh cracked pepper. Stir to combine and then add chicken broth.Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer uncovered for 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and add the juice from one lime and the 1/2 C chopped cilantro. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Ladle into bowls and top with sour cream. Serve with condiments. If you don’t have all those condiments- at least have sour cream! But honestly, it’s best with everything 

Makes about 8 cups of soup.

Creamy Potato Crockpot Soup

Creamy Potato Crockpot Soup
from: Nikki Holmstead

5 lbs of Russet potatoes, washed but not peeled. Diced into 1/2 in cubes
1 large yellow onion, diced (use as much or little onion as you like)
4 cloves of garlic minced (feel free to add more if you love garlic)
8 cups of chicken stock
16 oz cream cheese (low fat works great)
1 tbs seasoned salt or all purpose seasoning

Garnishes:

Crumbled Bacon
Shredded Cheese
Green Onions

Add potatoes, onion, garlic, seasoning and chicken stock to slow cooker. Cook on high for 6 hours or low for 10 hours. (When I halved this reciped it took less time to cook about 1-2 hours less.)
Remove 1/2 to 1/3 of the soup and puree. An immersion blender works great for this, but a potato masher would work or a hand mixer. Return pureed portion to the crockpot with the cream cheese.
Stir until the soup is well blended. Allow cream cheese to melt and heat through.
Serve with your choice of garnishes. Tastes great in bread bowl.

Creamy Corn Chowder

I made this for the first time tonight and it was so good. It tastes like the corn chowder at Mimi's Cafe, but not as many calories. There was quite a bit of stirring, but actually really easy to put together. Loved it!

Creamy Corn Chowder
Recipe by Our Best Bites

2 Tbsp. butter
1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. water
2 1/2 c. milk (skim or 1% work just fine and lighten it up considerably)
2 regular-sized chicken bouillon cubes, 1 Knorr chicken bouillon cube, or 2 tsp. chicken base
1/2 lb. bacon (optional)
1 small onion, minced
2 red potatoes, diced into small cubes
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 can corn, drained or about 1 1/2 C frozen fresh corn
Salt and pepper to taste
A few dashes of hot sauce (like Tabasco or Cholula)

Fry bacon until crisp. In the meantime, melt butter over low heat in a soup pot. When melted, add flour to make a roux and whisk until it comes together in a little ball. Add water and whisk until completely combined and there are no lumps. Add milk and chicken base or bouillon and bring to a simmer. Add potatoes, onions, and garlic, and simmer (but don’t boil!), stirring very frequently, for about 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Add crumbled bacon and corn and heat through. Add a few drops of hot sauce and then salt to taste. The reason why I don’t have an exact measurement is that while the soup REALLY needs salt, bacon also really differs in its saltiness, so it can be super easy to make this soup waaaaay too salty. Start with about 1/4 tsp., give it a few minutes, and then add more if you need it.

Ladle into bowls and sprinkle with extra bacon and/or cheese if you want. Modify to make gluten free by using corn starch instead of flour. Modify to make vegetarian by omitting bacon.

Serves 6-8.

Taco Soup

Here is my version of taco soup that may be exactly like someone else's version, but between the two versions I have seen, this is a hybrid. So I call it mine.

Taco soup

-2 cans, drained and rinsed (or 2 cups soaked and cooked,if using fresh) of beans of your choice ( I usually use pinto and black)
-1/2 lb. to 1 lb. ground beef, browned with 1/2 an onion and a few cloves of garlic
- 2 cans of tomatoes, UN-drained
-1 can whole kernel corn, UN-drained
- 1 envelope dry Ranch dressing mix
-1 envelope of Taco Seasoning

Throw everything in the crockpot. Add water to just cover ingredients. Stir a couple of times, and cook on Low for about 5-6 hours. Top with crushed tortilla chips, shredded cheese, sour cream and/or chopped green onions.

Tortellini Sausage Soup

This soup has such a delicious flavor. I got it from Our Best Bites new seasonal cookbook, but you can also get this recipe on their web site. It is delicious.

Tortellini Sausage Soup
3 links Italian sausage
4 cloves pressed garlic
1 onion, diced
½ c. water
2 15-oz. cans chicken broth
½ c. apple cider (don’t leave this out! I did once and it wasn’t the same…)
1 16-oz. can diced tomatoes
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
1 c. sliced carrots
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. dried oregano
2 medium zucchini, grated (great way to use your food processor if you have one)
2 tablespoons dried parsley

8-10 oz. package cheese tortellini (check the freezer section of your grocery store; if you can find it there, it will almost always be way cheaper than fresh tortellini. Also, Barilla makes a great dry cheese tortellini)
2 Tbsp. dried parsley (yes, that’s two tablespoons)

If you’re using link sausage, remove the casings and crumble into a large soup pot. To remove the casings, you can use a sharp knife to cut a slit down one side of the sausage and then peel back the casing.

Chop onion and add to pot with garlic and a drizzle of olive oil. Continue cooking until onions are translucent and your sausage is cooked. Your house will smell heavenly.

Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, juice, water, chicken broth, carrots, oregano, and basil. Cover and simmer for 1/2 hour. Add parsley and zucchini and simmer for another 15 minutes or so. Add the tortellini and cook until tender, and then serve with bread and freshly-grated Parmesan.

Black Bean Soup

From Our Best Bites. I looooooooooooooooooooove this soup! So delicious, so nutritous! My husband really likes it which cracks me up since there are carrots in it! Which have been cooked!!!! He claims cooked carrots make him throw up. I think its a mental thing. Especially since this soup has them cooked in and he was none the wiser.

Black Bean Soup
Recipe by Our Best Bites

1 T olive oil
4 large cloves garlic, roughly chopped
3/4 C diced carrots (about 2 med carrots)
3/4 C diced celery (about 2 ribs)
1 C diced onion (about 1 sm-med onion)
2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 3.5oz can green chilies
2 cans low-sodium beef broth
1 t kosher salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/2 t chili powder
1/4 t cumin
1/2 t dry oregano leaves
1 bay leaf
Optional Toppings: sour cream, tortilla chips, grated cheese, chopped cilantro, etc.

Place a large stock pot on the stove-top and set to medium-high heat. When pan is warm, add olive oil. Add carrots, celery, onion, and garlic and saute 4-5 minutes.

Add in the black beans, chilies, and beef broth. Stir to combine and then add the salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin, oregano, and bay leaf.

Simmer uncovered for about 20-25 minutes or until carrots are tender.

Remove from heat. Remove bay leaf from soup.

Place soup in a blender. (You could use an immersion blender in place of this step) Place lid on blender, but remove the stopper in the lid to let heat escape. Place a paper towel over the hole to avoid splatters.

Puree soup until completely smooth. Optionally you could pulse until a semi-chunky soup is achieved. Squeeze in the juice from one lime and pulse to combine.

Ladle into bowls and top with desired toppings. Serve with extra lime wedges. Makes about 8 C soup.


Nutritional Information (1 C soup, w/o toppings):
125 calories, 2g fat, 8g fiber
2 Weight Watchers points
South Beach Diet Phase 2 (eat carrots sparingly)