Tag: poultry

WRAPS: His and Hers

Lori TisdaleLeave a comment

Just as summer is coming to an end, I realized I hadn’t yet posted one of our staple summer dinners…

Wraps… we make “his” and “hers” versions of our mediterranean chicken wraps. How easy can THAT be?!

But first I’ll start with the low-cal dressing that goes on so many dishes in our house… it is adapted from a chain brewhouse-type restaurant. Instead of a mayo/sour cream base, I use 0% fat Fage yogurt to keep the calories down.

Low-Cal Southwest Dressing
Recipe courtesy Lori Tisdale

Instructions
1 cup Fage 0% yogurt
1 1/2 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin powder
Healthy pinch of cayenne pepper
Pinch kosher salt/black pepper

Instructions
Whisk together. Give it a taste; add more cayenne or salt, if needed.

The grilled chicken gets cut into long strips…

The tortilla (aka wrap) gets thrown on the griddle real briefly to warm it up, on both sides…

Then the low-cal Southwest Dressing gets gets smeared on the slightly warmed sun-dried tomato wrap…

Then the rest of the to0pings-of-choice get placed atop the dressing… I chose lettuce, red onion, red bell pepper strips, chicken, havarti cheese and arugula. Mmm mmm good!

Cut it in half… and you’ve got an entire meal right there!

And for his… (he likes different toppings)…

Same wrap. Same dressing, lettuce, red onion, red pepper strips… but he prefers mozzarella cheese and some New Zealand spinach…

Oh! I forgot one more important thing… wrap it tightly and place back on the griddle for about 45 seconds, seam side down. This will help to hold the tortilla together at the seam.

There ya go… this meal earns major points, in my book!
– It’s quick and easy.
– It doesn’t require heating up the whole kitchen (which is a plus during the hot summer).
– It can be easily customized for each person.
– It can be easily wrapped up and taken with you.
– It makes for fantastic leftovers.

These wraps are just fantastic for easy summer livin’… and life is good!

enjoy your time in the kitchen…

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RECIPE: An easy stir fry…

Lori TisdaleLeave a comment

Looking for some more easy summer dishes? Here’s one that I think will be enjoyed quite often this summer! That’s because with stir fry the veggies are cooked at a super high heat, which cooks them very fast! Other than prep time you’re hardly spending any time actually “cooking”.

And I know you know that I love my short cuts… taking a short cut here we bought a frozen package of stir fry vegetables (from Trader Joe’s, but most groceries should have this). It’s chocked full of pea pods, bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, soybeans, water chestnuts, carrots and mushrooms. And then to that we added fresh broccoli. (Whick veggies do YOU use for a stir fry?)

Next we move on to making our stir fry sauce… it’s a combination of soy sauce, chicken stock, rice vinegar, red pepper flakes, corn starch and dark sesame oil (not pictured here). Oh, how forgetful am I?! I forgot to buy more when doing this post… so instead I used a touch of canola oil – and of course it didn’t quite taste the same. But it worked out alright… next time, there’s always next time.

The ingredients were whisked together in a little bowl and the corn starch added.

Here’s an interesting fact about corn starch – it thickens when it gets hot. So be prepared for the corn starch to settle at the bottom of the cute little bowl… you can whisk it up again real quick before adding it to the heat.

And we’re ready to stir fry… since stir fry is a quick process I’ve gotten in the habit of lining up all the players so they are ready for use: frozen stir fry vegetable mix, broccoli bites, and our “house chicken” (sliced/cooked – which we’ll cover in another blog post)…

Heat the oil up, over medium-high to high heat… and add those veggies. (Please note – after eating this dish I wish I would have cooked the broccoli a little more. So, the recipe below is written to let the broccoli cook for a few minutes by themselves before adding the frozen veggies.)

Isn’t that beautiful?! Yes, the pan will sizzle when the veggies are added… that’s the sound you’re looking for! You want it to be hot, hot, hot… (kind of like it is right now, outside… UNLIKE how it is as I sit inside typing away in my air conditioned house! Ahhh…. )

Keep moving the veggies around the pan, stirring/tossing frequently. They will cook for about 6-8 minutes total…

And then the sauce and the chicken is added… remember, as the sauce heats up it thickens up. It will also soak into the veggies and chicken… and it’s oh so yummy!!!

Stir it around… and when the chicken has heated through it’s ready to serve up!

We enjoy ours with brown rice, a touch more soy sauce and a sprinkle of sesame seeds to top it off.

Chicken and Vegetable Stir Fry
Recipe courtesy Lori Tisdale

Ingredients
¼ cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons cornstarch
½ teaspoon dark sesame oil
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper (or more, to taste)
1 tablespoon canola oil
2 cups fresh broccoli, cut into small bite-size pieces (by volume)
8 ounces frozen vegetable stir fry mix (by weight)
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 10 oz, cooked and sliced)

Instructions
In a small bowl whisk together chicken broth, rice vinegar, soy sauce, corn starch, sesame oil and crushed red pepper. Set aside.

Add 1 tablespoon canola oil to hot sauté pan (or wok) over high heat. Add broccoli, sauté for about 2-3 minutes; tossing pan regularly to coat and evenly cook broccoli. Add the vegetable stir fry mix and continue to saute for another 5-6 minutes. (If using fresh vegetables reduce cooking time appropriately.)

Stir broth mixture one more time to make sure corn starch is completely mixed in and add to pan. Simmer for about 30 seconds; add chicken. Reduce heat and stir until chicken is warmed through

Serve with brown rice, a touch more soy sauce and a sprinkle of sesame seeds on top.

enjoy your time in the kitchen…

Recipe: Lite Tex Mex Salad

Lori TisdaleLeave a comment

As my hero-of-a-hubby and I embark on an “eating-fresher-and-getting-healthier-in-the-process” adventure we’re finding all sorts of new food combinations, cooking methods, tasty tricks, etc… and this salad was one of the first things we discovered. It will be a staple for us through the summer…

Here’s the recipe we started with… it was originally in Eating Well magazine, but most recently featured on Cooking.com. As you’ll notice, the recipe doesn’t include the fried tortilla… we just crumbled up a few tortilla chips on top of the salad for some extra crunch. The meat has so much flavor… so, so much flavor! What a great salad…

Tex-Mex Taco Salad

We decided to use ground turkey (obviously a leaner meat which also contains more protein by ounce and isn’t as high in cholesterol as ground beef)… and then we changed up the dressing to a lighter yogurt version.

The original Southwest Dressing post… Southwest Dressing

But NOW we are replacing the Ranch dressing with Fage greek yogurt. This reduces the calories and carbs dramatically. (And with all the extra seasonings in it you can’t even taste the difference. It’s a perfect substitution!)

Come with us as we dig deeper into the topic of nutrition and as we commit to eating fresher and being healthier!

Below is my “lite” version of Eating Well’s Tex Mex Salad recipe…

Lite Tex Mex Salad
Recipe courtesy Lori Tisdale

Ingredients
½ cup prepared salsa
3 tablespoons Fage 0% Greek Yogurt
1 teaspoon canola oil
1 small onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
10 ounces ground turkey
1 large plum tomato, diced
1 can kidney beans, rinsed
2 teaspoons ground cumin, divided
2 teaspoons chili powder, divided
Pinch cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
Kosher salt
4 cups shredded romaine lettuce
¼ cup pepper jack cheese, shredded

Instructions
Make the lite southwest dressing first. Compbine Fage yogurt, 1 tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp chili powder, pinch of cayenne pepper and kosher salt. Whisk together until combined. Add salsa to yogurt mixture and stir well. Set aside.

Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion and pinch of salt and cook, stirring often, until onions start to turn translucent. Add garlic and cook for an additional minute or so, stirring often. Add ground meat and cook until cooked through, 4 to 6 minutes. Add kidney beans, cumin, chili powder and a pinch of salt. Stir well, lower heat and place lid on skillet. Allow to sit for about 15 minutes to ensure the beans get cooked. Remove lid, add tomato and cook for a few more minutes, until the tomato begins to break down (about 2 minutes). Remove from the heat, stir in cilantro and 2 tablespoons of the salsa mixture.

In a large bowl add lettuce and remaining salsa mixture – toss until all lettuce pieces are coated with salsa. Divide lettuce among two plates; top with the cooked meat/bean mixture, shredded cheese and a few crumbled tortilla chips.

enjoy your time in the kitchen…

2 RECIPES: Alfredo Sauce and Italian Nachos

Lori Tisdale1 Comment

Please forgive me, for I neglected to take pictures of all the players for this post… but you can catch up easily. Come with me…

We’re going to make italian nachos… and for that we need some grilled chicken, alfredo sauce and nacho toppings. You will want to make these…

My hero-of-a-hubby and I first enjoyed these in Dallas at a Johnny Carino’s restaurant… and we fell in love, with the nachos that is (as we were already in love with each other – obviously). We were in Dallas for my brother’s wedding… and jealous they had a Carino’s and we didn’t.

Lucky us, they eventually opened a Carino’s restaurant near us in Southern California and we got to go back and enjoy it again and again… to the point that I finally started making them at home. Sadly they recently closed their location near us… but we don’t mind, I’m making my twist on our favorite Carino dishes in my own kitchen now…

Here’s how we do the italian nachos. Start with wonton wrappers, cut in half to form triangles. (I used about half a package, or 30-40 wonton wrappers for two large dinner plates of nachos.)

Once the canola oil is heated up to frying temperatures then you can start frying the wonton wrappers, several at a time. Fry until lightly browned and then flip them over. With a spider remove them to a dish lined with paper towels (to soak up any extra oil). Continue with all of the wonton wrappers until they are all fried.

While you’re working on the wonton wrappers grill up some chicken breasts. You’ll see that I cut the chicken breasts in half. They cook a bit faster this way… and that suits me just fine.

Once they were on the grill I sprinkled them with garlic salt and black pepper. They cooked for about 3 minutes on each side… once they got flipped over they cooked for about 2 minutes. Nice and fast, eh?!

In the meantime, most of the wonton wrappers are ready… every now and then I sprinkled them with some kosher salt. And then they just sat over here and waited for their nacho destiny.

In the meantime I started the quick and easy alfredo sauce. This uses a block of cream cheese, half a stick of butter, parmesan cheese, milk, nutmeg, and kosher salt/pepper.

It’s as easy as this… cube the butter and cream cheese. Place the cubes in a medium sized saucepan (over medium low heat), add milk and parmesan cheese and stir until everything is melted and smooth.

Add the kosher salt, black pepper and freshly grated nutmeg to taste. Allow the sauce to sit over low heat, stirring every few minutes, until you’re ready to use it.

Tonight my hero-of-a-hubby was helping with the prep work… see?! There are his manly hands slicing up some cute lil’ pepperoncinis… yum!!!

And to give him a bit more credit… he also did 2 loads of dishes tonight (lucky me!), prepped most of the misc ingredients (also known as “mise en place”), manned the frying wonton wrappers, and looked over my shoulder each step of the way! We had fun doing this together tonight! (I’m one lucky girl!!!)

Lastly we begin the assembly… let’s work on the first layer of “chips”, sliced chicken, alfredo sauce and toppings of choice…

And we finish it off with just one more layer of all of these good things…

He likes only a few pepperoncinis and black olives, and no tomatoes…

But me? Load ’em up! I love the pepperoncinis, black olives, diced tomatoes… and I typically like cripier chips. So we made our own plates…

Johnny Carino’s also offered them with crumbled italian sausage, which we did not use tonight… but it only makes these nachos better. There’s always next time…

In the meantime… here’s the recipe for the alfredo… enjoy!!!

Favorite Alfredo Sauce
Recipe courtesy Lori Tisdale

Ingredients
8 ounces cream cheese, cut into small squares
3/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
¼ cup butter, cut into small squares
½ cup milk
Pinch of salt, black pepper and nutmeg

Instructions
Place medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Combine cream cheese, Parmesan, butter and milk, stirring constantly until smooth. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste.

Leftovers freeze well.

enjoy your time in the kitchen…

RECIPE: Quick Turkey Bolognese with Tagliatelle

Lori TisdaleLeave a comment

Bolognese… a style of sauce from the region of Bologna, Italy. Granted, my version isn’t all that traditional. There are some shortcuts made and some ingredients substituted… but it’s darn tasty!!!

So all you authentic italians out there… don’t throw darts. You don’t have to like my version. But we do… it’s a quick dinner, having substituted ground turkey it’s a bit healthier, and it’s sure a hit in our household.

So, join me in the kitchen for a quick and uber-tasty dinner!!!

This is where I started… ground turkey, your choice of marinara sauce, red wine, milk, olive oil, diced onions/garlic/mushrooms (mushrooms not pictured), red pepper flakes, salt/pepper and parmesan cheese.

In a heavy bottom pan, here I’m using my favorite Dutch Oven, brown the ground meat in the oil. Once most of the pink is gone add your diced veg (onions, garlic and mushrooms).

Saute over medium-high heat for a few minutes… and then…

Add your vino and marinara…

Give it a good stir… lower the heat and simmer for several minutes. Taste it… if you think it needs it (and we do) add some kosher salt and red pepper flakes, to taste.

Allow it so simmer a little longer and then add the milk and parmesan cheese… once the pasta is al dente add it to the sauce and give ‘er a toss!

Call the family to wash their hands and come to the table… dinner’s on!!!

From prep to plate, it takes about 30-45 minutes. And most of that is cooking time. What a heart-warming dish… you can serve it by itself, or with a panini or a whole mess of garlic breadsticks (yeah – that’s what we did).

Enjoy it… we do!

Quick Turkey Bolognese
Recipe courtesy Lori Tisdale

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 lb ground turkey (or ground hamburger, if you prefer)
3-4 cloves garlic, diced
½ cup diced onion
½ cup diced crimini mushrooms
2 cups of your favorite marinara
1/8 – 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 cup red wine
½ cup milk
¼ grated parmesan cheese, plus some
Kosher salt/pepper

Instructions
Brown ground meat in heavy bottom pan; over medium-high heat. Once almost all the pink is gone add diced onions, garlic and mushrooms. Sauté and stir for about 5 minutes, until vegetables have softened. Add wine, marinara and red pepper flakes (to taste); stir well. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Simmer for about 15 minutes; over medium-low heat. Taste to see if you want to add any salt/pepper. Stir in milk and grated parmesan. Simmer for another 5 minutes or so. In the meantime, prepare tagliatelle noodles according to package. When the pasta is al dente drain transfer to sauce; toss until all pasta is coated with sauce. When plating add another sprinkle of parmesan.

enjoy your time in the kitchen…

The BEST Chicken Pot Pie I’ve ever made!!!

Lori Tisdale2 Comments


Thank you to Cook’s Illustrated for this… Chicken Pot Pie with Savory Crumble Topping. Well-written recipe… full of flavor, some serious flavor!!!

For just me and my hubby I cut the recipe in half and it was plenty… but we sure were wanting more! Wow… words CANNOT explain how yummy this was. I guess you’re going to have to make it for yourself to find out!

Here’s where I started… the” mise en place”. I chopped, diced, measured, poured and got all the ingredients ready for the process. (I have an affinity for mise en place… what can I say?! I’m an organized person and this process is just so much fun for me.)

Chicken stock, canola oil, cream, butter, mushrooms, onions, peas, carrots, flour, soy sauce, tomato paste and lemon juice.


I’ve never used soy sauce, tomato paste or lemon juice in a chicken pot pie. I would consider these to be the “secret weapons” of this dish. THANK YOU to Cook’s Illustrated for these secrets! (This idea opens a whole new set of ideas for me… when it comes to other dishes that might need a kick of flavor. Seriously – love it!)

In a Dutch oven I boiled the chicken until cooked…

And while the chicken cooked I worked on the savory crumble topping… which is good enough to just bake up and eat as a Friday afternoon snack! The topping is made of flour, baking powder, salt/pepper, cayenne pepper, butter, parmesan cheese and cream. Watch this…

Mix the dry ingredients together and added cubed/chilled butter… then with your hands (the best tools in the kitchen) rub the butter into the flour until it resembles a coarse cornmeal. Stir in the cheese until well mixed and then add the cream.

Mix it with a spoon and crumble the topping into uneven globs of goodness onto a baking sheet… fun, huh?!

Bake off the topping in a hot oven while you start assembling the rest of your pot pie. (The pot below is the same Dutch oven I boiled the chicken in – no need to wash it. I transferred the chicken to a cutting board so I could chop it up… and I strained the broth and set it aside to use it later in this process.)

From here on it comes together pretty quickly. Saute the carrots, onion, celery in a little bit of veg oil and some salt/pepper, until soft… once done transfer the vegetables to a bowl.

Add a bit more veg oil to the Dutch oven and do the same with the mushrooms…

They will lose their moisture in about 5 minutes… then add the tomate paste and soy sauce and cook just a tad (until the moisture evaporates).

About now it will be time to remove the crumble topping from the oven… try not to snack on all of it… there IS another purpose for it!


Back to the Dutch oven… this is what has been left behind by the mushrooms, soy sauce and tomato paste process. That “brown stuff” on the bottom of the pan is pure gold in this dish!!! It’s called FOND… and I’m very fond of fond. (My apologies… that was super cheesy!)

When you add moisture to fond it comes off the bottom of the Dutch oven nicely and imparts some amazing flavor to your dish.

As you can see I’ve removed the mushrooms from the Dutch oven. They are now in the bowl with the other vegetables, waiting for their next task.


We will now start building the sauce, starting with butter and flour. Stir the butter and flour together, allowing it to cook for a minute or so… otherwise the sauce will taste “flour-y”.

Next pour in the reserved chicken stock and milk (or cream) and while stirring scrape the fond off the bottom and sides of the Dutch oven.


In the picture below, see the wall of the Dutch oven? And how easily that fond scrapes off? It will then just melt into the sauce mixture and that’s where a lot of the amazing flavor of this dish comes from. Thank you Mr Fond! Give the sauce a little taste. If it needs a little more salt/pepper add it now.

Remove the Dutch oven from the heat and add the lemon juice, shredded chicken and vegetables (including frozen peas)…

Stir together a few times and transfer mixture to baking dish… since it’s just the two of us I used a small round casserole (but the recipe from Cook’s Illustrated calls for a 9″ x 13″ baking dish). Then add the crumble topping and place it on the middle rack in the oven.


About 15-20 mins later you TOO will be saying this is the best chicken pot pie you’ve ever made!!! You can do it… and you’re loved ones will thank you for it!!!

A few tips from Lori:

– Always read through a new recipe completely before making it the first time. I’ve made this mistake so many times and am still learning it. So take it from me…. read it first, then get to it!

– Even if you don’t like to, go through the mise en place process for this dish. Have all of your ingredients pre-measured, set aside and waiting for you to grab them. Just trust me…

But most importantly… …

enjoy your time in the kitchen…

RECIPE: Tequila Lime Chicken

Lori Tisdale1 Comment

Let me introduce you to a specialty from Sammy’s California Woodfired Pizza… from the first bite I knew this was quickly going to become a regular in our household. The sauce is TO DIE FOR! From the pasta and chicken soaking up all that flavor to the fresh, crunchy vegetables… oh boy! This really is a treat..

Around our house we also call it “Chicken Tequila Fettuccine” or “the best rockin’ pasta dish this side of the Atlantic”… and lastly, our “summer go-to dish”… it’s an easy recipe to cut in half for a small dinner or GO BIG and serve at a dinner party with salad and bread and whatever else you simply can’t resist!!!

But when I realized I hadn’t posted about this yet I almost fell over… so I quickly made a “date” of it. I called My Friend Debbie over to enjoy the process with me. She’s a great sous chef!!! Plus, she and I have history over this dish… LOTS of history over this dish. So we made a “date” of it… and planned it out for a beautiful evening on the patio, lots of laughter and had the perfect chance to catch up on life. It’s unseasonably warm this time of year… I know, I know… we have perfect weather year round here in Southern California. So, we have to enjoy it, right?!

Before we start I’d like to show you a scan of the original recipe we found years ago… you can tell it was used, and reused and um… dripped on…

So, here’s where we started… tequila, soy sauce, red/green bell peppers, red onion, garlic, limes, chicken and fettuccine.

Might as well start it off with the good stuff, right?! Measure out equal parts of tequila and soy sauce…

Then prep the rest of the ingredients… you know, the “mise en place”. The coking starts by sauteing the veggies (2-4 minutes), then add the garlic (1 minute or so), then add the chicken…

Cook the chicken until no pink remains… tossing every minute or so to make sure it all cooks evenly.

Next add the mixture of tequila/soy sauce, stir in and bring to a simmer… allow it to simmer and reduce for about 5-8 minutes…

Oh, and add the lime juice too…

Bring it to a simmer… and while you’re doing that…

… start the boiling process on the fettuccine… it all comes together pretty quickly from here on out…

The sauce will simmer and reduce… then add the heavy cream.

Here I used 1 cup of cream… but only use as much cream as you’d like. So, add a few ounces, stir it up and check out the sauce. You’ll know when you find the combination you like the best.

Reduce heat to low and allow to sit until the pasta is done, the bread is ready (aka “torn into smaller pieces”, aka “perfect size for dipping”) and enjoy your evening!

And yes, if some of the bread accidentally “falls” into the sauce you’ll certainly have to retrieve it… won’t you?!

Lastly, toss the drained pasta into the sauce/veggie/chicken mixture until all of the pasta is coated with sauce and serve immediately! But don’t forget to garnish… I used fresh cilantro here.

The My Friend Debbie and I headed to the patio… ‘cuz we just couldn’t help ourselves!


Enjoy… with spring and summer just around the corner you’ll want to plan for this dish!

Tequila Lime Chicken
Recipe courtesy Chef Jeff Novak, Sammy’s California Woodfired Pizza

Ingredients
2 ounces butter
2 ounces olive oil
10-12 chicken tenders, boneless and skinless (or 4 chicken breasts)
1 red bell pepper, sliced
1 green bell pepper, sliced
1 red onion, sliced
5 garlic cloves, minced
8 ounces gold tequila
8 ounces soy sauce
1 cup heavy cream
Juice of 3 limes
Optional: 1 teaspoon diced jalapenos
kosher salt/pepper to taste
1 package fettuccine, cooked to directions on box
garnish with 1 tablespoon cilantro, diced

Instructions
In a large sauté pan over medium-high heat, sauté peppers and red onion in butter and oil until softened, 3-5 minutes. Sprinkle pinch of salt on vegetables to help pull moisture out and so they cook faster. (If you are using jalapeno add to sauted vegetables.) In the last minute stir in the diced garlic. Add chicken to vegetables and cook until no more pink remains, approximately 5-7 minutes.

Cook fettuccine according to directions on package. Drain and set aside.

Pour in the tequila/soy sauce mixture and lime juice. Allow the sauce to simmer and reduce for 5-7 minutes. Add heavy cream; stir in well. Toss pasta with sauce and serve immediately. Garnish with cilantro.

Serves 4-6.

enjoy your time in the kitchen…

Perfect for a rainy weekend…

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Well, with a broken camera it’s difficult to take pictures of food and complete blog posts. And I doubt you only want to READ about what I’ve been making – the succulent pork roast served with an amazing mushroom gravy or the crunchy mashed potatoes or the nice mushroom ravioli I stumbled upon.

So, I’ll get working on getting that camera problem figured out… and keep you posted. I can’t go through Christmas with a broken camera. Now can I?!

It’s raining this weekend… so of course I’ll be making this:

YUM!!! I can taste it already… so simple, buttery-rich and warms you to the bone!

And if you and I are lucky (aka, I can get that camera fixed) and find another great deal on a pork roast maybe I’ll do that again this weekend… just in time for you to check it out and make it for Christmas!

Cross your fingers and toes… I’ll go get working on that camera problem.

enjoy your time in the kitchen…

RECIPE: Lori’s (award-winning) White Chili

Lori TisdaleLeave a comment

Award-winning?! Yeah, it’s THAT good! And it’s not that difficult…

OK – so I’ve submitted it a few times into an annual party at my work. But I’ve only ever won 2nd and 3rd place. (Does that count?)

Here’s where I start… tonight I cut my recipe in half.

Afterall, it’s just the two of us…

But first let me show you this beautiful chicken … this is one of the fine rotisserie chickens from CostCo. I’ve used my own chicken for this from time to time, but you do have to admit… their chickens are amazing!

So for the half-recipe I used just one half of the chicken… (the other half of the chicken is going in the fridge for tomorrow night’s dinner).

But before I did anything with the chicken packaging I made sure to get all of this… good stuff!

Then I got to dicing and slicing… starting w/ the garlic…

I set the garlic aside. And diced up the onion. Into the pan go the onions…

Saute, stir, season…

I added the spices to the transluscent onions and allowed them to toast up a bit before adding the garlic…

Next I added the garlic…

And then the chicken and stock… bringing it to a boil…

Followed by the diced green chiles…

And the run-off juices from the rotisserie chicken… stir, simmer for a little bit. Add the beans…

It really IS that quick and easy…

A couple minutes before you serve, toss in the diced green onions and cilantro. This fresh addition at the very add just brightens up the flavor a bit… a tiny little scrumptious bit.

As you’ll note, this is kind of a “soupy” chili. So if you prefer a thicker chili, check out the note below for a tip on thickening the chili.

You can thank me later…

Chicken Chili
Recipe courtesy Lori Tisdale

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 whole chicken, pulled from bones (CostCo rotisserie chicken is my personal favorite!)
1 medium onion, diced
6-8 cups chicken broth
8 ounces diced green chiles
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
3 – 15 oz. each cans cannellini beans, drained
Salt/pepper to taste
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon oregano
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
Pinch cayenne pepper
scant ¼ cup finely chopped cilantro
4 green onions, diced

Instructions:
Heat oil in large stock pot over medium heat. Sauté onions until translucent. Salt slightly while sautéing. (Note: If you are using uncooked chicken, add now. Continue to stir until all pink is gone from chicken.) Add garlic in the last minute of cooking and saute until soft.

Add cumin, red pepper flakes, oregano and cayenne. Stir spices in with onions. Let them hang out for a few minutes. This will allow them to roast just slightly and bring out more flavor.

Stir in broth, and bring to a simmer. (Note: If you are using already cooked chicken, add it now.) Simmer 10-15 min. Stir in beans and simmer 5 min. This can be eaten now, but the longer you cook it the better it tastes. Reduce heat and cover.

About 5 mins before serving add about half of the cilantro and green onions, stir well. Dish up and garnish with some of the remaining cilantro/green onions.

Optional toppings: grated monterey jack cheese, tortilla chips, etc.

Serves 6-8

And here’s a tip from Lori…
For a thicker consistency, dissolve 2 large handfuls of corn tortilla chips in some of the chicken broth (about 2 cups). Bring to a boil, stir well until most of the chips dissolve. Add mixture to pot with the rest of the chili.

enjoy your time in the kitchen…