I'm Chili. I mean, chilly.

(See?  I changed the name!  Not that "Yummy Mondays" is so much better than Monday Food Fest, but it IS less to type... and it kind of rolls off the tongue... right?  Yummy Mondays... yummy mondays... try it...)

Are you ready for the yummiest way to beat the winter blues??  ok, I’ll concede.  ONE OF the yummiest ways... since there are probably other very yummy warm foods out there.  But tonight I made White Chicken Chili, out of this cookbook, so that’s the one I’m writing about.  Last night I asked bug what he wanted to dinner Monday and he insisted on SOUP!!!  (Said just like that, repeatedly)  The kid loves soup.  And it made me feel all warm and toasty - if only until I came down here to freeze my tucus off and write about it.  mr thought we needed some veggie type item to go with, so I made Chili Squash, because it seemed to go with the slightly tex-mex type thing... (maybe?)  And rounding it all off, I made Raspberry Cream pie for dessert, which was NOT warm, and probably more of a summer dessert, but who cares?  It was yummy!

Thank goodness the people at church are such good cooks.  I realized after I made the decision to use the church cookbook that considering some of those people skim my blog once and a while, that perhaps it wasn’t ACTUALLY a fabulous idea... I mean, what do you say to them after a scathing review of their prized “pumpernickel souffle” or whatnot?  Yeah.  Exactly.  Thank goodness I haven’t been faced with the decision to write the truth or not yet.  Everything’s been so tasty!

Tonight’s White Chicken Chili comes to us from Stephanie.  mr raved, and I mean RAVED.  I believe I mentioned he’s the hardest to please?  Yes.  Well, he loved it.  I’ve never made white chicken chile before, even though I really like it, so I was pretty please with how it came out.  My dad wasted no time in telling me that my mom’s was better (well, what did I expect?) BUT he agreed that it was very tasty.  mom also liked it and mini scarfed down TWO BOWLS!  only bug was unimpressed.  But he ate well for breakfast and lunch, which means he won’t eat again for two days.

Here’s the impressive recipe.  

White Chicken Chili

5 (16 0z) cans of navy beans

5 C chicken stock

4 T butter

1 T minced garlic

3/4 C diced onion

2 small cans chopped green chiles

1 rotisserie chicken, chopped (you can also use 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pre-cooked)

1 T ground cumin

1 T. oregano

1-2 tsp ground black pepper

1/2 tsp white pepper

pinch (or two) cayenne pepper

1 tsp salt

1/2 bunch of fresh cilantro, chopped

3 cups monterey jack cheese

(Optional: sour cream, other cheeses)

Place the beans in a large pot with the chicken stock and bring to a boil over high heat.  In a saucepan, heat butter over medium heat.  Add garlic, onion and chiles and sauté for 5 minutes.  Add the chile mixture to the pot.  Add in the chicken and seasonings. Lower the heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally for about an hour (or until it is hot all the way through and the beans and meat are tender).  Add the cheese and cilantro just before serving and stir well.  Serve with cheese and sour cream (optional).

At first I was nervous, because I only had one can of chiles... but you could totally still taste it.  I also didn't add the full 3 cups of cheese.  I know you are shocked - ME, who has a love affair with cheese - but I wanted everyone to be able to make it as cheesy as they wanted.  So I added two handfuls, and then let everyone but more on if they wanted.  And it definitely still worked.

For our go-along, we had Chili Squash.  It was contributed by Maria, who I’ve heard through the grapevine is a pretty stellar cook.  Granted, I didn’t realize this recipe was for SUMMER squash, but thankfully it turned out well anyway.  Phew.  Easy, fast, and tasty.  Oh, healthy to boot.  Basically it was a little butter to sauté some chopped onion, then throwing in some sliced up yellow squash, zucchini, and canned chopped green peppers and seasoning it with some salt and pepper, covering it and letting it cook for about 5 minutes.  See?  Easy.  I liked the variation it gave on the whole zucchini thing.

I meant to make cornbread - a recipe my mom contributed to the cookbook - but I totally spaced it.  So sad.  You would have loved that recipe.  Someday I’ll post it...

So on to dessert.  Raspberry Cream Pie, from Kris.  And yes, I will give you the recipe, because I am nice like that.  It was yummy and also easy.  (I really went easy on myself tonight - I just realized that.  Huh.)  The only problem I ran into was that the pie crusts were supposed to be pre-baked before assembling the pie (since the pie is chilled and not baked) and I had no idea how hot to put the oven or for how long to cook them.  I put the empty pie shells in my deep dish pie pans which resulted in the crust shrinking smaller than the pan and peeling away from the sides.  Soooo, they kind of look a lot more like a tart than a pie.  (I put them in a different pan for the picture.  Yes, I am superficial and shallow enough to do that.)  Thankfully, they still tasted yummy.  I added more raspberries than the recipe called for because the smallest quantity I could find was 12 oz, and it still turned out really nicely.

 Raspberry Cream Pie
1 (6 oz) package of raspberry jello 
1/4 C sugar
1 1/2 C boiling water
8 oz. frozen raspberries


Add the jello to boiling water until dissolved.  Add the sugar and berries and remove from heat.  Stir well.  Set aside in the fridge.


2 (6 oz) packages of cream cheese
1 C powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 C whipped cream


Mix together the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla.  Add the whipped cream and fold in.


Either 2 graham cracker crusts OR 2 pre-naked pie shells


Assemble the pies by pouring half of the cream cheese mixture into each crust.  Top that with half of the jello mixture in each.  Chill until firm.  Serve with whipped cream.  Makes two pies.

mr has this strange and inexplicable distaste for whipped cream, so I left it off the top.  He's so weird...

So I admit that the pie won’t warm you up.  Maybe you should eat it first, and then eat the chili.  I'm all for dessert for dinner.

If you're interested in ordering the aforementioned cookbook, please email me at bugaboominimrandme(at)yahoo(dot)com for ordering information.

Look down below to check out the parties that I link to!