Spring has sprung

And with that has been so many changes at work I haven't had a chance to post. But I have been cooking. I'll be posting several recipes over the next few days to get caught up, but here's the one simmering tonight.

Taken from an idea of white chili chicken from a Paula Dean magazine, plus adding the fact that I love the white bean chili from Ruby Tuesday, I cooked this up today.

Soak: 1 package of northern beans, or navy beans (I used a pack of both). Yes, you can use canned beans but in all honesty fresh beans taste wonderful and are easy! Just soak for awhile, pop on the stove, bring to a boil, do a quick sort (for any icky beans) and rinse them off.

Into the crockpot goes the beans, 1 qt of chicken stock, a can of salsa all set to high (or low if you're leaving this for a long time.

In a pan saute an onion and garlic in olive oil. Place some chicken (I used 4 chicken breasts that I sliced) into the pan and cook over medium heat. You don't want to burn it, but it'll get tender as it simmers so no need to cook super slowly. Add to the pot along with chili powder, and paprika to taste.

Cook for several hours until the beans and chicken are tender. Add 1/2 cup of heavy cream, and 1 c of shredded cheese (your choice, I had gruyere and cheddar on hand, not authentic but it worked). Mix thoroughly and cook for a bit longer, the longer the better :).

YUM! This is still cooking, but I'll take a picture tomorrow. It's warming but not spicy, and perfect comfort food.

2 bags of white beans
1 qt chicken stock
1 small onion
2 tbsp chopped garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 C heavy cream
1 C shredded cheese
1# boneless, skinless chicken
1 jar salsa
chili powder to taste
Paprika to taste

Cost:

2.10 beans
3.00 chicken
1.50 salsa
2.00 chicken stock
2.00 misc (gourmet cheese, spices, cream)
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$10.60