White Chili

Another family recipe!
My Grandma Selinger, who apparently had some food allergies like me, came up with this recipe for white chili. I am not a fan of tomato-based chili, it's a long story, but this is just right on those days when its cold and gloomy out (like this past Thursday!). I ended up sending the leftovers home with Big and Little, a little too much cheese for me, but its still just as good as I remember from when my mom made it :)

White Chili
3 lbs cooked northern beans, with liquid (the canned ones are fine!)
2 lbs chicken, cut into pieces***
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 medium onions, chopped
2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/4 tsp dried oregano
2 cans chopped mild green chilies (6 or 7 ounce cans)
4 C chicken broth
12 oz monterey jack cheese, shredded (can be omitted if you're dairy free)

***Either cook the chicken ahead of time, or else buy one of those rotisserie chickens at the grocery store
Cook the onion and garlic, add (cooked) chicken, beans, peppers, spices, and broth. Heat for around 15 minutes, then add the cheese making sure its fully melted into the soup. Serve with additional shredded cheese and sour cream.

Soup Love :)

I love soup, all kinds of soup. I don't care how warm it is outside, give me a hot bowl of soup and I'm a happy girl. One of the reasons I love soup: It's really cheap and it freezes well! I am a college student after all, and there's nothing worse than coming back after lab and HYSYS sessions and not having anything to eat... used to be that on those days I would either go out to eat or grab some overprocessed freezer meal. Now going out to eat without getting hives is next to impossible and companies seem to think that if they put gluten free on the label they can charge three times as much... so on the weekends I cook up a bunch of soup and stick it in the freezer and eat off of it during the week when I'm too tired (or lazy) to cook.

I can't take all the credit for these recipes. My mom is a pretty amazing cook and has given me lots of yummy soup recipes since I started cooking for myself. Here are a few of my favorites:

Butternut Squash Soup: 

this freezes really well and is great for when butternut squash is on sale, seriously you can make a huge pot of this soup for less than $5!

1 Tbsp butter (or dairy free alternative)

1 Onion, coarsely chopped

1 Tbsp chopped sage

3-4 lbs cubed butternut squash (peeled and seeded)

5 C chicken or vegetable stock

1/3 C grated Parmesan (optional)

24 fresh sage leaves and 2 Tbsp butter (garnish)

Melt the 1 Tbsp of butter and saute onion until soft. Add sage and stir 1 minute. Add the squash and broth, increase heat to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer about 25 minutes until squash is tender. Cool slightly, then puree (those little stick blenders work really well). Mix in the cheese and season with salt and pepper. 

In a fry pan, melt the 2 Tbsp butter and saute the sage leaves until brown and crispy. 

Serve the soup with a swirl of cream, Parmesan cheese and the sage leaves. 

Avgolemono Soup (Greek Egg Lemon and Rice Soup):

2 quarts chicken (or vegetable) broth

1/2 C long grain rice

salt and pepper

4 large eggs

1/3 C lemon juice

1/4 C water

Bring broth and rice to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer until rice is tender (15-20 minutes). Remove from heat and season with the salt and pepper. In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, lemon juice and water. Temper the egg mixture by slowly adding a little hot broth and whisking the mixture to make sure the eggs don't scramble. Add more hot broth, whisking well, until the egg mixture is hot. Add the egg mixture into the broth and heat until warm, do not boil! Serve immediately

note: you can make this with leftover rice, just reduce the amount of broth by 1/2 C. :)

Garlic Soup:

this is an old German recipe from my Mom's family.

3 large heads of garlic and boiling water to cover

2 Quarts cold water

4 bouillon cubes

a dash of cloves

1/4 tsp sage

2 Tbsp fresh parsley

1/4 tsp thyme

2 Tbsp oil

3 egg yolks

1/4 C melted butter (or dairy free margarine)

salt and pepper

grated swiss cheese and gluten free bread (cheese crouton!)

Separate the garlic into cloves and place in a bowl, cover with boiling water for about 5 minutes. Drain, peel and crush the garlic with the side of a knife. Put the water, bouillon cubes, 1/2 tsp pepper, herbs and oil into a large pot. Add the garlic, bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes. Beat the egg yolks until thick and gradually beat in the melted butter. Temper the egg mixture (see previous recipe for procedure) with the hot soup then pour into the soup, beating constantly. Heat the soup but do not boil it!

Place a slice of  buttered bread in the soup bowl (I recommend Udi's gluten free) and sprinkle in some of the swiss. Pour the hot soup over the top and serve!

I hope everyone enjoys these recipes as much as I have! Have an awesome weekend!