White Chicken (or Turkey) Chili

1 1/2 lbs chicken, cooked and shredded (I like to get a rotisserie chicken at Costco and shred it)

or

1 1/2 lbs ground turkey, cooked

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup flour

1 tsp salt

1/4 - 1/2 tsp pepper (or to taste)

2 cups milk

1 large onion, chopped

1 -2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 package taco seasoning (1 1/4 oz)

1 tsp chili powder

1 Tbsp cumin

2 cans chopped green chilies (4 1/2 oz cans)

1 can hominy (15 oz can)

2 cans great northern beans or navy beans (15 oz cans)

2 cans chicken stock (15 oz cans)*

1 cup sour cream

toppings:

sour cream

salsa

green onions

shredded cheese

guacamole

tortilla chips

Melt butter in a stock pot over medium heat. Add chopped onion and chilies and saute until soft. Add garlic, salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin and taco seasoning and cook for two minutes. Whisk in flour and cook for 2 more minutes. Slowly stir in milk and bring to a boil. **

Reduce heat to simmer. Add cooked chicken (or turkey), chicken stock, hominy and beans. Heat thoroughly. Remove from heat and stir in sour cream. Serve with desires toppings. Enjoy!

* You can add less chicken stock if you want a thicker chili.

** This is also a good crock pot recipe. When I make it in the crock pot I make the cream base for the chili in a 4 quart sauce pan on the stove top then I mix everything except the sour cream together in the crock pot and bring it up to temperature. Stir in the sour cream just before you're ready to serve it.

Cauliflower Cheese Soup

The Wisconsin Cauliflower Cheese Soup at Zupas is one of my favorites. Unfortunately, I can't find their exact recipe for it anywhere. I found a few recipes that are kinda close and I experimented a little bit and this is what I came up with. It's not Zupas' but it's pretty tasty! I also found this soup to be even better the next day so if you have the time make it the night before you want to eat it. ENJOY!

1 head of cauliflower, chopped

1 quart chicken stock

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup flour

1 tsp salt (or to taste)

1/2 tsp pepper (or to taste)

2 cups milk

1 medium onion, chopped

1-2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 1/2 cups sharp cheddar cheese

1 1/2 cup pepper jack cheese

1 tsp Dijon mustard

Melt butter in 4 quart sauce pan on medium heat. Add chopped onion, salt and pepper and cook until translucent and slightly golden. Add garlic and cook a couple more minutes being careful not to burn. Whisk in flour to make roux and cook for 2 minutes. Slowly add in milk and continue to whisk. Bring to gentle boil and cook for 2 more minutes. Set mixture aside.

In large stock pot add chicken stock and chopped cauliflower. Bring to boil and cover. Reduce heat to medium low and let cauliflower cook for about 10 minutes or until cauliflower is very tender. Reduce heat to simmer, add the milk and onion mixture and stir to combine.

Ladle the mixture in small batches into a blender (make sure you remove the middle part of your blender cover so the steam can escape and the mixture doesn't blow up on you) and puree until very smooth. You'll probably need to put each batch of blended soup into a large bowl and then add the whole pureed mixture back into the stock pot and remove from heat. Whisk in the Dijon mustard and the cheeses. Serve and enjoy!

Breakfast Casserole

Hashbrowns (I use patties, but you can use shredded or cubed)
4 cups grated cheese (2 cups cheddar, 2 cups swiss or all cheddar or whatever mix you like)
2 cups meat (bacon pieces, cubed ham, or sausage)
1 can evaporated milk
6 eggs
1/2 tsp. salt
Pepper to taste

Place thawed hashbrowns in the bottom of a 9x13 pan, pour melted butter over the top. Bake at 425 for 20 minutes.

*drop oven temp to 375’.

Mix all other ingredients and pour over the hashbrowns. Bake 40-45 minutes.

Pineapple Cookies

1 cup shortening
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 small cans crushed pineapple
1 tsp. vanilla
4 cups sifted flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Combine shortening, sugars and eggs; cream together until fluffy and well blended.Stir in pineapple, then sifted dry ingredients and vanilla. Drop from teaspoon on to greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes until barely brown and soft.

Mrs. Field's Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 1/2 cup sugar
2 cups brown sugar
4 cubes butter
3 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
6 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
6 cups chocolate chips

Cream together sugars, butter, eggs and vanilla until fluffy. Add flour, salt, and baking soda and beat for 5 minutes. Add the chocolate chips and stir. Bake for 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees.

Variations:
Can add 2 cups of nuts with the chips or 1 1/2 cup oats and 2 cups nuts, or 3 cups raisins and 2 cups nuts.

Lasagna (you don't have to precook the noodles!)

1 lb ground beef
1/2 cup onions
1 clove garlic
1 bottle spaghetti sauce
3/4 cup water
1 box of lasagna noodles
Large container cottage cheese
1/2 cup parmesan
3 cups mozzarella

Preheat oven to 375

9x13 pan

1st layer - sauce and beef mixture
2nd layer - lasagna noodles
3rd layer - mixture of cottage cheese, 1/2 of parm and all of mozzarella
Repeat
Top layer should be sauce

Cover with foil, bake 1 hour. Uncover, cook 5-10 minutes, sprinkle with the rest of the parmesan cheese and serve.

Chicken Enchiladas Verdes

This recipe is from a cookbook called, The Juan-Carlos Cruz Calorie Countdown Cookbook, by Juan-Carlos Cruz.  It's my favorite recipe in the whole book. 

Ingredients:

1/2 pound tomatillos, husked and quartered, or 1 (13 oz) can, drained

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

1 (4 oz) can chopped green chilies

1/4 cup egg substitute

salt 

black pepper

2 tsp. olive oil

1 medium onion

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced

1/2 tsp. ground cumin

1/4 tsp. ground coriander

3/4 cup beer (or chicken broth)

olive oil cooking spray

8 corn tortillas

3/4 cup shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese

1/2 cup shredded reduced-fat Monterey Jack cheese

3 Tbsp low-fat sour cream

Directions:

1.  If using fresh tomatillos, preheat the broiler.  Place the quartered tomatillos and roast for about 5 minutes, or until softened.  Remove from broiler and transfer to a blender (if using canned tomatillos, drain and place directly in the blender).  Add the cilantro, half the green chilies and the egg substitute.  Pulse until you have a salsa with a chunky consistency.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Set aside.

2.  Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large skillet.  Add the onions and saute until tender, then stir in garlic.  Saute one minute longer until fragrant, add chicken breast, remaining green chilies, cumin, coriander and salt to taste.  Turn the heat to medium high and saute chicken mixture for 5-10 minutes, until cooked through.  Transfer to a bowl.  Add the beer (or chicken broth)and bring pan to a boil, stirring constantly to scrape up any tasty food particles on the bottom of the pan.  Boil until there is only about a 1/4 cup of liquid in the pan.  Stir the chicken mixture back into the pan and set aside.

3.  Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Lightly grease a casserole dish with the olive oil spray.  Fill a medium size sauce pan with water and bring o a simmer.  Using tongs, dip a tortilla into the water, count  seconds then remove.  You must dip the tortillas quickly, the goal is to soften it so that it's easy to roll, but bot to moisten it so much that it falls apart.*  Place about 1/3 cup of the filling on each tortilla, roll up and place seam side down in the casserole dish.  when all the tortillas have been filled, pour the sauce over them and place in the oven.  bake 20 minutes.  Remove from the oven, top with the cheeses and return to the oven to bake for 10-15 more minutes, until the cheese has melted and the enchiladas are bubbling.  Serve warm, garnish with the low-fat sour cream.

*  In step 3 where the recipe talks about dipping the tortilla in water and blah, blah blah...  Well, I usually skip this step, it just takes too long for my liking.  Instead, I put a layer of tortillas on the bottom of the casserole dish, layer them with the filling and then top with a second layer of tortillas.  Then I pour the sauce over the top and I follow the rest of the recipe like it says.  However, I find that I usually need 10-12 tortillas instead of the 8 that the recipe calls for if I do it like this.  Kind of an enchilada casserole instead.

I also like to eat this with some rice, beans and over a bed of lettuce like a taco/enchilada salad with some salsa in addition to the sour cream.  Enjoy!