Cool Wednesday

The above picture was my dinner last night. My friend Christine took the picture of the "White Chili" when I made it for her and friends in March. My dh and I had this for lunch, when we were on vacation in Gatlinburg, Tn. We loved it and were determined to figure out the ingredients so we could cook it for ourselves. We added a twist, in that it is healthy. We replaced any butter or oil with Olive or grape seed oil. Olive oil tastes just a tad better. In place of any chicken skin or dark meat, we use skinless chicken breast meat. You can dice the chicken up or buy ground chicken breast.
Here is our recipe
1 pound ground skinless chicken breast
1 bag of small navy beans ( or 3 cans )
1/2 Onion
2 cloves of fresh garlic
1/4Th to 1/3rd cup of Cumin
1/2 cup fresh Cilantro minced
1/4Th cup Olive oil
The juice of 1 lime.
Salt and pepper to taste

IF you are using dried navy beans soak them the over night the night before.
When you are ready to start the chili rinse the beans and add them to your pot. add enough water to allow about 2 in above the beans. Bring that to a light boil.
While the beans are heating up, brown your chicken in a skillet. When the chicken is cooked (turns white with no pinkish color showing), add it to the pot of beans. Now add all the other ingredients. Stir. Put a lid on the top and put heat at med low to low... just so it bubbles. If you need to add some water, you can . It will need about 2 hours to simmer. Taste it and possibly add more salt and cumin until the flavors are rich in cumin and you are happy with how it tastes.

While that is cooking and getting happy make salsa.
4 tomatoes diced
1/4 sweet onion
1/3rd cup diced cilantro
2 TBSP Olive Oil
1 TBSP vinegar
juice of half a lime.
dash of hot sauce
Mix all that together.

Dice up more Cilantro for garnish on top of chili and as an last minute flavoring before serving chili. Drop fresh cilantro in the pot just before serving.

Grab a bowl. Put a lg scoop of Salsa in the center of the bowl and then the chili around it. Sprinkle with cilantro. If you want you can add guacamole, sour cream and shredded cheese. (Reminder the cheese and sour cream add fat and calories ) I use fat free . ENJOY

I wanted to start off with something fun because this morning was not fun. We had a cold front come through and it flared up my fibromyalgia. So this morning my shoulders were still sore. I am doing my walking and toning routine but have to slow down on the arm part because they are sore and hurt. WELL that made me mad. LOL It is one thing to have to exercise and diet because of Cholesterol and Osteopenia..... But then to not be able to do them because my fibro is flared up, just didn't set right with me this morning. I got mad and cried while exercising cause, DOG GONE IT! it isn't supposed to be this hard and my body was working against me. I stuck it out and kept up, just minimized the arm movements. I was proud of myself for finishing. I love the way I feel from exercising, the clothes fitting a little looser is never a bad thing and my body, supposedly, ;) is better for it. BUT DANG! mornings like this make it hard to deal with. Now if exercising was more like cooking or crafting BOY WOULD I BE IN SHAPE! but alas, it is more like house work and I am JUST not very good at that either!! LOL MY dh loves me anyway! lol Give a girl a shout out if exercising doesn't come easy for you too. ;)

Have a good day