White Chicken Chili

White Chicken Chili

This is one of my go to favorites when cooking for a crowd, bringing food to friends or cooking a day before entertaining. It is perfect for storing and reheating. It is simple, easy, quick, healthy and delicious!!!! In the picture I used ground chicken to throw this together, but these days I've been preferring the consistency of poached or roasted chicken breasts that have been shredded. This recipe makes A LOT (enough to feed at least 8-10 normal eaters), so cut in half if not serving a large crowd. This is great served with cornbread for dunking, and don't forget shredded cheese and sour cream for topping each bowl.

-2 Tbsp olive oil
-1 large yellow onion, chopped
-6 cloves garlic, minced
-9 cups chicken broth
-1 Tbsp ground cumin
-1 Tbsp dried oregano
-1 tsp salt
-2 Tbsp sugar
-4 Tbsp hot sauce
-6 (15 oz) cans some type of white bean rinsed and drained (I normally use 2 cans navy beans, 2 cans cannellini beans and 2 cans great northern beans)
-1 (14.5 oz) can yellow corn, drained
-1 (7 oz) can diced green chiles
-2 lbs cooked chicken (either ground chicken that is cooked and drained, poached and shredded chicken breasts, chicken breasts dried and sautéed, or the meat shredded from 1 rotisserie chicken)
-6 Tbsp cornmeal mixed with 6 Tbsp water
-4 Tbsp lime juice
-½ bunch fresh cilantro, picked off stems and chopped

Heat olive oil in large pot over medium high heat. Add onion and saute until soft, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook an additional 30 seconds.  Add broth, cumin, oregano, salt, sugar, hot sauce, beans, corn, chiles and chicken. Simmer at least 10 minutes then taste and adjust seasonings. Add cornmeal mixture and continue to simmer an additional 5-10 minutes, stirring regularly, until chili has thickened. Before serving stir in lime juice and cilantro.

What's Your Hagar?

This week I’m on to Genesis 12-50. I’ve been focusing on Sarai, Abram and Hagar in my reading so far in Chapters 15-21. God had promised to give Abram a son. Rather than patiently walking in faith and trust Sarai chose to take things into her own hands and control the circumstances rather than waiting on God. Did she think it wasn’t possible? Maybe. It’s easy to look at things through our feeble human minds and think there is no answer to our circumstances because we can’t fathom the infinite power and resources that our Heavenly Father has. I think that Sarai yielded to her flesh in many of the ways that we do today. The result was impatience, lack of faith and trust, and a desire for control. Does this sound familiar to any of you? Do you ever exhibit these traits of the flesh? I know I do!

So Sarai got tired of waiting on God and gave her maid, Hagar, to Abram to lie with him. Chapters later we see that this was unnecessary, we find Sarai with child, resentful of Hagar and Hagar’s child. If only Sarai had waited paitently rather than trying to make things happen on her own!

So the question we should all ask ourselves…

What’s my Hagar?... What have I taken out of God’s hands and am trying to control and make happen on my own rather than waiting on Him?... once you find it, surrender it on the altar of our King, for His ways are so much higher and better than the ones we develop on our own!

One more side note on this… I think of this and the Proverbs 31 verse about a wife who does her husband good all of her days. In this case Sarai not only did her husband harm, but urged him to turn from God’s promise. Oh Sarai… it’s okay, no one is perfect, we all make our mistakes. This is an example of God taking our polluted human sin and using it for His good, glory and purpose, praise be to Him!

Shannon