white chili recipe

my sister in law introduced me to white chili but i have yet to master her recipe.  if my memory serves me correctly, her chili is better than this... but this week, i was CRAVING some white chili, so had to try something else... that maybe i'd have some success with. 

this recipe is good.  it isn't spicy (holly ate it for 2 days straight - she LOVED it), and the ingredients are simple.  the only thing i had to buy was the green chilis (in the mexican food section) and an onion.  everything else i had on hand (trimmed, frozen chicken breasts and broth i made from previously cooking chicken was in the freezer).  oh, no, wait - i also bought a fresh garlic head for this.  i have garlic-in-a-jar, but i thought i'd go "fancy" and use the fresh stuff for this recipe.  don't know if it made a difference or not, but it was GOOD!

the only difference in what i did was that i put my whole, frozen chicken breasts in the pot and let them cook -  and once they were done, i just pulled them out and let them cool, then i shredded them by hand back into the pot (rather than baking them first - that way you are sort of making your own broth in the pot too...).  again, my breasts were trimmed, there was little to no fat on them.  and, i omitted the chicken broth and used 2 cups of my own chicken stock and then i also added about a cup of water.  that eventually cooked out since i simmered mine for about 3 hours.   and, i used a 7 oz can of green chilis. 

BOB TALBERT'S WHITE CHILI

1 1/2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, washed and patted dry. (Bake at 350° for 30 minutes.)
2 cans (14 oz. ea.) chicken broth
1 jar (48 oz.) great northern beans, with liquid
1 large onion, chopped
2 t. minced fresh garlic
1 can (3 oz.) chopped green chilies, with liquid
2 t. ground cumin (dried)
1 t. ground oregano (dried)
Garnish with green chopped onion tops, shredded cheese or tortilla chips (optional)

In a large pot, pour small amount of broth. Add onion and garlic and simmer until onion is wilted and hot. Add the chilies, stir, then add broth and beans with liquid. Mix in the cumin and oregano. Bring to a boil and add chicken pieces. Cover and simmer for at least 30 minutes.
(Serves 6)

redneck mailbox

want to see something creepy?

this picture is of me, around 14-1/2 to15 months (christmas decorations were out...). 
it looks SO much like holly (except with hair).

wait... and i have THIS dress in her closet right now!  maybe she'll wear it tomorrow (i was a tiny baby, holly is a big baby.  thus, my 15 month clothes fit her at 10 months!) this picture is with my cousins amy and ramey. 

there are a bunch more that look just like the female version of kendal.  it is like they were cloned!  :) 
(except with their dad's grumpiness... ha!)

like this one:  anyone who says that kendal has nathaniel's mouth needs to look at this!

too funny not to post.

Dead Duck

A woman brought a very limp duck into a veterinary surgeon. As she laid her pet on the table, the vet pulled out his stethoscope and listened to the bird's chest.

After a moment or two, the vet shook his head and sadly said, "I'm sorry, your duck, Cuddles, has passed away."

The distressed woman wailed, "Are you sure?"
"Yes, I am sure. Your duck is dead," replied the vet..

"How can you be so sure?" she protested. "I mean you haven't done any testing on him or anything. He might just be in a coma or something."

The vet rolled his eyes, turned around and left the room.  He returned a few minutes later with a black Labrador Retriever. As the
duck's owner looked on in amazement, the dog stood on his hind legs, put his front paws on the examination table and sniffed the duck from top to bottom. He then looked up at the vet with sad eyes and shook his head.

The vet patted the dog on the head and took it out of the room. A few minutes later he returned with a cat. The cat jumped on the table and also delicately sniffed the bird from head to foot. The cat sat back on its haunches, shook its head, meowed softly and strolled out of the room.

The vet looked at the woman and said, "I'm sorry, but as I said, this is most definitely, 100% certifiably, a dead duck."

The vet turned to his computer terminal, hit a few keys and produced a bill, which he handed to the woman..
The duck's owner, still in shock, took the bill. "$150!" she cried, "$150 just to tell me my duck is dead!"

The vet shrugged, "I'm sorry. If you had just taken my word for it, the bill would have been $20, but with the Lab Report and the Cat Scan, it's now $150."

time change

 (sleepy kendal with cheese doodle residue around his mouth.)

yet one more reason i want to live in arizona.

when the clocks turn back one hour... most folks enjoy an "extra hour" of sleep.  my kids don't understand that concept.  thus, according to my clock, my day starts an hour earlier.  lunch is an hour early. nap is an hour early, as is dinner and the bedtime crankiness. 

i wonder how long it'll take for them to reset their little internal clocks?  i know last night i was asleep before 9!

halloweeeeeen!

kendal and holly were spiders for halloween this year.  i made their costumes if you can't tell.

we had some friends come over and trick-or-treat with us.  tripp was a dinosaur, and chiara was snow white.  here we go!

by the end of the night, the boys were riding together and the girls were riding together...

at the end of the loop, our back-door (through the woods) neighbors  were having a halloween party.  though we were the first ones there, we did have some snacks and kendal and i walked a little through the haunted forest (backwards) far enough to see our neighbor, tanner, who was working one of the scare stations.  kendal wasn't scared though, but, no one tried to scared him.  he always said "hi" to the ghosts and goblins.

(holly had a wet diaper, was hungry, and it was past her bedtime.  she only wanted me to hold her.  all the kids were concerned about her!)

kendal was quite sleepy too.

afterwards, they both enjoyed a cup or bottle of milk and a little naked playtime before bed!