Hi again, everyone. It’s me, Lesley. Here is a quick update on my garden.
I’m disappointed in the radishes. I planted the radish seeds because they are supposed to be very easy to grow, and the greens came up beautifully. However, even after 5 weeks, there were no radishes to be found. Even though I am disappointed, I don’t really know what I would have done with a ton of radishes all at once. I’ll give them another chance when I replant.
The beans are incredible. They are covered with flowers, and I’m really optimistic about them. The peas greens look good, but no flowers yet. We’ve already had a couple of salads with the lettuce, and what I have used has grown back in quickly. The kale is about 4 inches tall, and we are expecting to use it in the near future. Both the Serrano and bell pepper plants are full of flowers as well, and I’m already planning a few recipes for them (I’ll be adding the Serrano peppers to the recipe below before long!).
I probably won’t be planning cabbage or cucumber plants again. They both take up a lot of real estate in the garden, and I think we will only get 1 cabbage from the plant. The cucumber, on the other hand, is full of flowers, and I’m nervous about finding ways to use a couple dozen cucumbers at the same time. I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.
Until I have some home-grown vegetables to cook with, I’ll share a couple of dishes from my new very favorite (and cost-effective) ingredient: The roasted rotisserie chicken from Costco.
Costco just opened 10 minutes from our house. I am so excited! And almost every time I shop there, I pick up a roasted rotisserie chicken. At $4.99 per chicken, this chicken actually costs less than its raw counterpart. Each and every one I have purchased is incredibly juicy, and the convenience of having cooked chicken on hand is out of this world.
However, there are only my husband and myself in the house, and finishing all this chicken is sometimes daunting, let alone monotonous. I’ve tried the obvious things, like sandwiches, a chicken salad or running out to purchase an exotic simmer sauce. I’m totally on board with all of those. But with prices the way they are right now, I don’t want to spend big on simmer sauces (which usually are gone in one meal) to get different and interesting flavors. I also like to clean out the fridge and use all the left-over vegetables and things I hide in the back.
My latest strategy is to choose a flavor profile, such as Tex Mex or Chinese (I’m definitely a Tex Mex person, and my husband leans towards the Asian flavors – guess which one I’m doing first). Then I browse recipes until something strikes my fancy. My latest creation was a White Chicken Chili recipe, which sounded delicious, especially on a chilly night. I have to admit that I live in Florida’s Space Coast, and chilly to me is in the 60’s (sorry!).
As I said, I like to incorporate left-overs into my recipes. It adds extra vitamins and stretches the meal so there are left-overs for lunch. The first time I tried the recipe I didn’t have a can of chiles on hand, but I did have a bunch of broccoli left-over from a quiche the week before. Makes sense, no? They are both green. I checked the spices, and I had everything listed, and I thought that if I increased the amount of each seasoning, it would make up for the peppers (which it did). I also increased the onions and garlic (doesn’t everyone increase the garlic?). I will be purchasing some cans of chiles for future use, because I’m definitely making this quite often.
I added about three cups of chicken and simmered everything in a couple of cups of chicken stock for a few minutes. We always have chicken and beef stock on hand, because we mix it into our dog’s breakfast and dinner kibble and wet food combo. He doesn’t mind sharing.
I also always have canned beans in the pantry. Whenever the store has them on sale, I pick up the limit. Adding beans really does stretch the recipe, and they are full of protein without adding a lot of calories. I used a can of Cannellini beans for this preparation, just to keep everything the right light color you would expect of a white chicken chili. To thicken everything up, I took about a third of the beans in the can, put them into a small bowl and mashed them with a fork. Then I stirred the mashed beans into the stock. It thickened up beautifully. Then I added the remaining beans into the pan to simmer a little more.
I wanted to add some creaminess to concoction, but I didn’t have any cream in the fridge. I did have a lot of cream cheese. When our local grocery was out of cream cheese a month or so ago, I purchased a 6-pack of cream cheese at Costco. It wasn’t the regular kind I have always used in the past, and it just isn’t my cup of tea to eat by itself, so I still have a lot left (a big box store cautionary tale). However, it is fine to cook with. I cubed up about a half stick of the cream cheese and added it to the chili. It melted right in and gave everything that creamy texture I was hoping for.
I’m going back to Costco again this weekend (did I mention the great prices on wine?), and I know for sure I’ll be picking up another chicken. I’m thinking about a Cauliflower Refried Rice towards the end of next week (cauliflower rice is another Costco find that comes in very handy). I’ll let you know how that turns out the next time we talk.
Left-Over Costco White Chicken Chili Recipe
Left-over roasted rotisserie chicken
Ingredients
1 cup chopped onion (left-over from a previous recipe is fine)
7 oz can of diced chiles
Any left-over vegetable (broccoli, spinach, etc.) from the fridge
2 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, minced
3 cups chicken stock, unsalted
3 cups left-over roasted rotisserie chicken (or any left-over chicken)
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp cayenne pepper (more or less, depending on your spicy preference)
2 cans cannellini beans (mash a 1/3 of beans in a bowl with some stock to thicken the chili)
4 oz cream cheese, cubed
1 tbsp lime juice
Lime juice and cilantro for garnish: optional
A good chunk of the ingredients
Directions
- Heat olive oil in a sauté pan over medium high heat. Add the onion and sauté about 4 minutes. Add the can of chiles and any left-over vegetables (if the vegetables are raw, add them in the same time as the onion). I used spinach in these pictures. Add the garlic and sauté for another few seconds.
- Add the chicken stock and spices. Bring the pan to a boil, then simmer for 10 minutes.
- Drain and rinse the beans. Put 1/3 cup in a small bowl. Add about a ¼ cup of the liquid from the pan to the beans in the bowl and mash them to a pulp.
- Add the cream cheese and mashed beans to the pan and stir until mixed and starting to thicken.
- Add the rest of the beans, the cooked chicken and lime juice and serve.
White chicken chili (with bonus spinach)
