Quinoa White Chicken Chili

Quinoa White Chicken Chili

MAKE THIS RIGHT NOW.  SERIOUSLY.  IT'S THAT GOOD!!!

I found this on Pinterest, and it originally came from a website called closetcooking.com.  

I made a few changes… I didn't have enough of a yellow onion, so I used both yellow and red onion.  I also didn't have chicken broth or stock, so I used 3 cups of chicken bouillon (and it still tasted GREAT).  I used my own pinto beans that I canned years ago, and I didn't have any cilantro.  That's fine, because I personally hate cilantro.  This is my first time using a jalapeño pepper in a recipe like this, and I was nervous about cutting it up [there's all sorts of warnings about not touching your eyes or skin after cutting super-hot peppers like jalapeño].  I just held the pepper down with a fork and used a knife to slice it and cut out the white parts inside… and most of the seeds were attached to that, so they were easy to de-seed.

I was shocked at how good this was.  I put a little dollop of sour cream on top -- and before I did that, I used the oddest ingredient that REALLY kind of made the chili.  I crumbled up Nabisco Gluten Free Brown Rice Sea Salt and Pepper flavored Rice Thins on top of the chili.  Dad LOVED this.

ingredients

• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 jalapeno peppers, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 teaspoon cumin, toasted and ground
• 3 cups chicken broth or chicken stock
• 1 cup salsa verde
• 1 pound boneless and skinless chicken breasts or thighs
• 1 (15 ounce) can white beans
• 1/2 cup quinoa, rinsed
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• 1 tablespoon lime juice (~1/2 lime)
• 2 tablespoon cilantro, chopped
• salt and pepper to taste

directions

1. Heat the oil in a large sauce pan over medium heat, add the onion and jalapeno peppers and cook until tender, about 5-7 minutes.
2. Add the garlic and cumin and cook until fragrant, about a minute.
3. Add the broth, salsa verde, chicken, beans, quinoa and oregano, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the chicken is cooked and the quinoa is tender, about 10-15 minutes.
4. Remove the chicken, shred or dice, return to soup along with the lime juice and cilantro, season with salt and pepper and remove from heat.