White Chili

1 – 49 oz. can chicken broth
3 c. water
1 medium onion, chopped
½ c. each chopped red, green, and yellow peppers
1 – 10 oz. can chopped tomatoes and green chiles
4 oz. can chopped green chiles (I only use 2 oz. and freeze the rest for the next batch of soup)
2 tsp. ground cumin
2 tsp. oregano
¼ tsp. ground cloves
Dash cayenne pepper
3 – 15 oz. cans great northern beans, drained
3 c. diced cooked chicken or turkey

Combine all ingredients, except cooked chicken, in large saucepot (I use 8 quart) and cook at simmer 1½ to 2 hours. Add the chicken and heat. Great with cornbread.

Several years ago, I went looking for a recipe for white chili. Now you would think with the myriad of cookbooks I own, I would have found one in one of them, but just couldn't seem to. (This also must have been before we were connected to the internet - so make that many years ago!) So I went down to our lovely Jeffersonville Township Library and started looking at cookbooks there for the recipe. After perusing several books, I was ready to give up. I then happened to see my friend, Laura Conner, who worked there, so I asked her, "Do you know where I could find a recipe for White Chili?" She gave me a rather odd look and said, "Yes I do, on my kitchen counter!" It turns out she had just made a batch of white chili the night before! We had a good laugh over that and she called me later and gave me her recipe. The above is basically it, with just a few tweaks of my own.

Now our daughter Elizabeth really likes white chili, but our son prefers my Crockpot Chili, which is a more traditional tomatoes/red beans version. See December 2009 blog.