life is a crock of beans

This was a sign in my Nanny's kitchen.  I loved it.  It was my grandparents in a nutshell. They loved beans.  Such a simple food.  Since I have been obsessing over this White Chili lately, I have been buying many cans of Great Northern beans.  We are a big bean eating family - we try not to eat too much meat, so we steer toward beans.  I decided I should try my hand at making my own to freeze, which brings me back to this saying... life is a crock of beans.  Beans run about $1 per can, a 2 pound bag is about $2 and yields about 7 cans of beans.  Today I spent the afternoon preparing 4 pounds of Great Northern beans to freeze in quart size freezer bags.

In a large pot, cover beans by 3 inches with cold water, cover and bring to a boil. Boil for 10 minute, remove pot from heat and drain.  Transfer to a crock pot. Cover by 2 inches with cold water, on low heat, cover and simmer, gently stirring occasionally, until beans are tender, 4-6 hours. For a quicker method - try a Dutch Oven - cover with water 2 inches above beans, cook in oven at 325 for about 75 minutes.  Drain beans and divide into freezer containers or bags.  I divide my beans into 3-4 cup proportions.  Freeze.  

White Chili

It has been a LONG while since I have posted anything here.  Life gets super busy with kids in school, activities, work, sports... Life.  I thought about shutting this blog down, but then I decided I needed a place to put random bits.

Friends are great.  Friends share things... recipes, ideas, etc. I got this recipe from an amazing friend of mine.  I have obsessed over this chili for months now, I love it that much.  Weird- I obsess over chili?  Well, we all have our quirks.  I have used and used the recipe, the paper it is written on is about done for.  With a few modifications, I needed a place I could pin this recipe from, so here it is.

White Chili

Ingredients:
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cooked chicken breast halves, diced (I used shredded roasted chicken)
3 cans (16 oz each) Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed (I smashed one and a half cans)
1 can (4 oz) green chilies
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 can (16oz) chopped tomatoes, undrained
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin

1. Spray dutch oven with vegetable oil. Saute garlic and onions until onions are clear.
2. Add remaining ingredients and cook on medium heat for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Approximate Yield:
6 servings, 1 1/4 cups each
286 calories
2 g fat
23 gm protein
49 g carbs
(I know you were dying to know the nutritional information!) It's actually a super healthy meal.