It’s Secret Recipe Club Reveal Day! In the Secret Recipe Club, each participating blogger is assigned a blog from another participating blogger and secretly searches their site for something to recreate. The accompanying blog post then goes live on reveal day! So while I was immersed in my assigned blog, someone else was picking through mine! I’m so excited to be part of this group, to see what on my blog peaks other’s interests and to stumble upon new blogs and new recipes.

This month I was assigned the blog Shockingly Delicious written by the talented Dorothy. With 25 years of food writing and recipe developing on her resume you can be sure you’ll come to her blog for the food and stay for the stories. On her “About Me” page Dorothy answers the question, “What kind of cook am I?” One of her bullet points is that “leftovers are king” so I know she’ll approve of the reasoning behind why I chose today’s recipe over some of her others.

This week kicks off Halloween week, which I always do themed for the holiday. This year (spoiler alert) I decided to make homemade classic candies. So I originally searched Dorothy’s blog with that task in mind only. The closest thing I could find towards my task was her post on left-over Halloween candy cookies utilizing Snickers bars. (yum) I then managed to stumble upon Cookies and Cream Rice Krispie Treats and I swear, if my grocery store had those Halloween Oreo’s, you know the ones with the orange filling, I would have looked no further! Our waistlines are probably thankful those didn’t happen (at least not yet!).

I ended up going in a completely different direction with the recipe I recreated. I decided to search for something that I could make and freeze for when Baby Boy 2 enters the world in the next week or so. Of course, we did enjoy the meal the day it was made, because you have to taste the food to talk about the food!

I’ve been venturing out on my chili making and decided it was finally time to try the mysterious “white chili”. White chili is “white” because there aren’t any tomatoes, the beans used are in the white/beige/tan family, and the meat of choice is often chicken. That doesn’t mean there isn’t great chili flavor though! This particular version gets its heat from a can of green chiles and a dash of cayenne pepper.

Disclaimer: My chili is far from “white” as I used ground chicken instead of shredded white meat chicken, more pinto beans than white beans, and my vegetable broth has an orange tint to it from the carrots – I actually think chicken stock would have been more appropriate in keeping a lighter chili.

White Chicken Chili

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 1 can (4 oz) green chiles
• 1 lb ground chicken
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 6 C vegetable broth
• 2 cans (15 oz) pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can (15 oz) Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 tbsp flour

Steps:

1. In large pot over medium-high heat saute onions in the oil, season with S+P, until tender. Add the garlic and cook another minute. Add the ground chicken to the skillet breaking it up until it’s fully cooked.
2. Add the green chiles, cumin, oregano, and cayenne and cook for 2 minutes, coating the meat and veggies in the spices. Add the broth, beans, and flour. Cover, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook until desired consistency is achieved, at least 1 hour. (Note: If you want a thicker chili, cook uncovered.)
3. Serve with desired toppings: tortilla chips, corn chips, cheese, sour cream, scallions, cilantro, etc.

*This recipe is adapted from Dorothy at http://www.shockinglydelicious.com/newfangled-cowtown-white-chicken-chili-for-labor-day-sundaysupper/*

To see the other bloggers who participated in the Secret Recipe Club this month click here: