It’s Cold Out and Soup is in Demand!

It was a random cold snowy day out here in the Denver Metro Area and I planned to make a chicken and poblano casserole. My dear hubby had something else in mind. As I walked in the door after a long day of work, he gave me a hug and said, “today would be a really great day for soup.” He was right, and I wasn’t about to turn that challenge down.

I raided the pantry and threw together a stew that was DIVINE! (Do I use that word too much? Maybe I need to explore some better adjectives…) I didn’t have a whole lot of fresh stuff, but, with the flavors in this soup, you couldn’t tell. So here is what it looked like:

Chicken Poblano Stew with a Rancho Verde Chile Cerveza Photo: © Gray Box Studios

And here is what I did:

I made a soup base by simmering a 32 oz box of vegetable broth and a 14.5 oz can of tomato sauce together. I added a splash of apple cider vinegar and a few dashes of cinnamon, salt, and black pepper. After simmering for a few minutes, I added a can of rinsed pinto beans and a large can of rinsed hominy, two small boxes of raisins and kept the simmer going. The simmering pot was at capacity, but I kept going.

I diced up the roasted poblanos (after removing the skins and most of the seeds), half a white onion, and 1 lb of chicken breast meat. I browned the onions and a little garlic in oil and added the roasted poblanos. After cooking that up for a few minutes, I put half of the mix into the very full pot of soup. I added the diced chicken to the other half of the mix in the frying pan and added a little salt and black pepper.

When everything was heated through, I combined a few scoops of each in a bowl, garnished it with some tortilla chips and Monterrey cheese and voila! This soup was DEEEE-LISH!

Thankfully, my family agreed.

Chile & Cheese Stuffed Chicken

Here is a quick and easy recipe I whipped up one night using a few chiles I had on-hand:

4 chicken breasts, sliced lengthwise down the middle and pounded flat (for stuffing)

1/2 cup chopped roasted green chiles (I mixed Anaheims and Big Jims)

1/2 cup shredded cheddar

1 small tomato, finely chopped

1 Tbsp red onion, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 tsp ground cumin

a pinch of salt

a pinch of black pepper

Toothpicks or skewers to close the chicken for grilling

 

Lay the chicken breasts open on a pan. Mix chiles, cheddar, tomato, onion, garlic, cumin, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Spoon equal amounts of mixture on to chicken breasts. Skewer chicken breasts so that they stay closed during grilling. Grill until chicken is cooked through (this won’t take long), but be sure not to overcook the chicken as they will dry out quickly.

Serve with rice (spanish or cilantro lime) and refried beans (pinto or black – homemade is always best!)

Dig in!

(We devoured this one too fast for a photo, but I will be sure to get one the next time I make it.)