Three Bean Chicken Chili & Cornbread

So dinner yet again was a spur of the moment type thing. I remembered I had 6 chicken thighs frozen and I'm usually well stocked with dried beans so I decided to whip up a chili. It was pretty decent and while it had a little bit of heat, I toned it down for the kids.

As far as the cornbread, I am always in search of "the recipe" that has the flavor I'm looking for. The cornbread I love the very most is made at a local supermarket's bakery and has an astronomical price per small tray. I suppose I could ask if they had a recipe, but I'm terribly afraid it is from a box mix. So even though this recipe was not the one it was very moist and I will likely play around with it some more to see if I can get it right. I should mention that the "general" recipe came from the back of the cornmeal container. The additions and changes I made will be in the Cook's notes.


Three Bean Chicken Chili

6 frozen bone in chicken thighs
1/2 bag of black beans, dried
1/2 bag of red kidney beans, dried
1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 can small tomato paste
1 can cannellini beans
1 c. frozen peas
1 large onion, diced
2 Tbsp. oil
2 Tbsp. honey
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 Tbsp. chili powder
1 1/2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. oregano
1/4 tsp. white pepper
Salt & black pepper

Soak beans either using overnight method or quick method. Boil chicken thighs in large stock pot until cooked through. Drain, saving cooking liquid. Remove meat from thigh bones and set aside. In same large stock pot, heat oil and add onion cooking for a few minutes until onion is translucent. Add in garlic, chili powder, cumin, oregano, peppers & salt. Add in chicken liquid to bring liquid level up to about half (doing this through a sieve will keep out any chicken scum). Add in thigh meat, beans, peas, diced tomatoes, tomato paste and honey. Simmer for about 2 hours or until beans are tender. Serve with Mexican blend grated cheese.

Cook's notes: So I pretty much whipped this up off the top of my head as I went along. I liked it although truth be told I'd prefer it spicier and thicker. The kids did really well with it although the littlest one hates anything that resembles a soup or stew.

Cornbread

1 1/4 c. flour
3/4 c. yellow corn meal
1/4 c. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. skim milk
1/4 c. oil
1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 400. Grease 8 or 9" baking pan. Combine dry ingredients. Stir in wet ingredients until just moistened. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 20-25 minutes or until light golden brown & toothpick comes out clean. Serve warm. 9 servings.


Cook's Notes: I doubled this recipe and made the following changes: I added one can of creamed style corn and 1 c. of low fat plain yogurt as a substitute for one cup of the skim milk. I also melted 4 Tbsp. of butter and poured it on top of the batter once it was in the greased 9x13 pan. I did not serve the cornbread with butter/margarine and it didn't need it. Both my hubby and the kids loved the cornbread so I guess this will be the go to recipe - I will play around with the flour to cornmeal ratio as well as the sweetness. If I get it right, I'll re-post my recipe.