Recipe: Chicken-Chile Nachos

A note about the chiles: the original recipe used a local variety of fresh roasted chiles, Hot Sandias. Canned green chiles can be substituted, but will be substantially more mild.

Green chiles, about 3 cans, drained
1 cup chicken broth (or water + bouillon)
1 Tb. minced garlic
1/4 cup diced celery
1/4 cup diced onion
2 chicken breast halves, cooked
2 Tb. flour
1/3 cup milk
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
Tortilla chips
Sliced green onions

1. Combine chiles, chicken broth, and garlic in a saucepan. Heat over the stove to boiling, then reduce heat and simmer to reduce (let water boil away until the mixture is saucy). Stir occasionally.
2. Saute onion and celery in oil in a large frying pan.
3. Cube chicken and add to frying pan. Coat evenly with flour and stir while heating on medium. Salt chicken if desired. Pour in the milk and stir constantly until the flour and milk have thickened into a sauce. Lower heat to low. Sprinkle cheese over chicken, and cover to let cheese melt.
4. To serve, scoop chicken mixture on top of tortilla chips, add some green chile sauce, and garnish with green onions.

Mmmmmmmm.

Maybe now they'll let me stay

Today I made what may be the best chicken-chile-cheese nachos in the world. Quite possibly. At least, they were so good that I ate too much!

Here in New Mexico it's all about the green chiles. So while at the Farmer's Market yesterday, I picked up some fire-roasted Sandia Hots, knowing I could easily make my husband happy just by trying. Today I thought maybe they could make some good green enchilada sauce, so I peeled, seeded, and chopped them while chicken cooked in the oven. It was taking a while, so I decided chicken-chile casserole might be easier. And finally, as Liam whined and tugged at my pants incessantly, it became just nachos.

But what a good choice. The chicken was cubed, along with celery and onions in a creamy sauce; the chiles went into a pot with garlic and chicken broth to turn saucy. Cheddar melted on the finished chicken completed it. I put corn tortilla chips on my plate, followed by chicken, the chile sauce, and some sliced green onion. MMmmmmmm.

And yes, my husband was very happy.

Eat those green things; they make you tall.

That's what I overheard my pediatrician saying once to another child as he wrapped up with him/her to come in for my child's checkup.

I've recently decided that I need to eat more vegetables. So, I went to the library and got a few cookbooks to help me.

One thing I wanted to cook was kale. Dark green, leafy vegetables are supposed to be very good for us. They're also not very well liked outside of the American South. I once tried making mustard greens the way my Tennessee-native grandmother cooks them. We threw them away. We'll eat the occasional meal with spinach, but mostly my husband turns his nose up at it. But a year ago I had made a beef and barley soup with kale in it, and we all liked it, so I wanted to give kale another try.

Last night I made kale with potatoes and bacon, and it was very good. The recipe was simple: boiled potatoes; boiled kale; sauteed onions; a little crumbled bacon; salt and pepper. It was better than we expected it to be. The five year-old didn't want it (he doesn't even like potatoes), but the husband _really_ liked it and the baby enjoyed sharing my leftovers today. If you've never had cooked kale, it tastes somewhat like cooked broccoli. And goes well with potatoes.

How do you get your greens?

Back again after a supreme hiatus

You thought I had given up on this blog. So did I! But we've gotten past the first nine months of the baby's life and I'm getting enough sleep!

A couple days ago I made some black bean soup that was so good! This isn't a detailed recipe, just a list of the ingredients:

black beans, cooked from dry by Jer
lots of frozen corn
dried minced onion (had no fresh)
green pepper
fresh tomato
some water
chicken bouillon
frozen cilantro (Mmm. When I buy a bunch of cilantro, I chop it up and put it in a gallon freezer bag with some water. I let it freeze flat so I can break chunks off as needed.)
garlic powder (contemplated the garlic clove... too lazy)
whole cumin seeds, crushed a bit with back of spoon

It simmered a while. Then we each seasoned it to our liking with salsa and hot sauce at the table. Jer added shredded cheese. The baby even liked it (although I took some out for him before adding the chicken bouillon so he wouldn't get the salt and MSG).

I was too tired to make cornbread to go with it, but luckily we had tortilla chips, and together it was delicious! Leftovers the next day were just as good.