Spicy Chicken Chili

We hosted a super bowl party this weekend and I of course planned and fretted over my menu for a whole week. After scouring through super bowl menus and pinterest pins for far more time than I am ok with admitting, I decided on a few snacks and a couple entrees.  I took this as an opportunity to make a few things that I had been craving but I also made some traditional super bowl foods.  One of which was a chili.  I wanted to try something different than my standard ground turkey/bean chili recipe that is good and easy but really kind of boring.  I decided to go with a spicy chicken chili and found a number of recipes that initially seemed interesting but after further review decided to keep looking and found what is going to be the only chili that I make from now. I adjusted the original recipe a little bit to use some of the ingredients that I had on hand that needed to be used and still can’t believe how good this turned out.

When I made this I didn't measure any of the spices so I will put the recommended volumes but don’t hesitate, which you never should, to taste and season to your liking because I can’t actually vouch for these volumes but the general base I thought was really good.

1 large package of boneless chicken thighs ~ 3.5 lbs, sliced into bite-sized chunks

1 tbs olive oil

1 onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp chili powder

2 tbs ground cumin

1 tsp black pepper

½ tsp cinnamon

1 ½ tsp salt

½ tsp cayenne pepper

2 roasted red peppers, diced

1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced

2 jalapeno peppers, diced

1 can rotel

3 cups chicken broth

2 cans large butter beans

In a large pot heat the oil to medium high heat and add the chicken, stirring often.  Once the meet is browned add the onion and garlic, cook for another 5 minutes.  Add the remaining ingredients except for the beans. 

Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes.  Adjust the lid so the pot is partially covered and continue simmering for about another 30 minutes to boil off some of the excess liquid so the chili is more thick and less of a stew.  Add the beans and simmer for about another 30 minutes.

Before the party J and I bet on which of the dishes were going to be cleaned out by the end of the night and this was not one of the ones I bet on but turned out to be the favorite and is definitely going to be my go-to chili recipe from now on.

Beer Cheese

This weekend we fell way off the wagon.  We went out to eat a couple more times than I had planned and one night I saw the most amazing recipe ever and just skipped dinner entirely to pig out on yes, beer cheese and pretzels.  Honestly, can you blame me? I didn’t think so, but I still feel guilty.

½ lb sharp cheddar cheese, I used a Welsh Cheddar which was very flavorful
1 garlic clove, smashed
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
¼ tsp ground mustard
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper, plus more to taste
½ cup Hefeweizen beer
Homemade Pretzels

I have a small food processer with only one blade so I had to improvise a little on this.  If you have a large food processer with a shredder attachment, grate the cheese then replace the shredder attachment with the blade. Add the garlic, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, black pepper and cayenne pepper and pulse to combine.  With the processor running, slowly pour in the beer and blend until a smooth mixture forms.

I wasn’t able to do any of that with my food processor.  I chopped the cheese into ½” pieces and threw ~half of everything in all at once and mixed until a smooth paste formed.  I scooped it all out and did the same with the other half.  Now you have 2 pastes that are a lot less volume than the chopped cheese so I put both mixtures back in the food processor to mix and then seasoned to taste.

I divided this between 2 ramekins, covered them with cling wrap and let chill in the refrigerator.  The longer it sits the more flavors develop, but I only made it about an hour, just long enough for me to make a batch of pretzels.

Yields 1 ¼ cups, actually quite a lot

We ate this as our dinner with pretzels one night then as appetizer with crackers another night and still haven’t quite finished it all.

Pumpkin Creme Brulee

I bought myself a few pie pumpkins before Thanksgiving, so inspired to make a fresh pumpkin pie, and I just never got around to it.  I actually cooked the pumpkins and scooped out all the meat, put it in the refrigerator and still didn’t make the dang pie. I did the hard part and then never followed through.  So for a week or so I had this fresh pumpkin puree that I knew I had to use up quick and pumpkin pie just never sounded good again.  So one day I made pumpkin pancakes, which were a little more boring than I was anticipating so I haven’t even bothered writing it up, but a few days after that I made pumpkin creme brulee which I thoroughly enjoyed.  They actually tasted more like mini crustless pumpkin pies than they did creme brulee, but were very easy to make.  Actually it may have been easier than making the pie, which is why I was ok with making it, because I didn’t have to make a crust.  I don’t want to hear it about frozen crusts, it’s not the same I’m sorry.

8 oz pumpkin puree, or can pumpkin (not pie filling)
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup packed golden brown sugar
3 large egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground allspice
¼ tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp salt
1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream
4 tbs golden brown sugar


Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Whisk pumpkin, ¼ cup sugar and ¼ cup brown sugar in a bowl.  Whisk in egg yolks and vanilla, then spices and salt, set aside.  Bring cream just to a boil in a saucepan.  Gradually whisk hot cream into pumpkin mixture.
Divide mixture between 4 ramekins.  Place ramekins in a roasting pan and add enough hot water to pans to come halfway up sides of ramekins.  Bake until custards are just set in center, about 35 minutes for 5x1 inch ramekins or 50 minutes for 3x1 ¼ inch ramekins.

You can make this 2 hours ahead of time and stop here, cover them and keep in refrigerator.   When you are ready to eat, sprinkle 1 tbs brown sugar on each one and melt with a kitchen torch or put in the oven under the broiler until the sugar is a deep amber.

Some people like their creme brulee cold, and if you do, put it back in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes to chill and let the sugar harden, but I like it hot, so I just try to let it sit for a few minutes to allow the sugar to harden and keep it from scalding my tongue because I have a hard time controlling myself.

This was super simple, well if you already had the pumpkin puree or if you used a can, but was very flavorful and had a nice thick and creamy consistency.  I made 4 and we had 2 one night and then the other 2 the next, but you could easily double this recipe for a dinner party and use 1 15-oz can pumpkin puree and I think I would use 5 egg yolks but double everything else.  That would be really easy to throw together without much time or effort, and you could do it ahead of time before you even start cooking so you don’t occupy the oven.