It’s getting chili

Fall is upon us, and one of my favorite things about the weather cooling off is making a batch of warm, comforting soup or chili.

Another great thing about soup is that you almost always have enough left over for a couple extra meals, AND the leftovers usually taste even better the second or third time around.

I’m going to share with you a chicken chili recipe that I came up with for Super Bowl Sunday a few years back. The recipe varies almost every time I make it, depending on what we have on hand, so feel free to add or omit any ingredients to make the recipe your own.

1 pound chicken breasts
2 14-ounce cans low-sodium chicken broth
1 large bell pepper (any color)
1 jalapeno
2 cloves garlic
1 cup frozen sweet corn (optional)
2 cans fire-roasted tomatoes
2 cans black beans (or 1 can of black beans and one cup of lentils)
1/2 cup fire-roasted green chilies
Cumin
Paprika
Black Pepper
Chipotle powder (try Mrs. Dash)
1 packet taco seasoning
Shredded jack and cheddar cheese (for topping)
Finely chopped cilantro (for topping)

Directions Place chicken, broth and tomatoes in a slow cooker. Cook on high until the chicken easily falls apart, shred with a fork. Sauté garlic, bell pepper, green chilies and jalapeno until tender, add to slow cooker. Add corn, beans, and seasonings to pot and continue to cook for another 1-2 hours.

Suggestions: Top with shredded cheese, cilantro, sour cream and corn chips.

Bubble-07

What would a blog about concoctions be without a few drink recipes thrown in the mix?

After wine, vodka is my drink of choice and I’m partial to vodkas with flavor infusions. Have you noticed how many flavors of vodka are out there these days?

It's available in just about any flavor you can imagine, from basic fruit flavors to more interesting infusions like chocolate, sweet tea, root beer, pepper….even bacon (but, that’s a whole other post). My favorite new flavor is bubble gum.

I recently picked up a bottle of Three Olives Bubble for a bachelorette party, and it was a huge hit! We mixed it with diet 7-up and made Bubble 07s. I wish I could take credit for the name, but the brilliant people at Three Olives came up with it. Check out some other bubble gum vodka concoctions here.