Foodie Friday - White Chicken Chili

I am so incredibly sorry the blog has been silent this week.  I've been working a flex week so that I can leave work early this morning and head to Nashville for the Women's Running Series half marathon!

Wednesday was a rainy day - the PERFECT day for a warm cup of soup.  I mentioned makeing chili to hubby and he requested white chicken chili.  My 409 friend, Jody, sent me a great recipe for it a few years back and it quickly became one of our favorites.  It's also super easy!

Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, peeled and diced
1 medium garlic clove, peeled and chopped
1 medium red bell pepper, diced
2 cans white beans, undrained
4 oz can green chiles, diced
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 can low sodium chicken broth
1/2 lb chicken breast meat, cubed or shredded
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp cilantro, minced
6 tbsp salsa - optional

Directions
In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Add the onion, garlic, and red pepper and saute for 5 minutes.

Next, stir in the white beans, chiles, cumin, chili powder, and broth.  Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

Stir in the chicken and simmer for another 5 minutes.

Stir in the lime juice and cilantro.  A tablespoon of salsa can be used to garnish each serving of the chili, if desired.  We like to top ours with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of cheese.

We usually cook up the chicken ourselves for this meal, but you could easily use leftover chicken or pick up a rotisserie chicken at your local grocery store.  I used one can of Northern beans and one can of Cannellini beans, but again, you can use the same kind or mix it up.  I had a bag of small red, orange, and yellow peppers so I used those.  You could also substitute jalapenos for the bell pepper if you want to give the soup more kick.  There are lots of way to tweak it and make it your own!

I hope everyone has a great weekend.  I'll be tweeting and Instagramming from Nashville all weekend.  The race is tomorrow so it's early to bed for me tonight!

What's your favorite type of chili?  More traditional or different?

Until next time,

Jen

Foodie Friday – Jalapeno Popper Dip

I don’t know about you, but I am so excited that football season is finally here!!  I’ll share some of my favorite football snacks with you on the blog this year, starting with this gem I stumbled across last year.

I found this recipe from the Brown Eyed Baker via Pinterest.  I tried it out on some friends last year and it was a huge hit!  I made it this past weekend while we were up in the mountains and my parents enjoyed it as well.

Ingredients
16 oz cream cheese at room temp
1 cup mayonnaise
8 pieces of bacon, cooked and crumbled
6 jalapenos minced (or a 4 oz can diced jalapenos, drained)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp cumin
1 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese

Topping:
1 cup panko bread crumbs
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
4 tbsp butter, melted

Directions

1.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

2.  Combine the cream cheese, mayonnaise, bacon, jalapenos, garlic, cumin, and cheddar cheese in a mixing bowl.  Pour the mixture into a casserole dish or a 9x13 baking dish.

3.  Combine the panko bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, and melted butter in a small bowl, tossing with a fork until the mixture is evenly moistened.  Sprinkle evenly over the cream cheese mixture.

4.  Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes, until the top is golden brown and the dip is bubbling.  Let rest for 5 minutes before serving.  Serve with your favorite tortilla chips, vegetables, crackers, etc.

I usually leave the bacon out (I know…shocking!) but I don’t miss it.  I like to serve this dip with Tositos Scoops with a small dollop of pepper jelly on top.  It adds a little sweetness to the dip without overpowering it.

This is so easy to make and is great for tailgating and parties.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!  It’s supposed to rain tomorrow so looks like I’ll be getting my run in on Sunday. 

What’s your favorite tailgating dish?

Until next time,

LiveJournal Tags: Foodie Friday,Brown Eyed Baker,dips

Inaugural Disneyland 10k recap!

Race day was finally here!!

I had my outfit all laid out the night before -

  
I had plans to meet Brandi and her mom at the Sorcerer’s hat near the Disneyland hotel before heading to the holding area for the 10k.  On my way there I passed the start line -
We met up with other #TeamrunDisney friends for a quick group picture.

This was runDisney’s first race where they held the 5k and the 10k in the same morning – 45 minutes apart at that!  We couldn’t get to the corrals until after the 5k had started, so we hung out, stretching, chatting and meeting up with old and new friends.  Karen from Just Me and My Running Shoes and I texted and met up again before the race -
Brandi and I had some fun with my UGA outfit (I was asked by a couple of people if I cheered for the Green Bay Packers…um…their colors aren’t red and black and I have a bulldog on my cheek people!) Brandi is a Georgia Tech fan…good thing we get along! :)
  
Finally it was time to head to the corrals…it was bottlenecked!  We very slowly made our way to Corral D -
 
So.Many.People!  We snapped some pictures in the corral while we were waiting -

Our friend, Lena from The Beginner's Runner, ran the 5k as well and luckily she found us before the 10k started and ran with us!  Soon enough, it was our time to start!!  The official runDisney race announcers, Carissa and Rudy, were dressed as Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum – very fitting since the theme of the race was Alice in Wonderland! The course took us down off Disney property and through the grounds of the Anaheim Convention Center (the D23 expo was held here just a couple of weeks before!).  We continued along the streets of Anaheim and finally came up on the back of Carsland and entered California Adventure!
 
After passing through Carsland we continued along toward Paradise Pier!  I love that they had “World Of Color” playing as we ran through – bummed I missed seeing this show, but it gives me a reason to come back again!

As we ran through I smelled beer and then passed a man who was drinking a can as he was running!  I’ll admit, an ice cold beer does taste great after running, but not sure I could do it DURING my run! 
As we continued through DCA, we snapped a few more fun pictures.
 
We finally exited DCA and entered Disneyland!

Running down Main Street USA was a very different experience here than at WDW.  Sleeping Beauty’s castle is so small compared to Cinderella’s Castle at WDW!  The plus side was that the entire road was open and it wasn’t so crowded.  The down side was the lack of crowd support, as only those who purchased a Gold or Platinum ChEAR package were allowed inside.  It was nice to be able to spread out a bit!

 
We ran through Tomorrowland and by my Grandpa’s FAVORITE ride EVER, “It’s A Small World”! (He hates it with a passion)

Next we headed backstage for a bit.  They had Halloween and Christmas parade floats out for us -

As we were running backstage we came across this pretty cool banner – thanks to the Custodial staff for coming out and cheering for us!

We re-entered into the park at Toon Town, where Brandi and I were just too tired to continue -
Haha not really, but we thought it was a funny photo op :)  We did have fun taking this next one though!
We approached Fantasyland, where Alice and the Mad Hatter were waiting to welcome us to mile 5!
Finally it was time for one of the most magical experiences in a Disney race – to run through the castle!

My Marathonfoto castle pictures crack me up…no, I did NOT stop running!  I wasn’t sure if the photographer would get me so I ran crouched over.  HAHA!  At least I got a few!

We exited Disneyland and finished the race through Downtown Disney.  By this time there were quite a few people there so we had lots of fun spectators!  It was also nice to run by the shops whose doors were open and feel the air conditioning blowing out into the street!

Yeah…not sure why my shirt kept shifting…it looks so funny!  As awesome as the race was, I was ready for it to be over.  Finally, we crossed the finish line and earned the inaugural Disneyland 10k medal!

 

If you were participating in the Dumbo Double Dare Challenge, you were to get a wristband after completing the 10k to indicate that you had indeed finished both races.  I was happy to obliged with this and add another wristband to my lovely collection. 
I absolutely loved the course that runDisney came up with for this race and really hope they keep it for years to come.  After the race we grabbed some water, our food boxes, and headed to our hotels to shower and get ready for a character brunch with tons of friends! (I’ll recap the rest of Saturday in another post)

What did you think of the 10k course if you participated?  What was your favorite part?

Up next – my recap of the Disneyland half marathon!

Until next time,

LiveJournal Tags: runDisney,Dumbo Double Dare,inaugural Disneyland 10,10k,TeamrunDisney,Disneyland,Disney California Adventure,Alice,Mad Hatter,Marathonfoto