Baptismal Chili

(Haley and I have decided to write our blog entries to one another. We hope this format will bolster our self confidence by guaranteeing us a sympathetic audience of one sister who truly cares about the ins and outs of preparing a batch of biscuits.)

Dearest H,
I pictured you and Finn this morning, big and small, at the breakfast table. Likely, Finn took a peek under your shirt at your pregnant belly and said good morning to baby Cobie. Have you and Mike agreed upon the spelling of Coby's name? Notice that I have used both possible spellings. Perhaps looking at your options in print will clarify your decision.

You are probably wondering how the baptism lunch went, so I will tell you. The day started perfectly at Pease Lake. The sky was clear. The lake was still, the mountain reflected on the water. We sang, Caleb dunked with the help of Pastor Harv, we prayed and sang again. It's impossible form me to convey the beauty and simplicity of the experience.

After the church service we took to the Speller residence for a family lunch. In typical form, the Reemes arrived early, talked loudly, and waited impatiently for the food. Actually, lunch was ready, but in typical form, the Spellers trickled in slowly, calling for rides, toting laundry, and disappearing into places like the bathroom just as a blessing for the meal was about to be said.
Interestingly, between us, Caleb and I have created a balancing point between the propensity for punctuality and the inclination to arrive at least a half hour late for every appointment. I no longer fret and fuss over time and Caleb is occasionally early.

The lunch was nice. I called upon mother and mother-in-law for help, playing to their strengths. Sheilah baked two fruit pies and Joan provided a Greek salad, of which the primary ingredients were gleaned from her garden. Rachel (sister-in-law) brought an enormous bread-bowl dip. Hence forth I vow to always call on others to fill in the odds and sods for a group meal. This way, I was able to focus on the chili and bread. This was a white chili, with pale beans and chicken, forgoing the typical tomato based sauce. It is really quite good. Sadly, I have no photos so you'll have to make it to see it. The bread was also a success. Actually, it led to a lot of binging amongst the guests. Rachel scoffed when I hinted that I hoped for leftovers to take home. The loaves were based on the no-work recipe. I tinkered with the flours and threw some raisins and spices into one. The recipe for the no-work bread is located in our archives.

The recipe for White Chili was created by Jacqueline McMahan. I paired down on the chilies, tinkered with the beans, and made a few other alterations to suite my ingredients and ease. Otherwise, I followed her directions

White Chili

Beans
1 pound combination of dried pale coloured beans of your choice
5-8 cups water
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
pepper
salt
Combine these ingredients in a big pot. Simmer them until the beans are soft. This will probably take one to two hours. If you want to speed up the simmer time, pre soak your beans over night or for about 8 hours.

Drain the beans and reserve a cup of liquid

Chili
One bottle light beer
1 cup diced onion
2-3 minced garlic cloves
2 jalapeno chilies, seeded and diced (use one, or half, if you want a mild chili)
4 Anaheim chilies roasted, peeled and seeded (you can skip theses and just use jalapeno chilies but the roasted chilies don't add heat to your chile, they merely add to the complexity of the flavour, which is a good thing)
1 to 2 tsp cumin
Combine these ingredients in a large pot and simmer for 10 minutes.

Add these ingredients to the pot:
1 and 1/4 pound chicken breasts, diced
1 tsp chile powder
1 cup reserved bean liquid
Simmer for at least 15 minutes or until you have the tomatillo sauce ready.

Tomatillo Sauce
1 pound tomatillos, husks removed (or subsitute roma tomatoes for the tomatillos)
1 bunch cilantro
1 Tbsp vinegar
1 tsp salt
Place the ingredients in a food processor and process until the consistency of salsa. Stir into the chili. Add the beans. Simmer for 20 min.

Serve topped with grated cheese if you would like. I prefer the chili without cheese.

Variation: Quick Method: Use canned beans and skip the bean preparation step. Add the beans and their liquid along with the chicken.