Pat's Low-Fat White Chili

This is a great cold weather dinner. The basic recipe came from a South Beach Diet cookbook. Suggestions: Dress it up with all kinds of goodies like fat-free or low fat shredded cheese, fat free sour cream, salsa, cilantro, green chilies, jalapenos or tortilla strips. None of these really add any fat or calories to speak of. Tortilla strips are usually made by frying strips of flour tortillas for about 30 seconds in oil. I discovered that you can get a close second by spraying a cookie sheet with Pam, laying out strips of whole wheat tortillas, and spraying them again with Pam. Bake at 350 until lightly browned and crisp. Why whole wheat tortillas? They have a comparable calorie count to flour but the whole wheat takes longer to digest which lowers the calories stored as fat and adds additional fiber to your diet. I’ve messed with this recipe a LOT. You can play with the ingredients to get a lot more soup. For example, I’ve added the following, none of which really ups the calories enough to even mention; o More chicken broth o more salsa o Fresh lime juice o Roasted red peppers Let this be dinner along with a salad, sliced orange with chili powder and salt sprinkled on it, and baked whole wheat tortilla covered with melted fat free or low fat cheese and jalapenos or green chilies.

• Ready In: 30 mins
• Serves: 4
• Yields: 8 cups

Ingredients

• 1  tablespoon olive oil
• 1  medium onion, chopped
• 2  garlic cloves (minced)
• 1  lb boneless skinless chicken breast, diced into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1  tablespoon chili powder
• 1  teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 (15 ounce) can cannellini beans (You can also use Great Northern Beans or Navy beans)
• 1 (14 1/2ounce) can Rotel tomatoes & chilies
• 1⁄2 cup  chi chi's original salsa
• 1 (4 ounce) can green chilies
• 1  cup chicken broth
•  salt and pepper

Directions

1. Heat oil in large saucepan over medium high heat. Add onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook one minute more.
2. Add chicken, chili powder, and cumin. Cook, stirring often, until chicken is no longer pink inside, about 5 minutes.
3. Add beans, tomatoes with juice, salsa and broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover; simmer until flavors blend, about 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Makes 4 (1 ½ cup servings) 210 calories, 5 g. fat, 6 g. dietary fiber.