Christmas Chicken Chili

To get into the holiday spirit,
I decided to come up with a Christmas chili and decorate
it with red and green for a Christmas Chicken Chili.

This is the perfect time of year (or any other time) for chili; it warms your soul as well as your stomach. And if you put enough chiles into it, it will warm you all over. I marinated my chicken before cooking it to give it an added dimension of flavor--and because I'm so used to marinating chicken for fajitas.

• 2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 T. dried minced garlic
• 1 T. chili powder
• 1 T. fajita seasoning
• 1 T. cumin
• 1 T. freshly ground black pepper
• 1 small yellow onion, chopped
• 3 tomatillos, coarsely chopped
• 4 green onions, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
• 1 (14.5 oz.) can diced tomatoes
• 1 (4 oz.) can fire-roasted green chiles
• 1 (15.5 oz.) can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (15.8 oz.) can great northern beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/4 cup chili powder (add more or less to suit your taste)
• 3 T. cumin (add more or less to suit your taste)
• 1 cup frozen corn, thawed
  
• Sliced green onions for garnish
• Mexican Blend cheese (also called Fiesta cheese)

Place the chopped chicken in a gallon-size Zip-lock plastic bag. Add the vegetable oil, dried minced garlic, chili powder, fajita seasoning, cumin, and black pepper. Seal the bag, letting most of the air out and then mush the chicken around in the oil and spices so all the pieces are covered. Marinate in the refrigerator for an hour or two.

When you're ready to start making your chili, heat a 12-inch, deep, chef's saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and brown it on the first side. (No need to add oil to the pan; the oil you marinated it in works just fine.)

Add the onions and tomatillos. Continue browning the chicken while the veggies get limp.

When the chicken is a nice, brown color and the veggies have softened, add the green onions and garlic to the pan. Saute for a minute or two, just until the fragrance of the garlic is released.

Add the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, green chiles, red kidney beans, and the great northern beans. Season with the chili powder and cumin, then give it a good stir.

Bring to a boil, stir, then reduce the heat, cover, and let the chili simmer for 30 minutes or so, stirring occasionally.

Add the corn, give it a stir, then cover the pan and let the chili cook for 10 more minutes.

I adorned my red-and-green Christmas Chili with sliced green onions and Mexican Blend cheese.

I like quesadillas with my chili, so I warmed up a corn tortilla in a dry, 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. When it browned on the first side, I flipped it over and added the cheese. When the second side browned, I folded it in half, removed it to a plate and cut it into quarters.

If you have a favorite, original chili recipe, please come over to my Foods and Flavors of San Antonio blog and enter it in this month's Chili Cook-Off Challenge. There are prizes for the best chili.