White Chicken Chili

My mother-in-law made this tasty white chicken chili a few months ago when we were having a family chili night on a busy game day weekend. Since I'm deathly allergic to tomatoes, chili is a dish that is really never on my radar. When I tasted this [tomato-free] chili it was love at first bite.

Here's my adaptation of her recipe:

1 roasted chicken (you can buy a rotisserie chicken, but I like to roast my own. It's super easy and has way less sodium that way. Just rub it with a little butter and pop it in a 375 F oven for 1.5 hours.)
1 onion, diced
2 small cans of diced green chilies
3 cans of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and left whole
64 oz. of chicken stock or 2 bouillon cubes with 8 cups water
2 T ground cumin
1 T dried oregano
2 T olive oil

Pick the chicken, both white and dark meat, into bite size pieces. Set aside.

Dice onion and lightly sauté in olive oil until translucent. Transfer to a large Crock Pot. Add diced chilies (don't drain), cannellini beans (drained and rinsed), garlic (peeled and whole), chicken stock or bouillon and water, cumin, and oregano.

Cook on low for 4-6 hours.

This soup is great to keep in the freezer. I portion it into quart size bags and freeze on a flat surface, like a sheet pan. Once frozen you can easily stack the portions in the freezer for space saving storage. If you are going to freeze some of the soup, do it immediately. Don't let it hang out in the fridge for a few days, then freeze. And, don't forget to write the date on it. As a general rule of thumb I like to eat frozen meals within 6 months. (Though this never sticks around that long).