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Two recipes from the Tex-Mex border. Never fail all-time favorites! The first one relies on frozen green chilis; don't know if you can get canned where you are, but you might have to find a subsitute.

WHITE CHILI

A lighter, whiter, chili . . .

1 cut up chicken (3 ½ to 4 lbs.)
1 quart chicken broth (or more)
1 T salad or olive oil
1 large onion, diced
1 to 2 cloves garlic, minced
1 c white wine
3 cans cannellini or great northern beans, rinsed and drained
¼ c lime juice
½ c frozen mild green chilies
¼ c minced fresh cilantro (or parsley)
1 t dried oregano
½ t ground cumin
¼ t ground cinnamon
Salt, pepper.
1 c shredded jack cheese
Condiments as desired: diced tomatoes, cheese, olives, fresh cilantro

1. Discard chicken skin and fat, rinse well. Put in large pot, add broth and enough cold water to cover, bring to boiling. Reduce heat to simmer, skim off any scum that ap-pears on surface of pot. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
2. Saute onion and garlic in oil in separate pan until golden and sweet, about 15 minutes. (Add garlic toward end of cooking, so it doesn’t burn).
3. Remove chicken from pot to cool. Bring broth to boil until it reduces to 4 cups.
4. Add rest of ingredients except cheese. When chicken is cool enough, tear into chunks and add to broth mixture. Cook for ½ hour, taste and adjust seasonings, if necessary.
5. Stir in cheese, and serve with condiments.

Note: I like this as more of a soup since I think the broth is the best part, so I add more chicken broth than shown here. You can reduce the amount of broth shown here if you want a more traditional, dense chili. If you like more heat, you can add 1 small minced jalapeño. Adapted from Sunset.

This one's kind of a lot of work, but worth it. You can shorten it a lot by using store-bought roasted chicken and just mixing it with salsa and water or broth.

CHICKEN SOPA
"MEXICAN LASAGNE"

Ingredients

24 corn tortillas
Chicken; 1 large package boneless, skinless
chicken breasts (about 8 breast halves)
1 bay leaf
4 cloves garlic (1 clove + 3 cloves)
2 chopped onions
3 T olive oil
2 cups mild salsa
2 ½ + ½ cups chicken broth
2 t cumin
1 ½ t oregano
2 t salt
½ pound grated cheddar cheese*
½ pound grated monterrey jack cheese*
*Use low-fat cheese if desired
16 oz. sour cream (use low fat sour cream)



Cooking Equipment

Large shallow baking pan (14" x 8")
Large saucepan
Skillet
Tongs
Cheese grater

1. To prepare chicken: Rinse chicken parts and place in pan, cover with cold water with 1 bay leaf and 1 chopped clove of garlic. Turn heat to High and bring water to boil. Once water comes to a boil, turn heat down to low. Cover pot and simmer 25 min-utes. Remove chicken to a plate and cool. When chicken is cool enough, shred with hands. You should have about 8 cups of chicken meat. (Note: You can also use this method of cooking chicken to make chicken for sandwiches, chicken salad, etc.)

2. Chop onion and 3 cloves garlic. Place large saucepan over medium high heat. Put in olive oil and let heat for 1 minute. Put in onion, garlic, cumin, and oregano, and stir. Turn heat to medium low and cover. Cook for 10 minutes, checking and stirring 2-3 times. If vegetables start to stick, add a little more oil. If they start to burn, turn down heat.

3. Add 2 ½ cups chicken broth, 2 cups salsa, and salt to pot; stir. Turn heat to high; bring mixture to boil. Turn down heat to medium, cook uncovered 15 minutes. Sauce should be bubbling nicely but not too frantically.

4. While sauce is cooking, grate cheeses. Coat large (14" x 8") baking pan with Pam cooking spray, or take a paper towel and lightly coat pan with olive oil. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

5. When sauce is done, remove a scant 2 cups (this means almost 2 cups, but not quite) from pot and set aside. Add chicken pieces to pot and stir until thoroughly coated.

6. In a skillet, heat ½ cup of chicken broth to boiling; turn heat to low. To prepare tortillas: Using tongs, quickly dip each tortilla in hot broth before layering. If broth starts to run out, add a little hot water.

7. Layer casserole:

1. Place 8 softened tortillas overlapping in bottom of baking pan.
2. Spread half the chicken.
3. 8 more softened tortillas.
4. Half the chicken.
5. Half the cheese.
6. 8 more tortillas.
7. The 2 cups reserved sauce.
8. The remaining cheese.
9. Carefully spread the sour cream on top.

8. Bake 45 minutes in oven until edges are brown and sour cream is set. Yum!