Tuesday's Food: White Bean and Apple Chili

Ahhhh....cool weather. Here I am sitting in my jeans and long sleeve t-shirt in front of an open window, snacking on some ginger snaps, and kissing getting hot and sticky goodbye (for the next few months). This time of year is seriously my favorite. Not only is the the only time of year that I feel completely comfortable all the time, but it gives me excuses to use spices and cook soups that just seem out of place any other time of the year. So when a friend of mine (Hi Charity!!!) brought me a bag full of apples straight from her mama's apple trees in Pennsylvania, I knew I was going to have to try a few recipes to eat those apples right up. As I and my friend Tara (over at MommyTime) have been going through Stephanie O'Dea's Year of Slow Cooking recipes, I checked out her recipes that had apples in them. And let me tell you, she's got quite a bit. Warning, though, most of her recipes call for green apples, so if you use other types (like I did), it may not turn out like she is describing. I DID try her Applesauce, Apple Cheddar and Turkey Meatballs, Apple Crisp,  and Stuffed Baked Apples. I made slight adjustments to all of these to fit my family, so check them out and let me know what you think.

Today's feature recipe is White Bean and Apple Chili (Original recipe here).

And sorry, there are no pictures. This was eaten so quickly that there wasn't even a chance to snap a picture.

Ingredients: (Don't be intimidated by the amount that goes into this. It's really a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Prepare the spices together ahead of time and it should take no time at all the make this soup) 

• 3 Cans of white beans
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 4 small apples, chopped (leave peel on) 
• 3 garlic cloves, diced
• 3 T butter
• 2 tsp chili powder (use more if you like spice) 
• 1/2 tsp ground thyme
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 4 cups broth (I used chicken, but vegetable is a good substitute....I wouldn't do beef) 
• 1/2 cup low fat sour cream

Directions: 

• Put butter in the bottom of the crockpot. 
• dump in the rest of the ingredients, saving the sour cream for last
• Cover and cook LOW 8 hours or HIGH 4-5 hours
• Stir in cheddar cheese (and I did a dollop of sour cream) in your bowl and EAT! 

I served this with some Jiffy Cornbread muffins. My husband was seriously skeptical about this recipe. He was not excited about eating a soup that tasted like apples. But after eating one bowl, pretty quickly, he got seconds. This was amazingly good! It wasn't sweet and surprisingly filling. Two bowls was plenty. If you are looking for a good vegetarian meal or something pretty quick to put together, this is really a great recipe. It's not too heavy, but just perfect for these 60 degree weather days. It took me no time to put it in before church and was ready by the time we got home. Please, please try this one. And if you try it with a green apple, let me know how it tastes. I bet it's just as good!