Chili Blanco

In my continuing quest to prepare more nutritious meals for my family, I have been meeting with a group of friends for a monthly cooking lesson. We were served the following chili dish a couple of months ago. I fixed this recipe for dinner last night and thought that it was still delicious. I recommend it to one and all. Chili Blanco (White Chili) (SLC Junior League "Always in Season" Servings 12 [This recipe makes enough for three meals for the two of us.] 1 pound dried small white navy beans 2 onions chopped [about 1 1/2 to 2 cups] 1 48 oz can chicken broth 4 cups cooked chicken 1 7 oz can chopped green chilies 6 cloves garlic, minced 4 teaspoons ground cumin 1 teaspoon ground oregano 1/2 teaspoon cayenne, or to taste (only if you don't add pepper jack cheese) 1 cup sour cream 3 cups shredded Monterey jack cheese (can use 1 cup pepper jack cheese) Pick and rinse the beans; cover with water and let soak overnight. Drain and place in crock pot with chicken broth and half of cooked chicken. Simmer on high 2 hours or until beans are soft. Add the rest of the chicken, green chilies, garlic, oregano, cumin and cayenne. Simmer 30 to 60 minutes longer. Turn off heat and stir in sour cream and cheese until melted. Add salt and pepper if needed. Serve with fresh salsa if desired. I made a few changes to the recipe to fit my situation. My crock pot took about four hours to cook the beans on high heat. Make sure that you allow enough time for the beans to cook until soft. I didn't have any ground cumin and simply left it out. I used two cans of canned chicken, which seemed to work very well and gave us plenty of chicken. I knew that we would not eat all the chili in one meal; therefore, I did not add the sour cream and pepper jack cheese to the entire batch but simply added them to our individual bowls of chili.