african desserts: Buffalo Chicken Chili

buffalo chicken chili

Raise your hand if you LOVE buffalo chicken wings!!

Yesterday I went to the store to do some grocery shopping. It was a beautiful day, the sun was especially warm and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

This is quite uncommon to have a 62 degree day in Nebraska in mid-January.

But after listening to the weatherman I knew it wouldn't last.

There's a saying here in Nebraska,

"If you don't like the weather in Nebraska, wait five minutes and it will change!"

I bought all of the fixings for chili, knowing it was coming, and it DID.

And if the weatherman wasn't right (which he seldom is) my twins are studying clouds in science, and they told me the ones up there are bringing a storm!

The winds are blowing like mad, and I have hunkered down at home in my PJ's for a

day of laundry and cleaning. (BOO!)

Last night, I found a recipe for Buffalo Chicken Chili on A Forkful of Comfort's linky party.

I showed it to my oldest son and is statement was "oh, yum."

I decided to forego the usual chili and make this one.

Now I will tell you that when it comes to recipe following, I am a bit of a rebel.

I can NEVER just "follow" a recipe without tweaking it someway to make it my own.

Her recipe sounded delicious, but if I made it that way I would have to go to the store...again.

I'm in my PJ's, remember? And I plan to stay in them until I have to go get my twins at school at 3 PM.

(they are getting to the age where I can drop them off in them,

but they comment when I pick them up in them! ;)

So, I did some tweaking. Also, my hubby and I are on the WEIGHT-LOSS TRAIN and if I don't want to eat chicken and fish and lettuce daily, I need to TRY to make these soups healthy!

And, people, I LOVE me some soup!

If you click on the link for A Forkful of Comfort up there, it will take you directly to her post, and you can see what changes I have made. Make it however you like, but I say MAKE IT!

I have only taken a nibble of it, as it slow cooks in my crock pot, but I wish you knew just how amazing my house smells right now.

Buffalo Chicken Chili

adapted from A Forkful of Comfort

One Medium Onion, diced

4 Stalks of Celery, diced

3 cloves of garlic, minced

5 chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces

1 Tablespoon of Chili Powder

1 Tablespoon of Cumin

2 Tablespoons of flour

1/2 cup of hot wing sauce ( I use Frank's )

2 - 14.5 ounce cans of diced tomatoes with juice

1 - 15 ounce can of black beans

1 - 15 ounce can of dark red kidney beans

salt and pepper to taste

2 cups of chicken broth (we like more broth!)

mozzarella cheese, ranch or blue cheese dressing

In a stockpot over medium heat saute your chicken until it's no longer pink.

I have to tell you that I never decide what's for dinner in advance!! I took my chicken out of the freezer and threw it in the pot frozen, basically defrosted/cooked it at the same time! The original recipe said to cook it in 3 Tablespoons of butter, I omitted that step.
If your chicken isn't frozen like mine was, you will need it.

Add the onion, celery and garlic, season with salt and pepper to taste. Simmer until tender.

(at this point I put it in the crock pot)

Sprinkle with Chili Powder, Cumin and Flour, stirring to coat. Add hot wing sauce, tomatoes, chicken broth and beans. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes more, stirring occasionally.

I left mine on low for about 5 hours in the crock pot.

Top with your cheese of choice and ranch or blue cheese dressing.