Chicken Chili & Apple Cornbread Muffins

Did you make the roast chicken?  Are you planning on making it?  If you do, or are, you might have some left over chicken.  I make a lot of beef chili, sausage chili and turkey chili.  I usually don't make chicken chili but I hate wasting leftovers and I love recreating them into a new dish.  The base of this recipe can be used with the protein of your choice or with lots of veggies for a meatless option.

2 tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 a large Spanish onion, or 1 medium onion, diced
1 cup of green, red, orange or yellow pepper, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 to 1 whole jalapeño, diced (optional)
2 tablespoons of chili powder 
1 tablespoon of cumin
1 tablespoon of oregano
1 can of diced tomatoes with the liquid (14-15oz can)
1 can of tomato sauce (14-15oz can)
2 cans of your favorite beans drained and rinsed (15oz can)
Salt & pepper to taste
2 cups of frozen corn
4 cups of shredded roasted chicken off the bone

In a large stock pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Add the onions, pepper, garlic and jalapeño and saute until just soft and translucent.  Remember to use as much or as little jalapeño as you like.  In our house we like it hot so I used a whole one.  

Now add your spices to the veggies and sauté for 1 minute.  By adding the dry spices to the pot, before the liquid, you wake up the spices.  They hit the heat and oil and come back to life.  The smell will be amazing.  

Next add the canned tomatoes with the liquid and the tomato sauce.  Both cans of beans go in and stir to incorporate everything.  Turn the heat down to medium low and let simmer for about 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

After 25 minutes, add the frozen corn and the shredded chicken.  You don't need to defrost the corn first.  It will heat through once  it is mixed into the hot chili.  I used some left over corn I had in the fridge from dinner the night before.  

Taste and check for salt and pepper.  I do it at the end here because some tomato sauces and canned beans have salt in them.  If the chili is too thick, add a bit of water or chicken stock, 1/4 cup at a time, until you get the consistency you like.

We also added shredded cheese to our bowls.  

In my option, nothing goes better with chili than cornbread.  I love cornbread any time of the day or night.  I make it in muffin tins and in a 9x13" pan.  This recipe will make 24 muffins or 1, 9x13" pan. 

Today I made apple cornbread muffins.  I recently bought some cinnamon honey from a local farm and I though it would be great drizzled on top of these muffins.  The slight sweetness of the apples and the honey will also compliment the spicy chili.  

3 cups of flour
1 cup of yellow cornmeal
1/4 cup of sugar
2 tablespoons of baking powder
2 teaspoons of kosher salt
2 cups of milk
3 eggs
2 sticks of unsalted butter, melted
2 apples peeled and diced 

Heat the oven to 350 degrees

Combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder  and salt in a large bowl.  Stir the milk, eggs and melted butter into the dry ingredients.  You want to mix it well but don't over-mix.  Just fully incorporated.  Fold in the peeled, diced apples.  

Spray your baking pan or muffin tin with cooking spray.  If making muffins, use an ice cream scoop to fill each one 3/4 full.  The ice cream scoop helps to fill each one evenly and without a mess.  

Bake 25-30 minutes(for muffins) until set or until a toothpick come out clean when inserted.  Remember to use any baking times as a guide.  Each oven heats differently.  I usually check 5 minutes before the recipe states and then I continue my baking time based on the doneness of my bake.

Cornbread muffins make a great breakfast, heated in the microwave, topped with a bit of butter and some maple syrup or honey.  Some other thing to try adding to the cornbread base: shredded cheese, jalapeños, dried cranberries, herb mixtures, chilies, corn.  The list is endless.