Healthy cooking

Keeping up with my current weight loss (down 28 lbs now!) isn't always easy, especially because I LOVE to cook, and Geoff loves to eat =) But I have been pretty successful in converting recipes into a healthier, waist-friendly version. Having today off for MLKJr day, I decided to try a couple new recipes: White Chicken Chilli and homemade whole wheat bread. I thought I would share these recipes with you all, they have turned out VERY yummy and are still very low-cal and low-fat!

White Chicken Chilli

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 (4 ounce) can diced jalapeno peppers
• 1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 2 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth
• 3 cups chopped cooked chicken breast
• 3 (15 ounce) cans white beans

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Slowly cook and stir the onion until tender. Mix in the garlic, jalapeno, green chile peppers, cumin, oregano and cayenne. Continue to cook and stir the mixture until tender, about 3 minutes. Mix in the chicken broth, chicken and white beans. Simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Remove the mixture from heat. Serve Warm

Whole Wheat Bread

• 3 1/2 cups Whole Wheat Flour
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 cup warm water
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 packet dry yeast

In a large mixing bowl combine 1 cup of water ( at a temp. of 110 to 120 degrees F ) with the salt, the honey, the yeast, the oil and the milk and stir until mix. Mix in the flour and stir until the dough starts pull away from the bowl. Place the dough on a lightly flour surface and knead the dough for 6 to 10 minutes or until the dough become smooth. Place a small amount of oil in a large bowl and place the dough in the bowl and flip the dough to cover the dough with oil. Cover the bowl with a towel and let the dough rise for approx. 1 hour , the dough should double in size. Note: This made take longer if the room is cold. Take the dough out of the bowl and place on a lightly floured surface, shape the dough into a 8 inches log and place into a lightly grease loaf pan.Loosely cover the pan with lightly oil plastic wrap and let raise for 30 to 60 minutes until the dough raises approx.1 inch above the pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F place in center of oven and cook for about 40 minutes after 20 minutes loosely cover the pan with aluminum foil , test if the wheat bread is done by thumping the bottom of the bread it should sound hollow. Let bread cool on a rack then slice.