I mentioned what I was making for supper on Twitter, and a new friend asked me for the recipe. I thought readers might be interested, so I've posted it here. I love to cook (that Italian heritage idea that giving food is giving love) and I have basic recipes that lend to different variations. This is one of them. Enjoy!

My version of chicken chili (We go light on the spices.)
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 large sweet onion (about a cup)
1/2 cup grated carrots
5 tablespoons flour
1/2 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 tablespoon ground cumin
2 cans chicken broth (14.5 oz cans)
2 cans Great Northern beans
1 can black beans
1 1/2 cups cut up cooked chicken (I bake an extra large breast when we have chicken the night before and use that. Rotisserie chickens work well, too, but that adds salt.

Topping can be sour cream, cheddar cheese, chopped tomato or whatever suits.

I use this basic roux (oil and flour mix) for everything from mustard chicken to a thyme beef gravy for turkey meatballs. You can adjust it according to your taste.

Using a high sided skillet, slightly heat the olive oil on medium, then drop in onions and grated carrots. Stir until the onion is translucent. The carrots will steam further in the cooking process. I mix flour, chili and cumin (you can add more of the spices if you like it hotter) and then sprinkle that mixture over the onions and carrots. Stir for a minute or two until the flour and spices are worked in.

Once you have a paste, pour in one can of chicken broth. Stir until gravy-like and then add the other can. Cook on medium to medium-high for about two minutes, constantly stirring to thicken. I use canned beans to make this a quick recipe, but I rinse them with water to cut sodium. I just open the cans, drain, use water from the spigot, shake them and then add to skillet. Stir in chicken(again as much or little as you want).

There are two ways you can cook until done. Either just let the chili on the stove and simmer for about 20 minutes. Or the method I like—just dump the chili into a crock pot (I spray mine with Pam) and turn on low for about three hours. The beans soften more, the spices have more zest, and the chili is ready whenever you want it!

There are so many variations on this. You can chop peppers and add them instead of the carrots. You can mix in chopped tomatoes with the chicken. I try to keep it as low salt as possible by rinsing the beans and not adding any additional salt. But salt to taste. It tastes even better the next day!