Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup II

Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup (What you see pictured is less than half of what this recipe makes)

My sister-in-law makes this soup, and every time she does I eat more than is sensible. It's a perfect soup, though, creamy, salty, flavorful, thick, and just tasty. I've made some changes from the original version which called for 3/4 cup butter and 3 cups of light cream. This version isn't exactly "light," but it's got less fat than the original. Good enough for me.

Rather than blather on about my thoughts and feelings about this recipe, I'm going to stop and let you check this out. Hope you like it as much as I do.

  

Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup II

     —adapted from PaneraSoupRecipes.blogspot.com

Ingredients:

• 6 cups reduced sodium chicken broth
• 2 half chicken breasts* (you know, two pieces), cooked and shredded
• 1 large box Rice-a-Roni Long Grain and Wild Rice (or two small boxes)
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup diced onion
• 1 cup diced celery 
• 1 cup diced carrots
• 1/4 cup flour 
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 3 cups milk (Original recipe calls for “light cream;” I used 2% Fair Life milk.)

Instructions:

• Bring broth and chicken to a boil in a large soup pot or Dutch oven. Add just the rice from the box, setting the seasoning packet aside. Turn off the heat, cover the pot, and set aside. 
• In a large skillet over medium high heat, melt the butter and then sauté the onions, celery, and carrots until soft. 
• Add the seasoning packet from the rice (If using a large box, use half to all of the packet. If using two small boxes, I recommend using only one seasoning packet, unless you and those eating the soup have no worries about blood pressure.) Stir to incorporate the seasoning. 
• Add the pepper and flour. Cook for another 2-3 minutes, stirring somewhat constantly. 
• Gradually whisk in the milk, trying to keep it as smooth as possible. 
• Reduce heat to medium low and cook milk and veggie mixture until thickened. Then stir it into the broth, rice, and chicken pot. 
• Reduce heat to low and cook for another 10-15 minutes stirring frequently, until thick and delicious. 

Makes about 10-12 servings

* You can also use about 3 cups of shredded leftover rotisserie chicken.

Store leftovers in a sealed container in the fridge. 

Vegan Mushroom Chili

Vegan Mushroom Chili

I am no vegan, but sometimes vegans come into my life. The recipient of this vegan chili is one of my husband's co-workers. She has a very unfortunate condition that prevents her from eating ANY animal products. My husband volunteered me to make Cheesecake Factory White Chicken Chili for his school's administrative staff holiday dinner... yadda, yadda, yadda... vegan mushroom chili. When I tasted the chili I thought it tasted decent, but not something I would want for a meal. Kristy, on the other hand, loved the chili. She told me during dinner that she loved it, but I knew for sure when I found her later on in the kitchen eating bites of the chili with some Fritos Scoops. Yay! I love it when that happens. It just does my heart good to know that I can make something yummy for someone who's diet is so restricted.

Since I'm not a vegan, and I'm really not a huge fan of vegetables, you may have some better ideas for the veggies to add to this chili. The key to the flavor is really the spices I think.  

At any rate, if you or someone you care about is vegan, and enjoys spicy food, give this a go. I think you'll like it. And if you do, please let me know because it makes me happy.

Vegan Mushroom Chili
  --adapted from CookEatShare
Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons canola oil
• 3 portobello mushrooms cooked and sliced/cubed (I grilled them)
• 1 small to medium eggplant, cooked and diced (I grilled them)
• 1/2 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1/2 tablespoon chili powder
• 1/2 tablespoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons Earth Balance Natural Spread
• 3/4 cup chopped yellow or white onion
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1/4 cup chopped roasted poblano pepper*
• 1 1/2 tablespoons finely diced green chili pepper (I used a serrano**)
• 1/3 cup Better Batter Gluten Free Flour (all-purpose works too, but Better Batter IS better)
• 4 cups vegetable broth/stock
• 2 tablespoons salsa verde
• 1/2 tablespoon chili garlic paste
• 1/2 tablespoon chipotle Tobasco
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 1 can 15.8 oz. white beans 
• white rice
• pico de gallo (garnish)
• 3 green onions, sliced (garnish)

Instructions:

Combine cumin, chili powder, salt, and black pepper in a small bowl.

Heat canola oil and Earth Balance Spread in a large sauté pan or a dutch oven (dutch oven if you're doubling the recipe for sure) over medium heat.

Add onions and saute until translucent.

Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds.

Add the poblanos and green chilis.

Add the spice mix and the flour, stir to incorporate, and cook for about 2 minutes, stirring continuously.

Add the vegetable stock a little at a time, whisking to smooth out any lumps.

Add the salsa verde, chili garlic paste, and chipotle tabasco.

Allow to come to a simmer over medium heat, and then add the mushrooms and eggplant into pan/pot.

Simmer for 5 minutes and add the coconut milk and white beans. Stir to incorporate.

Serve and with rice and garnish with pico de gallo and green onions.


Makes about 5 servings.


*To roast the poblano, you do it over a gas burner on low-medium or a grill on high heat (that's what I did). If you don't have either of those options, I've heard you can do this in a cast iron skillet, but that's just one more pan you'll have to clean later. Put it directly on the grate and turn every now and then to evenly scorch it all over. Once it's bubbled and burned all over, you place it either in a zip top bag or seal tightly in aluminum foil (which is what I did). Let sit for about 15 minutes to steam. Then you peel off all the blackness, cut it open, scrape out the seeds, stem, and any "ribs" inside. Then chop. (I had to google this one.)

**For the green chili pepper, I really just went to the grocery store down the street, stood in front of the section of chiles in the produce section, and found a small pepper that said said "green chili" (turns out it was a serrano pepper--see Visual Guide to Peppers). Okay, actually, I looked "green chili pepper" up on google images first, and saw that they were on the small side, so I used one of those small, thin green peppers that's about 3-4 inches long. I put on some plastic gloves (food service type) and chopped off the top of the pepper, quartered it, scraped out the seeds and ribs, julienned, and diced it.

For more information about peppers, see this visual guide to peppers: Visual Guide to Peppers.

Four portobellos was too much, and I think this eggplant
was not the best. My experiment seemed to work
despite these things, though.

Homemade Chili Mix & Resulting Chili

Homemade Chili Mix

This may look like a regular recipe post on a blog, but it's actually me at 4:30 on a Sunday afternoon avoiding lesson planning for the week. There I said it. I don't like lesson planning.
Now that I've admitted that, onto the chili.
I normally purchase chili mix in little packets in the grocery store to make chili. Recently, though, I didn't have a packet in the house when I went to make chili, so I looked one up on the internet. What do you know--there are a bunch of recipes out there. I actually forgot which one I used the first time, but today I'm writing down and posting what I used, which is adapted from Allrecipes.com. Allrecipes.com is my go-to recipe finder because they have so many recipes to choose from AND especially because they have reviews and ratings. This one rated high, so I've used it. And I like it too. 
I think the taste will depend a lot on the chili powder you use, so I recommend using one you already know you love, or try something you know has a good reputation. I really like the Bueno Special Reserve that my brother's friends introduced me to. I "import" it from New Mexico, but if you click on that link, you can order some online.
The resulting chili is super good. Not too spicy, a little greasy, and very satisfying. I tried a cooking method I've seen several times on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives--cooking the meat in water before adding spices and tomato sauce. I think the difference is that you don't drain the fat, as I do when I brown the meat first, and dang it--it tastes better. Oh well, I just won't make it very often then.
Give it a try--chances are you have all of the ingredients in your cupboard already.

Homemade Chili Mix & Resulting Chili
    --Adapted from Allrecipes.com

Chili Mix Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons chili powder (I used Bueno Special Reserve medium hot)
• 1 tablespoon dried minced onion
• 1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons dried parsley
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 4 tablespoons masa* (corn) flour

Instructions:
Mix all of the ingredients in a small bowl. Store in a zip top bag until ready to use.

Makes enough mix for one recipe of chili (below)
 
*You can use all-purpose flour if you don't have access to masa flour, but it's really a second choice--try to get the masa if you can.

Homemade Chili

Chili Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 pounds ground beef (I like to use 90/10)
• 3 cups water, divided
• 1 recipe of Chili Mix Powder (recipe above)
• 1 can tomato sauce (15 ounces or 2 8 oz cans)
• 4 teaspoons beef base or 4 cubes beef bullion
• 1-2 cans pinto or kidney beans (optional)

Instructions:
In a high-rimmed saucepan over medium heat, place 1 cup water and the ground beef. Allow to start simmering and then break up the ground beef with a spoon, spatula, or other appropriate kitchen tool.
When beef is cooked through, add the chili mix and stir. Add tomato sauce and 2 cups water. Add beef base/bullion. Stir until incorporated. Bring chili to a simmer, cover and reduce heat to low. (Add the beans now if you're going to use them) Simmer, covered, for about 30 minutes to 1 hour on low. The longer you simmer it, the more tender the meat will be. If it seems to be getting too thick, add a little more water, about 1/4 cup at a time until you reach the desired consistency.
Leftovers freeze and reheat very well.

Serves 8-10, depending on appetites
Recipe is easily halved

Qdoba's Tortilla Soup

 

Qdoba-ish chicken tortilla soup

I love Qdoba's tortilla soup, although I haven't had it in quite a while.  I wanted to make some soup on this rainy fall day, and tortilla soup sounded awesome. Surprisingly, Qdoba has posted this recipe on their Facebook page, so I didn't even have to go around trying "copycat" recipes. Now, it's been so long since I've had the soup there, I can't say whether this tastes like it or not. I'll have to go there soon to see, but this soup was delicious nonetheless. Spicy, warm, vegetabley, and satisfying. A great tortilla soup.
*Update 8/11/19: I had the real Qdoba soup yesterday at the Atlanta Airport (concourse E), and it was so delightful that I tried to make this soup today. I used the tomatoes our neighbor dropped off, and I think it made the soup taste not quite right. Still good, but not what I was going for. I'll have to make it again soon. I have changed the recipe below to reflect what I think makes it more like the original. Still guessing a bit, though.
Oh, and the FB post seems to have been removed since I first wrote this post.

Qdoba's Tortilla Soup
     --adapted from Qdoba's Facebook Page

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 
• ½ cup red onion, minced 
• ½ cup poblano pepper, diced into 1/4” pieces 
• 3 cups vegetable or chicken broth (I recommend not using reduced sodium)
• 4 corn tortillas 
• 1 tablespoon fresh garlic, minced 
• 2 teaspoon jalapenos, seeds and ribs removed (leave those in for spicier soup)
• ½ teaspoon ground cumin 
• 1 teaspoon ground chili powder 
• 2 cups fire roasted tomatoes, diced (use the ones in a can)
• ½ cup tomatoes, crushed 
• 1 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken
• 1/2 cup grated jack cheese (optional)
• crushed tortilla chips (optional)

Instructions:
In a 2 quart sauce pot over medium heat add oil, onions, and poblanos and cook for 5 minutes.
Add garlic, jalapeno, cumin and chili powder and cook for an additional 5 minutes.
In blender, place broth and tortillas, and puree until just about smooth.
Add tortilla-broth mixture to pot along with fire roasted tomatoes and crushed tomatoes, bring to a boil.
Add shredded chicken and reduce heat and let simmer for 15 minutes on medium-low heat.
Season to taste and serve with cheese and jack cheese for garnish (Qdoba's original recipe on Facebook has several suggestions for garnishes that I will need to try).
Makes 6 cups

My delicious Qdoba soup at the Atlanta Airport

Potato Leek Soup

Potato Leek Soup

This soup is exceptionally simple, quick, warm, and comforting.  I could eat just this for dinner with some nice, crusty bread, but my husband needs meat with his potatoes, so I'll usually serve it with hamburgers, chicken nuggets, or sandwiches.  The original recipe called for ham, and it does taste good with ham, but really only if it's real Honeybaked ham. If you're not going to put in ham, the bacon bits add a nice saltiness and a little more texture.

If you've never worked with leeks before, you need to know that they come with some dirt at the tops of the white parts.  I clean them by chopping off the dark green part (which I discard) and then I chop off the root end.  I cut each leek once lengthwise and rinse thoroughly in cold water, fanning out the tops to get all the dirt out.  Once they're clean, I pat them dry with paper towels and slice.

Oh, and be sure to use russet potatoes.  I tried golden potatoes once, and it just didn't work for this soup.

Potato Leek Soup

Ingredients
:

• 2 Tbsp butter

• 4 cups thinly sliced leeks, white and light green parts only

• 4 cups chicken broth

• 2 large russet potatoes, peeled, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

• 1/4 cup cream or half and half
• Salt to taste

• bacon bits for garnish, if desired (I use the real bacon bits in a jar)

Instructions
:

1 Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the leeks, cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add broth, potatoes and pepper. Bring to a boil over medium high heat.

2 Reduce heat; cover and simmer 25 minutes or until vegetables are very tender. Using a immersion blender, blend until smooth.  (You can also work in batches in a regular blender, but the hand blender is so much easier.)

3 Stir in cream or half and half. Season to taste with salt. Garnish with bacon bits, if desired.

Serves 6.

Adapted from a recipe offered by Jones Dairy Farm.

Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

I had half of a Sam's Club roasted chicken that I need to use for dinner last night, so I looked up "chicken and rice soup" recipes and I landed on a on Taste of Home. I changed it up a little bit because I had leftover white rice from White Chicken Chili the other day, and then I cooked up some wild rice too to make it a little more interesting. (The original recipe calls for uncooked rice.) I was pleased with the resulting soup, but I can't say it knocked my socks off. It's a good, hearty soup, but it needs a little something more. Perhaps I'll try it again sometime, but now that I think of it, I think what it might need is just a little more salt, which is something I need to avoid, so... we'll see.
At any rate, if you have leftover rice and chicken, this is a quick, tasty meal. There you go.

Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
     --adapted from Taste of Home

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 medium carrot, chopped
• 2 celery ribs, chopped
• 1 medium garlic clove, minced
• 3/4 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour (I used Better Batter Gluten Free Flour)
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup cooked white rice
• 1 cup cooked wild rice (not like Rice-A-Roni, but just the wild rice)
• 1/2 cup half and half
• 2 cups cooked chicken, diced or shredded
• salt to taste

Instructions:
In a large saucepan, heat oil and saute onion, carrot, and celery until tender. Add garlic, pepper, and basil, and cook another minute. Add flour and cook another minute, stirring constantly. 
Pour chicken broth in slowly, stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Bring to a simmer and add cooked rices, half and half, and chicken. Bring to a simmer again and simmer for 5 minutes.
Add salt if desired. Store leftovers in the refrigerator. You might need to add some milk when enjoying the leftovers.
P.S. The green garnish in the photo is just julienned spinach leaves. I didn't have anything else to garnish it with, and I needed something to brighten it up.

Makes about 5 servings.

Broccoli Cheese Soup

Broccoli Cheese Soup

I love Panera Bread's broccoli cheese soup. I love dipping bits of French baguette into the soup and enjoying the flavors and textures of two pieces of food perfection come together. Last time I looked, though, that soup was loaded, I mean loaded, with sodium--something I'm supposed to be cutting back on. Sodium makes things taste so good though.

Well, I honestly don't know what the sodium content of my soup is today. I used reduced sodium chicken broth, and it doesn't taste quite as good as when I use full sodium broth, but it's still a satisfying soup.

Oh, and I'm not saying this soup tastes exactly like Panera's, but it's close. I got the recipe from my beloved Allrecipes.com, and I changed it slightly to reduce the fat as well as the sodium. Sigh. I know. If you look around this blog enough, you'll see I rarely cut back on the fat, but today I did. If you're not concerned about fat and sodium, use regular Velveeta and full sodium broth. It will taste better.

Broccoli Cheese Soup

     --Adapted from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients: 

• ¼ cup butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 (16 oz) package frozen chopped broccoli (or 1 lb fresh, chopped)
• ½ cup shredded or finely julienned carrots
• 8 cups chicken broth or stock
• 1 ½ pounds Velveeta, cubed (I used the 2% Milk Velveeta)
• 2 cups milk
• 1 clove fresh garlic, minced
• 2/3 cup cornstarch
• ¼ tsp cayenne pepper

Instructions:

Reserve ½ cup chicken broth for later.

In a stockpot, melt butter over medium heat. Cook onion in butter until softened. Add minced garlic.  Stir in broccoli and carrots, and cover with chicken broth. Simmer until broccoli is tender (10-15 minutes).

While broccoli simmers, place cheese and milk in a microwave safe bowl, and microwave 45 seconds at a time, stirring in between until cheese is melted.

Stir cheese/milk mixture into broccoli/chicken broth. Add cayenne pepper. 

In a small bowl, stir cornstarch into reserved 1/2 cup of broth until dissolved. Stir into soup; cook, stirring frequently, until thick. Simmer 10-15 minutes.

Yields 10 servings

Vegetable Beef Soup

Vegetable Beef Soup

I love this soup. It reminds me of the vegetable beef soup at Mimi's Cafe, but I don't think they serve it there any more. At any rate, it's a nice, relatively light vegetable beef soup that's salty, beefy, and vegetable-y. I found the recipe at Allrecipes.com, but the original recipe called for ground sirloin. I thought top sirloin (not ground) sounded better, and since Mimi's had zucchini in theirs, I added that too. The soup tastes great the first time you serve it, but I think it tastes even better the next day after it's sat in its juices and flavors over night.
I haven't made this soup in a long time, maybe because I avoided such recipes when my kids were little. In retrospect, I see the error in my thinking, but they will eat this tonight. And they will love it. I am surprised at how MUCH soup this makes and I'm now thinking I need to package some up for my mother-in-law who will be taking my kids to school tomorrow while I go to jury duty. Clearly it's time to end this post now that I'm talking about jury duty.
Bottom line: this is a GREAT vegetable beef soup. Enjoy.
Note: I recently added the chili garlic sauce and it really kicks this soup up. It does make it a little spicy, so if you don't like spicy, don't bother with the chili garlic sauce.

Vegetable Beef Soup
   --adapted from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 1/2 pounds top sirloin
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 cans diced tomatoes
• 5 cups water
• 2 teaspoons salt (original recipe calls for 1 tablespoon)
• 2 beef bouillon cubes
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon chili garlic sauce (optional)
• 2 carrots, sliced
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 russet potato,peeled and diced
• 1 zucchini, quartered lengthwise, cut into 1/2 inch chunks

Instructions:
Cut top sirloin into bite-size chunks or slices. Heat oil in a dutch oven over medium-high heat. Brown sirloin and onions.
Add basil, thyme, and bay leaf. Cook and stir another minute or two.
Add tomatoes, water, salt, bouillon cubes, pepper, and chili garlic sauce (if adding it). Stir and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low/medium-low, and simmer for about 1 hour.
After an hour of simmering, add vegetables. Stir and simmer for another 45 minutes.
Serve hot.

Makes about 8 servings.

White Chicken Chili ala Cheesecake Factory

Cheesecake Factory White Chicken Chili

My husband had this chicken chili last spring at the Cheesecake Factory, and he asked me to figure out how to make it at home.  I immediately found the actual recipe at CookEatShare, but it's taken me a few months to get around to making it. The man really asks for very little, but when I saw the list of ingredients for this chili, I was very put off. Maybe it's because he handed me his disc golf winnings last night, telling me to spend it all on myself (which I did), but I decided to go ahead and gather the remaining ingredients today and make this for my loving husband. Actually, once I had all of the ingredients under my roof, it didn't take very long to throw it all together. I had a pretty big mess to clean up, but it was relatively quick to make and it was super delicious. To quote my husband, "Do you realize the perfection that IS this chili?" It's been so long since he had this at Cheesecake Factory, that we're not sure if it does actually taste like what you get at the restaurant, but Eddie says it doesn't matter. He raved and ate, and raved some more. 

At any rate, it's delicious. Quite spicy. Very meaty, and only a few beans (which makes me happy). It's a flavorful, filling meal that I highly recommend. I'll be making it again. For sure.
Oh, I halved the original recipe, and it was enough for our family of four with no leftovers. So if you think you'll want leftovers, double what you see below and use a dutch oven.
P.S. I froze some of my last batch about a month ago, and we just had it tonight. It tasted GREAT. I love it.

P.P.S. Gee, this post has a lot of little notes. I just wanted to say, that the last two times I made this chili, I used Better Batter Gluten Free Flour instead of wheat flour, and I have to say, I think I like this better. The chili comes out thicker with a silkier texture that I really enjoy. I don't end up with any little grease blobs like you see in the photo above when I use the Better Batter.

*Note: CookEatShare used to have a clip from the news segment that had an actual Cheesecake Factory chef preparing this recipe on TV. I can't find the original link now, but this recipe really is from the Cheesecake Factory. Here's the clip.

Cheesecake Factory White Chicken Chili Recipe

   --adapted from CookEatShare

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 2 pounds* cubed chicken breast meat or chicken tenders
• 1/2 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1/2 tablespoon chili powder
• 1/2 tablespoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 3/4 cup chopped yellow or white onion
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1/4 cup chopped roasted poblano pepper**
• 1 1/2 tablespoons finely diced green chilli pepper (I used a serrano***)
• 1/3 cup flour (I recently used Better Batter Gluten Free Flour, and it worked great too)
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 2 tablespoons salsa verde
• 1/2 tablespoon chili garlic paste 
• 1/2 tablespoon chipotle Tobasco 
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup white beans (from a can, or cooked)
• pico de gallo (garnish)
• white rice (garnish)
• 3 green onions, sliced (garnish)

Instructions:

Heat canola oil in a large sauté pan or a dutch oven (dutch oven if you're doubling the recipe for sure) over medium heat.

Combine chicken and spices in mixing bowl.

Lightly brown the chicken, cooking until about 75% done.

Remove chicken and set aside.

Melt the butter in the pan, and sauté onions until translucent.

Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds.

Add the poblanos and green chilis.

Add the flour, stir to incorporate, and cook for about 2 minutes.

Add the chicken stock a little at a time, whisking to smooth out any lumps.

Add the salsa verde, chili garlic paste, and chipotle tabasco.

Allow to come back to a simmer over medium heat, and then add the chicken back into pan.

Simmer for 5 minutes and add the cream and white beans stir to incorporate.

Serve and with rice and garnish with pico de gallo and green onions.

Makes about 5 servings.


* The original recipe has been halved here, and it originally called for 4 pounds of chicken. That's actually too much. I go with 3 pounds of chicken for a double recipe and 1.5 pounds for the recipe above. You'll still have PLENTY of chicken in the chili.

**To roast the poblano, you do it over a gas burner on low-medium or a grill on high heat (that's what I did). If you don't have either of those options, I've heard you can do this in a cast iron skillet, but that's just one more pan you'll have to clean later. Put it directly on the grate and turn every now and then to evenly scorch it all over. Once it's bubbled and burned all over, you place it either in a zip top bag or seal tightly in aluminum foil (which is what I did). Let sit for about 15 minutes to steam. Then you peel off all the blackness, cut it open, scrape out the seeds, stem, and any "ribs" inside. Then chop. (I had to google this one.)

***For the green chili pepper, I really just went to the grocery store down the street, stood in front of the section of chiles in the produce section, and found a small pepper that said said "green chili" (turns out it was a serrano pepper--see Visual Guide to Peppers). Okay, actually, I looked "green chili pepper" up on google images first, and saw that they were on the small side, so I used one of those small, thin green peppers that's about 3-4 inches long. I put on some plastic gloves (food service type) and chopped off the top of the pepper, quartered it, scraped out the seeds and ribs, julienned, and diced it.

For more information about peppers, see this visual guide to peppers: Visual Guide to Peppers.