Chicken Chili with Navy Beans

Val got me in the mood for soup after reading her review of the Corn and Roasted Red Pepper Chowder, so I made this chili recipe tonight. It was a hit -- very, very flavorful. It was a tad on the spicy side, which we liked. I used my favorite red chili powder from Chimayo, NM, which probably upped the heat a bit.

I wouldn't call this a chili, though; it's much lighter, more like tortilla soup, if you've ever had that. So it wasn't too heavy, even for a dinner in July, at least on a cool evening.

There was one odd thing about the recipe. You can use either dried beans or canned beans. I used canned. The recipe tells you to simmer for 1.5 hours if using dried beans, but it's unclear on what to do if using canned beans. It says to "add them at this point and cook about 30 minutes" but it's not clear what "this point" is -- after 1.5 hours of simmering? Or do you skip the 1.5 hours of simmering and just cook for 30 minutes? I took the middle road and simmered for 45 minutes, then added the beans and simmered for another 30 minutes. It was great, so it probably didn't matter much. I guess when you're using canned beans you just want to make sure that you don't simmer it so long that the beans fall apart and become mush.

I made the Old-Fashioned Buttermilk Biscuits to go with it, after reading the previous review (I think it was Sharalyn's?). Wow, those were good. They're very buttery yet light and flaky. Mmmmm. Thankfully there are 4 leftover -- hoping to snag at least one at breakfast tomorrow to have with jam. I already like this cookbook, particularly the little side notes throughout.