By First snow of the season. Just a dusting — two inches that melted by noon — but it was enough to remind the landscape what's coming. Frost went outside and did his annual snow dance, which involves running in circles, eating snow, and looking at me as though snow were my invention and he wanted to shake my hand. I did not take credit for the snow. I took credit for opening the door.
I made chili. The second batch of the year — the first was back in November of last year, and there's something about the first snow that makes chili necessary. It's Pavlovian, maybe. Snow falls, and my hands reach for the chili powder, and the onions start dicing themselves. Ground beef, onions, garlic, two cans of tomatoes (ours, from August), kidney beans, chili powder, cumin, cayenne. The same recipe I've been making since I came home from the Army and found that the one thing the military taught me about food was how to use cumin.
Helen added cornbread to the menu without being asked, because she knows that chili without cornbread is a sentence without a period — technically complete but unsatisfying. The cornbread was golden and crispy-bottomed (hot skillet, butter, never forget) and we ate it at the table with the snow falling outside the window and the woodstove going and the dog asleep and the house feeling exactly the way a house should feel when winter announces itself: warm, ready, unbothered.
David called to say James took his first steps. One year old and walking — early, David says, but I remember David walking at eleven months and Sarah walking at thirteen months and every child arrives at walking on their own schedule, just like they arrive at everything else. James took four steps, fell, laughed, and took three more. David captured it on video. He played it over the phone. I heard James laugh and something in my chest did the thing it does when grandchildren achieve new forms of being human. It's not a medical condition. It's just love being stupid.
Eighteen months of blogging. The rhythm is set: cook on Tuesday, write on Wednesday, post on Thursday. The readers are there. The kitchen is there. The stories keep coming because life keeps happening and food keeps being made and the intersection of the two is always worth writing about.
Snow, chili, cornbread, first steps. October into November. The wheel turns. We hold on.
This is the soup that lives next door to chili in my head — the same warmth, the same cumin-and-chili-powder backbone, the same way it fills a house with the smell of something that says winter can do what it wants, we’re fine in here. Helen’s cornbread works just as well alongside it, and on a night like this one — snow outside, woodstove going, a grandson learning to walk somewhere in the world — you want a bowl of something that doesn’t ask much of you and gives back everything.
The Best Chicken Enchilada Soup
Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 35 minutes | Total Time: 50 minutes | Servings: 6
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 can (15 oz) corn, drained (or 1 1/2 cups frozen corn)
- 1 can (10 oz) red enchilada sauce
- 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- 4 oz cream cheese, cubed
- Toppings: shredded cheddar, sour cream, diced avocado, tortilla strips, fresh cilantro
Instructions
- Sauté the aromatics. Heat olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the diced onion and cook until softened, about 4–5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 30 seconds more.
- Build the soup base. Add the chicken breasts, black beans, corn, enchilada sauce, diced tomatoes, and chicken broth. Stir in the chili powder, cumin, smoked paprika, cayenne, salt, and pepper.
- Simmer. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer for 20–25 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and reaches 165°F internally.
- Shred the chicken. Remove the chicken breasts to a cutting board. Shred with two forks, then return the shredded chicken to the pot.
- Add the cream cheese. Drop the cubed cream cheese into the soup and stir over low heat until fully melted and incorporated, about 2–3 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning.
- Serve. Ladle into bowls and top with shredded cheddar, a dollop of sour cream, diced avocado, tortilla strips, and cilantro as desired. Serve with hot cornbread.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 340 | Protein: 28g | Fat: 12g | Carbs: 30g | Fiber: 6g | Sodium: 980mg