Lady's Night Regent Style

Meet Dr. A.

Excuse me, Dr. Attanasi, Associate Professor of Religion and Philosophy in Regent's Undergraduate Religious Studies program, for those who like ornate titles.

Dr. A is on the left-hand side of the table, one person away from the wall. Just to be vain and let everyone know, I am the one sitting directly to Dr. A's left (which would technically be her right) in the white sweater.

The female students who have had Dr. A in class were all invited to dinner at CiCi's Pizza, off of Kempsville Road and Centerville Turnpike and this night was ladies night. There was no particular reason for the event, just for some good conversation outside of Regent's own four walls. We discussed future plans, academics, everyone held the baby in the stroller and ate as much pizza as an all-you-can eat buffet will supply for just over $7.

Girls from all academic studies attended, anything from English to Communications to Religion majors attended. I might add it was a good night of discussion and fellowship and good food! Good food seems to accompany all good Regent Events. It is nice when you are a broke and starving college student.

Dr. Attanasi is a Harvard grad finished her Ph. D. at Vanderbuilt University in Tennessee. She has travelled extensively and spent one year working as a journalist. I think this explains why I enjoyed her teaching style so much, I can identify with her stress on strict observations from the texts we would read. Learning (and good journalism) is all about learning to observe, and in Dr. A's class observations of all kinds were welcome.

It was a good night and I think just about everyone in the picture could agree.

I Won't Even Charge 25 Cents...

I made it late on Thursday night and it simmered until Friday morning. All the white beans, chicken, cilantro, cloves, green chilis and cumin rubbed off on each other all night long. Then only a few hours before dropping my chili off at the table with the twelve other chilis, I added a heaping 4 oz. of jalapenos and the result was a biting heat that hit your tongue a few seconds after a a tiny spoonful of the green chili goodness.

My chili at Regent’s 2009 Chili Cook-Off did not win any prizes, but in my opinion it was it was good, downright delicious. I did get a few compliments too. I even had a request that I post the recipe on my blog. So here is my not-so-winning, aromatic and innovative green chili recipe. I won't even charge you 25 cents for it like the last year's winners were charging for their recipes. Beware though, I did have one chili-taster tell me that he could not finish his sample because it was too spicy. Luckily, it was a one time comment. Otherwise the response to my recipe was quite positive.

The initial recipe for this white chili came from simplyrecipes.com. Just to put my own edge on the chili and make it a little personal, I had to improvise the recipe a little. Give it my own western, Tex-Mex touch. Green chili is nothing new to my family and now it does not have to be new to yours. Enjoy.

Hot Green Chili

6 cups chicken broth

1 can great northern beans

1 can cannelloni beans

1 can pinto beans

1 can navy beans

1 lb. chicken breast or boneless thigh meat

1/4 stick of butter

1 garlic clove, minced

2 medium onions, chopped (divided)

2 4-ounce cans chopped green chilies

2 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1 can diced tomatoes

1 4-oz. can of diced jalapenos

1 bunch of fresh cilantro

3 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese

1. Dice chicken into dime-sized pieces. Believe me, this will take a little while. Peel garlic clove, crush and mince into small pieces. Then sauté the chicken in a non-stick saucepan with ¼ stick of butter and minced garlic. Dice both onions and add to the chicken and sauté. After about five minutes add both cans of green chilis to the chicken mixture, then add cumin, oregano, cloves and pepper. Mix thorough and cover. Allow to simmer for 30-45 minutes.

2. In a large crock pot combine chicken broth and beans on high and allow to boil. Add chicken mixture from the skillet and allow to simmer overnight. Allowing the chili to simmer overnight will soften the beans and thicken the broth. In the morning the whole mixture should look more like chili than stew. Add the can of tomatoes and jalapenos and salt to taste. If necessary add more red pepper flakes, cloves or oregano.

Add the cheese and any remaining cilantro. Both items will enhance the taste as you eat the chili! Enjoy! You will have lots of chili!

Pho Sure

If you are reading this, I am assuming that you have been surfing the web for a few minutes now and probably need a break. Now would be an excellent time for my Pho Soup Recipe.

One night about three weeks ago, I developed a recipe for this delicious soup. I think the same day I set off the smoke alarm in my apartment because I tried to make pastry crème and burned a nice black ring in the bottom of my only sauce pan. Instead of feasting on burnt cake icing, I decided to move onto more savory things -things like Pho.

Pho is a Vietmanese noodle soup that tastes something like….palm trees, if palm trees had a flavor. It is a slightly spicy soup made with rice noodles and herbs. If you enjoy exotic foods, you have got to try this, it is delicious. I had some great pictures but accidentally deleted them from my computer, oops. Here it is:

Pho Soup

4 cups chicken broth

2 cups water

1/2lb. of chicken breast or tenders

1 pkg. rice noodles

1 bunch cilantro

1 pkg. fresh basil

1 jalapeno pepper

1 head Chinese cabbage

salt and pepper

1. Fill a sauce pan half full with water and place it on a burner turned to HIGH. Bring water to a boil and add the chicken to the water. Boil until the chicken is cooked and white in the middle. Drain the chicken and leave it on some paper towels to cool. As soon as it is cool, pull it apart until it looks “shredded”. It will be in many different pieces.

2. On a cutting board, slice half the head of Chinese cabbage into pieces ¼” in width. Set aside to be added to the soup. Take half of the cilantro bunch and chop into small pieces setting aside to be added to the soup. Pull the basil leaves from the and set aside to be added to the soup. Chop the jalapeno pepper and set aside.

3. Fill another saucepan with the chicken broth and the 2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Add the package of rice noodles and cooked chicken. Simmer until noodles are soft, most likely 5 minutes. Then add the Chinese cabbage and jalapeno pepper. Simmer for 5 minutes. Take the saucepan off the stovetop and add the cilantro and basil. Use salt and pepper to taste.

The soup should store well for 5-7 days in the fridge. If you don’t like hot foods, don’t add the jalapeno. It is great either way.