What's For Dinner? Simple Chicken Posole

Cool weather is finally starting to arrive here in North Carolina, and one of the challenges in bariatric eating is to find warm, hearty dishes that won't be too heavy on our limited stomachs, but also meets our nutritional needs.

Posole is a traditional Mexican stew, typically made with pork, but sometimes with other meats. I had chicken left over from roasting a whole bird a few days ago, so I chose that as my meat. An added bonus to using cooked meat is bypassing the braising step all together. It does, however, move this even further away from authentic posole, but the spirit of the dish remains I think.

I'll note that I am not super heat-tolerant in spices. My choice in the measurements for cumin and chile pepper may be too mild for your taste. Give the flavors a few moments to blend, then taste and add more to your desired level of spicy. 

Do be sure to drain the hominy, the liquid is quite salty.

Serve with a variety of toppings - radishes, shredded lettuce, a bit of cheese, and avocado are favorites. Add a few broken up tortilla chips of you choose to eat those. This is often served with warm flour or corn tortillas - avoid those if you aren't eating bread or don't want the extra calories. 

• 1 cup diced or shredded roast chicken - skin removed
• 1 15-oz can white or golden hominy, drained (found near the corn in the canned vegetable aisle)
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1/2 medium onion, diced
• 1 heaping tablespoon tomato paste
• 1/4 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground California chile pepper (or other mild chili powder)
• 1/2 tsp butter

Melt butter in medium sized sauce pan, add onions. Saute until they begin to turn translucent. Add chicken stock and tomato paste, whisk to combine. Add cumin and chile pepper, with salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and stir frequently for 2-3 minutes to allow flavors to combine. Add hominy and chicken. Simmer for five minutes or until all ingredients are up to heat.

Makes 3 servings. 

Nutritional information (soup only, exclusive of toppings): 189 calories, 3g fat, 22g carbohydrates, 18g protein, 2g sugars.