Rain, and White Bean Chili

When it rains here it's ferocious and fleeting; rarely that droopy, foggy-day rain that seems to characterize Ithaca. The storm today was a welcome break from the humid heat. I went and stood outside while it poured, breathing in 70-degree air for the first time in weeks.

When I got home I started on a soup I'd never made before: White Bean Chili. Here's my version of the recipe I found online:

Half an onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp pepper
8 oz chicken stock 
3 cans great northern beans
Half a package of frozen corn
1 can (4.5 oz) chopped green chiles
Half a lime
Cilantro
Cayenne pepper to taste

I sauteed the onions for a few minutes in some olive oil, and then added garlic. After letting the onions and garlic cook together for 2 minutes or so, I added the water and spices. I brought the pot to a boil, and then let it simmer for a little bit while I mashed up two cans of beans in the chicken stock- the recipe called for a blender, but alas, I am without mine! Mashing worked well, though; the soup had a great consistency at the end. I poured my bean/both mixture, the last can of beans, corn, and chiles into the pot and let the soup simmer for another 20 minutes before I tasted it and added some cayenne, which was just what it needed. After a few more minutes I squeezed half a lime into the chili, and stirred in some weird cilantro paste I bought because the grocery store had run out of fresh herbs (what? ugh I miss Wegmans). I ate the soup with brown rice and loved it! This recipe was enough for three meals for me; I froze one portion and will eat the other for lunch sometime in the next week. But what to do with all the extra chicken broth in my fridge... hmm.