Make this: Southwestern Skillet Chicken Chili.

 I love Pinterest. Love. I have a whole board of just recipes that I've pinned to make sometime. And I finally actually made one! I found this recipe for Southwestern Skillet Chicken Chili last week on there from the blog Picky Palate and knew immediately we needed to make it.

We didn't mean to but actually ended up making a few changes to the recipe that ended up being great - made it less of a pasta dish and more of a soup, which was appreciated with the wet, cold weather we've been having.

Our ingredients:

8 ounces wagon wheel pasta noodles*

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 cup finely chopped white onion

1/2 cup finely chopped sweet peppers (or bell peppers)**

1 tablespoon minced garlic

2 cups cooked shredded chicken breast

1o ounce can Rotel diced tomatoes, mild

1 1/2 cups reduced sodium chicken broth

1/2 cup corn, fresh or canned

1/2 cup white beans, drained and rinsed

1 Tablespoon chili powder

1 Tablespoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon dry Ranch seasoning from packet

1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro

 *We couldn't find wagon wheel pasta in our sorry excuse for a Kroger so we used Christmas pasta from TJ Maxx
** I don't like peppers so we omitted those.

The recipe calls to be made in a skillet so we got out my skillet, passed down from my mom:

But then we quickly realize since we messed up the recipe (well I messed up the recipe), we'd need a bigger pot so I got out our dutch oven:

The end product was delicious, filling, and there were LOTS of leftovers. Definitely a keeper:

(sorry about the cat butt - Tyson does what he wants)

So here's how you make this - and what we did differently:

1. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and run under cool water to stop cooking.
2. Heat oil in 9 inch cast iron skillet, add onions and peppers, stirring until softened about 5 minutes (we omitted peppers)
3. Add garlic and cook, stirring for 1 minute. (we used a lot more garlic than called for)
4. Add chicken, tomatoes, broth, corn, beans, pasta, chili powder, cumin, Ranch seasoning, and cilantro. Stir until well combined, reduce heat to low and simmer until ready to serve. (we used entire can of broth, beans, and corn, we used the whole packet of ranch seasoning)

In chili and fun pasta shapes,