Chicken-Apple Chili

I think I might enter this Chicken-Apple Chili in my department's chili cookoff next week. I really liked how unique it is. Just like me. :) Kidding.

It's creamy and the apple are sweet but not over-powering. The only problem I had with it (besides the fact it called for WAY more oil and cheese than it really needed), was that it lacked the "kick" that many chili has behind it. It was plenty smokey with the cumin. But it needed heat.

So before I enter it, I'm tweaking it just a bit. I'm going to add some ground red pepper and instead of monterey jack I may take the leap and use pepper jack. Here, I also used cilantro on top, which was a nice addition. I did so mainly because I ran out of green onions. But I liked the swap.

My "lighter" tweaks were using 4 tsp of oil rather than the 4 tablespoons it called for. I have a non-stick stock pot I sometimes use, so there's not need to use that much oil. Also, I cut back on the cheese. I used 1/2 cup of cheese. I should also note I cut the entire recipe in two to make four servings. I left the 2 tbsp butter and flour so it would thicken up properly but used skim milk rather than 2 percent or whole. Worked wonderfully.