Mexican Rice

So last night Mark and I had tacos for dinner. I cheated with the tacos and used one of those box's that come with the spices, taco shells, and sauce. I did however make homemade Mexican rice.

What you will need:
Olive oil
1 1/2 cups of rice (White or brown, I used brown)
1/2 can of black beans, drained
1/2 can of corn, drained
1 Red Bell Pepper, chopped
1 Red Onion, chopped
1 can of Chicken Broth, 16 oz.
Red Pepper
Garlic Powder

How you do it:
Take a decent sized pan, like a 14 inch on, and coat the bottom of the pan with the olive oil. The amount of olive oil will depend on the size of your pan.

Pour in the rice, onion, and red pepper. Cook until the red pepper and onion are browned stirring frequently so the rice doesn't burn.

Pour the chicken broth, corn, and black beans into the pan. Stir and bring to a boil.

Season your rice with the red pepper and garlic powder. I used 4 dashes of red pepper and 2 of garlic powder. Stir and cover.

Cook on a low heat for about 15-20 minutes stirring a few times to make sure it's not sticking to the bottom of the pan.

When you are ready to serve, put a dollop and sour cream and salsa on top for extra flavor!

Southwest Crispy Chicken Salad

This is a recipe that I got from my Mother In Law.

What you will need:
A bag of lettuce, or fresh if you would like
4 crispy chicken strips (I use the T.yson brand)
1/2 of a can of black beans, drained.
A small can of drained sliced black olives
1/2 of a small avocado, peeled and sliced
1/4 of a red bell pepper, cut into small pieces
Two hand fulls of tortilla strips (You can usually buy these by the croutons)
1/2 cup of fat free sour cream
1/2 cup of your favorite salsa

How to make it:
Cook your chicken strips like the package says to do. Mine is 400 degrees for 25 minutes, turning halfway through.

In two bowls, divvy up the lettuce, the black beans, olives, avocado, red bell pepper, and tortilla strips.

Next put half of the sour cream on each salad and then put the salsa on top of the sour cream.

Once the chicken is done cooking, cut it into bite sized pieces. Enjoy!

If you need a little more dressing, you can always add more salsa or sour cream.

Also, if you want to go a little more healthy you can substitute the crispy chicken for grilled chicken.

Go to Chicken

Tonight I made what I call go to chicken. It's always yummy and the marinade I use can be used on ANYTHING. When I say anything, I mean anything. I use it on salmon, shrimp, chicken, and pork.

What you will need for the marinade:

1 cup of honey
1/2 cup of worchester sauce
1/3 of a cup of low sodium soy sauce
4 dashes of garlic powder
2 dashes of onion powder
1 days of red pepper

What you will need for the chicken:

2 boneless/skinless chicken breast
1 gallon size zip.lock bag

How to make it:
Place both of the chicken breast into the zip.lock bag. Place all of the marinade contents in the zip.lock bag. Shake the bag and let it sit in the refrigerator for 30minutes.

I suggest that you cook the chicken on the grill at 300 degrees for 10 minutes on one side and then 8 minutes on the other side. Be sure to cut into the chicken to make sure that it's cooked all the way through.



This chicken should be super juicy and super yummy!

Welcome!

First off, thank you so much for visiting my new cooking blog. Cooking is something that I have grown to love over the past few years. Believe it or not but a few years ago in college I couldn't even handle cooking Ham.burger helper without setting off the smoke detectors.

Through the years I have continued to cook and try things just to see if they would work or not. I really think cooking is all about trial and error.

Come along on my journey of trial and error in the world of cooking!

Bon Appetit

Kate