Mexi-Chicken Bake

I've always known that spicy foods help clear your sinuses and aid your digestion; so in honor of our health, have a Happy Spicy Sunday!  I have to say this is one of the quickest dishes I've made in a while!  It is definitely a one pan meal.

Mexi-Chicken Bake

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 can of pinto beans
1 can of corn
4 medium tomatoes
1 packet of taco seasoning mix

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

I rinsed and trimmed up the chicken.  Note: You can definitely thrown in more chicken because there will be plenty of veggies and seasoning in the pan without needing to adjust the recipe.  I placed the chicken in the pan first, and then rubbed it with about half of the taco mix.  I used my new favorite chipotle flavored one.

Rub-a-dub-dub!

I rinsed the beans really well and drained the corn before adding them in as well.  I roughly diced the tomatoes and threw them in too.  I tossed in the rest of the seasoning and mixed everything together.

Black beans would work as well.

I baked everything for about 35 minutes and had rice with it.  And I know that my mom is going to question that I really ate the beans.  I usually never eat beans like this.  College has changed me.

I peaked to see if the chicken was done.

Now my mouth is on fire and I am going to brush my teeth again.

I think my camera lens needs cleaning.

Things to also throw in if you have them:
green chiles
onions
cheese
sour cream on top!


Shucks this sounds better already!  Guess I'll have to do this again sometime.

Cheater Enchiladas

This is a pretty great reason to be on Long Island for the summer.

What do you do after you spend a day at the beach?  You finally use the leftover taco meat/rice mixture from the stuffed peppers earlier in the week.  I made cheater enchiladas!  Okay, I shouldn't call them cheater enchiladas, I should say resourceful...?

I'm sorry for the lack of pictures, but try and imagine the process.

Resourceful Enchiladas

leftover taco meat
tortillas
spaghetti sauce
shredded cheese

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

They look legitimate!

Place a decent amount of the meat onto a tortilla.  Then roll it up and place it in a baking dish.  Continue until you've used all the meat.  (I also magically had enough tortillas for my meat.  Score!)

Top your rolls with spaghetti sauce.  I smeared the sauce all over so the tortillas wouldn't be too dry.

Now, top it with all the leftover shredded cheese in your refrigerator and pop them into the oven.

Mine were done in 15 minutes, and the cheese was nice and melty.

These were pretty great if you ask me, and I'll be eating the rest tomorrow.  And probably the next day.

Daddy's girl!

Now I'd like to take the time to do an early Father's Day shout out: Happy Father's Day, Daddy!  I miss you!

Mexican Stuffed Peppers

Hola Internet!  

Tonight I made Mexican stuffed peppers, which I have been excited about all week because I was going to use so many things in my fridge.  However, while they were tasty, I am going to include some notes of things that I would have done differently.  Also, I don't have measurements for this one.  Let's call it a work in progress, shall we?

Mexican Stuffed Peppers

bell peppers (in the color of your choice)

ground beef

1 packet of taco seasoning

cooked rice

spaghetti sauce

shredded cheese

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Sizzling with excitement!

Brown your ground beef in a pan, and then drain off the fat.  Last month, I had a lapse in judgement and I poured the fat into the sink.  It's not a good idea, trust me.  You will thoroughly have to scrub it out.

Add the taco seasoning to your beef.  I found this chipotle flavored one, and it's a zinger!

You can leave your beef in the pan on a low heat setting for now.

Mix up your rice and spaghetti sauce in a bowl.  I have spaghetti sauce in my fridge, but I suppose you could also do this with salsa if you were feeling fancy.  I basically mixed in enough sauce in to make it look like Spanish rice.

Hello, Minute Rice from the night before!

This is my favorite vegetable!

Halve the peppers and remove the seeds.  Give them a pep talk about being stuffed.  They might be nervous.

Now, take your beef of the heat and incorporate it with the rice mixture, and you're ready to commence stuffing!  Fill your peppers and place them in a baking dish.

Here comes the part that I would have done differently: I would have poured more spaghetti sauce over the peppers for more liquid while they were baking.  It would have made the pepper itself softer.

Top the peppers with shredded cheese.  I had Mexican cheese on hand, but use whatever you have.  

Hay caliente!

Send the peppers into the oven for about 15-18 minutes.

Again, I ask you to be patient because I know you're excited to eat these spicy little vessels of meat and rice!

I don't eat in the dark.  My camera's a drama queen.

I only had one pepper and now have lot of the meat/rice mixture.  So stay tuned to see what I do the rest of this week with the leftovers!  Wish me luck!