Recipe Review from 5/25/2020

It was a busy week for both the Husband and I, so a heavy reliance on leftovers.  I truly love leftovers.  Make once, eat several times.  A little prep, a little clean-up.  More time to relax. 

Celebrating Andy's Forever Home month

The Meal Plan (this covered Memorial Day weekend)

Sat (L) out with sister (S) brats

Sun (L) leftover brats(S) Low Country Boil with family

Mon (Off) (L) leftovers (S)  Mexican chicken bowls

Tues - leftover chicken bowls

Wed - leftover chicken bowls

Thurs - take n bake pizza

Fri - butter chicken

Lunches (me) hummus sandwiches and fruit, (husband) regular sandwiches and fruit

Crockpot Mexican Chicken Bowls (Clean Food Crush Blog)

This is one of those super simple meals - chop, plop, and walk away.  Come back and assemble for dinner.  This is also super versatile - serve this over polenta or rice, add your favorite toppings or skip toppings.  Have some Frito's scoops handy to scoop up deliciousness.  It's really up to you. 

I made this mostly as written - I didn't use organic corn, I subbed pinto beans for black beans, and I used a can of diced tomatoes instead of crushed.  With toppings, I think I got three meals for two.  Highly recommended.

Serves 5-6

photo from CleanFoodCrush.com

1.5 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 large lime, juiced
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp smoked paprika
sea salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste (I used 1/4 teaspoon of each)
15 oz jar crushed tomatoes with juice (I subbed 1-15 oz diced tomatoes)
15 oz black beans, pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1.5 cups frozen, organic corn
1 cup chicken bone broth
4 oz diced green chiles
1 small yellow onion, diced
2 cloves fresh garlic, minced

Optional/Suggested toppings:
a small bunch of chopped cilantro leaves, to garnish
2 ripe avocados, diced to garnish
2-3 jalapenos, sliced
2 green onions, sliced
shredded cheese
plain Greek yogurt

Add all the ingredients except for the toppings to the bowl of your crockpot.

Cook on LOW for 6-8 hours or on HIGH for 4-6 hours.

Once the chicken is cooked, remove from the slow cooker and shred it using forks.

Return chicken to the slow cooker, gently stir everything together and cook for an additional 30 minutes.

Divide the Mexican chicken among 4-5 bowls and top with diced avocado, jalapenos, green onions, shredded cheese, Greek yogurt and lots of cilantro.

Butter Chicken (Milk Street Fast and Slow)

This cookbook was just released back in April, so I'm trying to be considerate of a new release and not post the recipes.  I HIGHLY recommend this cookbook if you have an IP or slow cooker.

Okay, disclaimer over. This was a most excellent version of butter chicken.  I didn't realize until I assembled this that there are only 2 tbsp of dairy in the entire dish.  Seriously - 2 tbsp of butter.  No heavy cream.  Now, the downside is if you are allergic to cashews, this won't work for you as there is a cup of pureed cashews used as thickener.  

I will admit, I had my doubts with the quantity of seasonings used - something like 1/4 cup of garam masala and several tsp of cumin.  But honestly, trust Milk Street, they know what they are doing and the flavor balance was spot on.

I did make some basmati rice to accompany the butter chicken (It's Indian! It needs basmati rice!) and purchased some naan.  I know we'll get about four meals for two out of this. 

I recommend the cookbook.  I HIGHLY recommend this dish.