Lightened Up Arroz Con Pollo

I'm going outside of our typical spanish/mexican meal routine today. I have a bad relationship with Southern style chicken and rice.  We at a lot of it as a child and I have trouble eating it now.  I do love chicken and yellow rice though.

I saw this recipe pop up on Skinnytaste the other day and decided that it was time to try a new spin on chicken and rice.  It was an easy one pot meal and the leftovers were even better.  Mr. T even went back for seconds.

I was surprised with how many vegetables went into the dish and even though this is a very flavorful dish it's not spicy so I think it would be a favorite with kids at the dinner table.

Lightened Up Arroz Con Pollo:
(adapted from Skinnytaste- 8ppt+)

Ingredients:

8 skinless chicken thighs
1 tablespoon vinegar
2 teaspoon sazon
1/2 teaspoon chipotle in adobo
1/2 garlic powder
3 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 onion
1/4 cup cilantro
3 cloves garlic
5 scallions
1/2 a bell pepper
1 tomato, diced
2 1/2 cups enriched long grain rice
4 cups water
1 chicken bouillon cube
salt to taste

Directions:

Season chicken with vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon sazon, adobo and garlic powder and let it sit 10 minutes. Heat a large deep heavy skillet on medium, add 2 teaspoon oil when hot. Add chicken and brown 5 minutes on each side. Remove and set aside.

Place onion, cilantro, garlic, scallions and pepper in mini food processor. Add remaining teaspoon of olive oil to the skillet and sauté onion mixture on medium-low until soft, about 3 minutes. Add tomato, cook another minute. Add rice, mix well and cook another minute. Add water, bouillon (be sure it dissolves well) and remaining sazon, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Taste for salt, should taste salty enough to suit your taste, add more as needed.

Add chicken and nestle into rice, bring to a boil. Simmer on medium-low until most of the water evaporates and you see the liquid bubbling at the top of the rice line, then reduce heat to low heat and cover. Make sure the lid has a good seal, no steam should escape (You could place a piece of tin foil or paper towel in between the lid and the pot if steam escapes).

Cook 20 minutes without opening the lid. Shut heat off and let it sit with the lid on an additional 10 minutes (don't peak!!!) Fluff with a fork and eat!

 

Fiesta Lime Rice

I've said before that we eat a decent amount of Mexican food.  Right now it seems to be our favorite.  I found this rice recipe and thought that it would work really well with our meals.

Fiesta Lime Rice:
(skinny taste - 4pp+, 4 servings)

1 1/2 cups cooked long grain rice
3/4 cup canned black beans, rinsed and heated
3/4 cup cooked corn, heated
1 large tomato, diced
1 large scallion, diced fine
2-4 tbsp chopped cilantro
1 tbsp fresh squeezed lime juice
salt to taste

In a large bowl, combine hot rice, heated corn, heated beans, tomato, scallion, cilantro, lime juice and salt if needed. Toss and serve.

Chicken Fried Rice

I love fried rice. I've made it at home a few times but it always involved a packet of stuff from the grocery store, which was probably 99% salt.  I found this recipe on Annie's blog.  She has a lot of great recipes and ideas.  

I changed this one up a little bit based on food we had at home and the fact that Mr. T is not a fan of eggs.  I went with chicken breast, a whole cup of veggies, and dropped down to 2 eggs.  Annie's original recipe is linked below so you can see the original.

Chicken Fried Rice

(adapted from Annie's Eats)

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, cubed
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cornstarch
2 tablespoon vegetable or canola oil, divided
2 eggs, beaten
2 stalks green onions, minced
4 cups leftover brown rice
1 cup frozen peas and carrots, defrosted
1 tablespoon soy sauce
Few drops sesame oil

Directions:
In  a medium mixing bowl, combine the chicken, salt, pepper and cornstarch, and toss well to coat the shrimp.  Let sit at room temperature for 10 minutes.  Heat a large skillet or wok over high heat.  When a drop of water immediately sizzles and evaporates, the pan is hot enough to add 1 tablespoon of the oil.  Swirl to coat the pan well.

Add the chicken to the hot pan and quickly spread them out so that they are in a single layer, and all touching the pan surface.  (You may need to do this in two batches to ensure even cooking.)  Let it cook for one minute, then flip and cook for an additional minute, so that the chicken is about 80% cooked through.  Remove to a plate and set aside.

Lower the heat on the pan to medium.  Add the eggs to the pan and stir quickly, to break up and scramble the eggs.  When the eggs are almost cooked through but still slightly runny in the middle, remove from the pan to the same plate as the chicken.

Use paper towels to wipe the pan clean and return the pan to high heat.  Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil, swirling to coat.  Once the oil is very hot, add the green onions to the pan and cook until fragrant, about 15 seconds.  Add the rice to the pan and mix well to combine with the green onions.  Spread the rice out evenly over the pan and let cook without stirring, until you hear the rice grains sizzle, about 1 to 2 minutes.  Toss the rice a bit with your spatula, and again spread it out over the cooking surface.

Drizzle the soy sauce all over the rice, and toss again.  Add the peas and carrots, the cooked chicken and eggs, and the sesame oil to the pan.  Toss to combine all the ingredients well with the rice.  Let everything heat back up again until the rice grains are sizzling again.  Add additional soy sauce to taste, if needed.  Serve.

Left Overs Fried Rice

I had a half day of work this week and was able to come home early and have lunch.  I was going to settle on a bowl of cereal but as I was poking around in the the refrigerator I decided that it was time to use up some of the stuff that we had in there.  I went with fried rice and was very happy with the way it turned out.

I used some of the left over chickpea patties in this rice dish.  It's not a normal thing to add to fried rice but they needed to be eaten.  They worked surprisingly well.  This is a smaller portion so if you want to make a larger just add more rice and veggies.

Left Overs Fried Rice:

1 cup of left over rice (I used brown rice)
1 egg
1 carrot, chopped into small cubes
1 green onion, chopped into small pieces
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2-3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 left over chickpea patties

Heat up the oil in a pan.  When it get hot add the rice and left over chickpeas to the pan.  Cook, stirring, for a minute.  Make a space in the middle of the rice, add the egg and scramble it in the empty spot on the pan until it's just cooked but still soft.  Mix the egg up with the rice.  Add the vegetables to the pan, stir and let cook some.  Add the soy sauce and stir.

I only had carrots and green onions in the house.  I usually add frozen peas, bell peppers, or broccoli to my fried rice.  Just to give some more ideas.