Thursday, October 21, 2010

Spicy Rice Casserole

We could call this casserole the "two day casserole" or the "Casserole that almost wasn't" Why? because both my husband and I were in a brain fog. On Tuesday of this week, I woke up when the alarm went off at 4:30 am. I got ready for work and started putting everything into the crock pot for dinner. I had a vision in my head of what I wanted for dinner so I assembled all the ingredients and placed them all in the crock pot. Before leaving for work at 6:30 I turned the crock pot on low and told my husband to turn it off at 2:30.

Although he forgot to turn it off, dinner was not ruined. Wonder why? Because when I turned the crock pot on low, I forgot to plug it in. Luckily I used frozen chicken, and frozen veggies. So Wednesday morning I put the liner back into the crock pot, plugged it in, turned it on low and he remembered to turn it off. We had a wonderful dinner last night. Here is the simple recipe.

Spicy Rice Casserole

In a 4-quart crock pot place:

4 boned and skinned chicken breasts or thighs
1 cup short grain brown rice
1 can fire roasted diced green chilies (I got them at Trader Joes)
1 jar salsa of choice (I love pineapple salsa from Trader Joes)
2 cups chicken broth, low salt.
1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup frozen mixed veggies (or you can use fresh, I normally do, just did not have the time)
1 Tablespoon oregano
1 Tablespoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dried chipotle pepper flakes

Mix it all together. Cook on Low for 6 -8 hours or on HIGH for 4 hours.

Sprinkle on shredded Monterrey Jack Cheese, and serve with Taco Chips and extra salsa, and sour cream if you wish.

Serves 6