Black Bean Chicken and Rice, plus other updates

[Note: I started writing this post over the weekend, but between my sister's birthday and a sudden bout of the flu I was unable to publish.]

First things first: My 2nd recipe from September.

I should probably change the name of this blog to "crock-pot improvisations," because that's all I ever write about any more. This recipe was pure improvisation, made with whatever I could find in the pantry that sounded like it would taste good together. As my time in theater could have told you, I was never very good at improv. I had a can of black bean soup, some cumin, and some frozen chicken breasts. I was going to add some salsa in as well, but then I remembered I already ate all the salsa. It came out edible, but that's about the best I can say for this recipe. The taste was fine, but because of the black bean soup the result was too grey to be too appetizing. Don't get me wrong, I still ate it.

How I made it
1 can Black Bean soup
2 frozen chicken breasts
About 1 tsp of Cumin (I didn't measure)

I threw it all in my crock pot and cooked it on high for about 5 hours. Then I shredded the chicken and served it over rice.

What I'll do differently
I don't think I'll make this one again, and if I do, I'll adjust it so much that it won't really be the same recipe anymore. So, no "what I'll do differently" this time.

In other news

I'm trying to cut back on the amount of soda I drink. I bought some flavored sparkling waters to try to satisfy my sweet/bubbly craving, and so far it seems to be doing the trick! I actually have not had a soda today. It's been a long time since I chose to go a day without a soda. Some of the waters I bought have sort of an odd aftertaste (I think it's the Splenda, although I don't taste it in all of the flavors though they all have Splenda), so I was trying to find some alternatives to perhaps flavor the water myself. I went to my go-to source for stuff like this: Pinterest. I searched "sparkling water flavor" and the first result? How to make a Gin Fizz. Not exactly what I was looking for, Pinterest, but I like where your head's at.

2 Recipes

Okay, August was insane so I never got around to posting about the 2nd new recipe I made. It was another crock pot dinner, and it was really really good.

Barbecue Pineapple Shredded Chicken

How I made it:
2 frozen chicken breasts
About 1/2 a bottle of BBQ sauce
1 can Pineapple chunks

When I was home for lunch, I put the 2 chicken breasts in the crock pot, then dumped in the pineapple chunks, and then smothered it all with BBQ sauce. Cooked it on high for about 6 hours then shredded the chicken. I ate it over rice, but I think it would be really good as a sandwich. I also think pork would be really good in place of the chicken. No "what I'll do differently" for this recipe; I'll definitely be making this again in the same way.

Quinoa Enchilada Casserole

Based off of this Damn Delicious recipe, but I adjusted the recipe to fit my family's tastes and what I was able to get at the grocery store.

How I made it:
1 cup uncooked quinoa
1 can mild Enchilada Sauce
1 can corn kernels
1 can black beans
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (approximate)
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (approximate)
2 small tomatoes, diced

I cooked the quinoa in 2 cups water, then mixed it with the enchilada sauce, corn, beans, cumin, and about 3/4 cup of each cheese in a big bowl. I spread the mixture into a 9x13 baking dish, and sprinkled the remaining cheese on top and baked it for about 15 minutes at 375. After I took it out of the oven, I sprinkled the diced tomatoes on top. We ate it right away, with a little dollop of sour cream. The original recipe says it serves 6, but I think 4 is a much safer estimate. The way I made it served 3 for dinner with some left over for lunches today, and I included almost twice as much corn and black beans as the original recipe (because I hate when something calls for canned vegetables but doesn't use the whole can).

What I'll do differently next time: The original recipe called for diced avocado, which I would have loved to include, but my local grocery store didn't have any ripe avocados in stock. Next time I make it I may also include some diced tomato mixed into the casserole before it's baked. You can never have too many tomatoes. I think it would also be good to have a green salad to serve on the side just to have some more color variety on the plate. My mom also thought it might be good with some tortilla chips on the side, but my dad had polished off the chips earlier that day so we couldn't test that theory. This recipe was so tasty, Mild Enchilada Sauce just became a pantry staple so I can whip this up without too much notice. I'll pick some up this weekend when I go grocery shopping. Which: I really really need to go grocery shopping. I just got a new fridge and threw out most of the food from the old one. This is seriously what my new fridge looks like right now:

Crock-pot Chicken Tacos

Remember how I said I was going to try at least two new recipes a month? Well, I've already done my first August recipe, and I have another idea lined up, so so far it seems like I'm going to keep up with my resolution. Woohoo!

My first August recipe was inspired by this one. I have a small slow cooker, about 1 1/2 to 2 quarts. I bought it used at a garage sale so I'm not quite sure exactly what size it is. I've had it for a few years but I haven't cooked with it very often because it's hard to find recipes for small slow cookers. Lots of sauces and and appetizers, but very few meals. And it's hard to cut down some recipes designed for large slow cookers, because what am I going to do with 1/2 a can of cream-of-mushroom soup? So I've been scouring Pinterest looking for recipes that can be easily cut down. First up? Salsa chicken (which I used to make chicken tacos).

How I made it:
2 frozen chicken breasts
Roughly 1/2 a jar of Pineapple Peach Salsa
About 1/2 tsp Cumin

I put the two chicken breasts in the crock pot and sprinkled them with cumin*. Then I dumped salsa over the chicken, cranked the slow cooker up to "high," and let it cook for about 5 hours. I shredded the chicken  when I got home and let it cook about 15-20 more minutes so it could soak up more flavor, but then I got hungry and started eating. I ate these with shredded cheese, sour cream, and guacamole. I was able to get about 8 tacos (using the smaller, fajita size tortillas). I also use less meat in my tacos (compared to my family members) so that I have more room for cheese and other add-ons, so normal humans will get fewer tacos out of this. I ate this over two nights so safe to say you get about 2 servings out of this recipe.

What I will do differently next time:
Next time I'll either use a much chunkier salsa, or find a way to drain some of the juice out. These were some MESSY tacos. Like, wear-a-bib messy. But they were very tasty so I'll definitely be making these again.

*Since I used such a sweet salsa I wanted to add a little heat, and cumin was the warmest spice I had in my spice rack. You could skip this, use different spices, use a hotter salsa, or add in some peppers. Just depends on your preference.