Fiesta Bowl

If you haven't noticed lately, I've been cooking a lot. The problem with cooking and baking a lot is that you end up eating too much and feeling kinda crummy afterward.

I've decided to join some friends in a 10 Day Cleanse, where I'm only allowed to eat foods that don't have junk in them. (i.e. cook with lean meats and lots of veggies, and stop eating so much of it!)

This, of course, poses a problem for me, when 80% of my recipes are probably not so healthy. Of course, there are some great options that ARE healthy (i.e. This Chicken Tortilla Soup recipe), but I always struggle to find the time and willpower to spend that much time in the kitchen when I'm already hungry!

Suddenly, it came to me - a friend of mine emailed me a recipe a while back that sounded like some sort of Mexican dish with black beans (score!) and shredded chicken. I looked it up, and here's what I had to go on:

"Saute peppers (red, orange, green) and onions in pam olive oil flavor. Add black beans and corn. Throw them in between two whole wheat tortillas with low fat cheese and non fat sour cream. Yum."

So, while I modified it a little bit, here's what I ended up with.

The Recipe

1 large chicken breast, poached and shredded
1 large yellow pepper, diced
1 medium white onion, diced
3 large mushrooms, diced
1 can black beans
1/2 pkg frozen corn
Salt, pepper, chili powder, red pepper flakes and cayenne pepper to taste while sauteeing

Putting it All Together

You start by poaching a chicken breast like so:



While you're waiting, you then dice up all your goods - pepper, onion and mushrooms, and saute it in olive oil spray like so:



And then, the dreaded shredding of the chicken:



Once the goods are good and cooked, you add in the black beans and corn, let it blend in for a minute or two, then add that shredded chicken and the seasonings, to taste.



Once it was heated through, I threw it over a bed of tortilla chips...



...then tossed on a little cheese and a bit of salsa. Delicious!!



I added a little chicken broth to keep the leftovers moist and let it simmer a little longer, since the leftovers will be killer! My plan for tomorrow is to throw a little of this between two tortilla shells with a little cheese to make a little quesadilla - and I can't wait!

I have no idea what the name of this recipe is, so I'm making it up lol

Chicken Tortilla Soup

DISCLAIMER

I'm going to start by putting a disclaimer on this puppy: IT WILL TAKE YOU FOREVER TO MAKE THIS!!

And it's not that the recipe is complicated - it absolutely is not. But when you're dicing 6 different veggies, and shred 2 large chicken breasts, it's just tedious, and well...it takes time. So if you have 2-3 hours to make this, go for it - you won't be sorry! But if you're looking for a quick soup, look elsewhere.

Backstory

I decided to try this the first time a couple years ago when I was expecting my Mom and sister in town to celebrate my 26th birthday. I thought it'd be nice to have a pot of soup on for supper that day, so I found this recipe on SparkRecipes.com (again - a GREAT resource for healthy recipes) - thanks sparker AUTUMNINNY.

The Recipe

2 lg chicken breasts, poached and shredded
5 small carrots, chopped
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 large orange bell pepper, diced
1 large green bell pepper, diced
1/2 large yellow onion, diced
1 (28oz) can crushed tomatoes (or 3 1/2 C chopped fresh tomatoes)
1 (32oz) box chicken stock
1 small package frozen corn
3 finely chopped chipotle peppers (REMOVE THE SEEDS!!!)
1 (15oz) can black beans
salt and pepper to taste

Topping (optional): corn tortilla chips and shredded Monterrey jack cheese

The Prep Work

Remember that part where I said this recipe took forever and a day to make? Yeah, the prep is the biggest part. I started by dicing and dicing and dicing for what seemed like hours.

The carrots


The 2 different bell peppers, onion and chipotle peppers

Let's Get Started

First, I poached (a.k.a. boiled) the chicken breasts for 20 minutes in a boiling pot of water with salt and a few bay leaves.


While I was waiting for the chicken breasts to cook through, I sauteed the carrots in 1 Tbsp olive oil for 10 minutes in a large skillet, until they were nice and soft.


I then added the peppers and the onion and sauteed in yet another Tbsp olive oil until they were nice and tender.



Once the chicken was poached (i.e. done boiling), I got to work shredding it.


When everything was cooked nicely, I added it to a large stockpot, along with the shredded chicken, crushed tomatoes, corn, black beans and chicken broth.



You let it simmer pretty much as long as you feel like. I generally only let the flavors blend about 20 minutes or so, but I don't think longer would hurt.

You really won't be disappointed in this, but WHOA does it ever take time to make.