What to do when you don't feel like cooking.

There are several options when you just don't feel like being creative in the kitchen.  The most popular, of course, is takeout.  But you can't do that a lot, for many reasons.  Money is the main one in my house.  Our options are limited here.  The only 2 places close enough to deliver to our house is a pizza place and a Chinese takeout place.  These options get boring. REALLY fast.  There's also a quick meal option, one of those boxed or bagged where it's "just add water" or whatever and there you go. Dinner in a flash.  That's an option in my house sometimes.  I love to cook and use fresh foods, but there are times when Hamburger Helper is the best option to hell with the sodium counts.  Because really, this "convience" food may be quick and easy, but it takes it's toll on your health. Read the label sometime, you'll never want to buy those quick meals on the shelf again.

Then there's a third option, one I like best.  Shop your pantry.  It's that easy.  First you should have a well stocked pantry.  Everyone should have things like pasta, rice, canned veggies, beans, flour, sugar and a variety of spices.  I have basic baking needs, flour, sugar, bread flour, brown sugar, Hershey special dark cocoa, chocolate chips, various decorative sugars and canned icing.  I even have boxed cake, in case I need to make something super quick.  I have tons of spices, ketchup and a variety of canned tomatoes as well as a few different types of dried and canned beans.  This comes in handy for days like I had this past week.

I had originally took chicken out to make tacos.  As the day went on, I wasn't feeling so great.  Bear was going out for the night and I just didn't feel like putting in an effort to cook dinner. This of course, was not fair to The Boy and I needed to make him something decent for dinner, but something that didn't take a lot of my time.  So what I did, was go look in the pantry and see what nifty stuff I had in there. I knew I had rice and I knew I had beans.  I'm near the point where it's time to hit the local BJ's warehouse and stock up, so I wasn't sure in terms of veggies I had.  Turns out I had a can of diced tomatoes that had green chilies and onions mixed in.  AH HA!  Dinner was going to be super easy now. 

I don't have a name for it, I haven't thought of anything clever yet.  So it's Diced chicken with rice and beans.  That's my title and I'm sticking to it.  I"m sure this recipe can be adapted any way you want it, depending what you have going on in your house.  All I know, is I made this and there are no leftovers, much to my disappointment.  My son loved it and despite the black beans, I think The Bear would like it too.

Diced Chicken with Brown Rice and Black Beans

3 chicken breasts
Old Bay
Emeril's Bayou Blast seasoning
Olive oil
Cooking spray
Instant Brown rice
(1) can of diced tomatoes, any style, I used the ones with green chilie and onion in it.
(1) can of black beans, rinsed--again, depending what you have in the pantry, use whatever you have/like best
Chili powder
Garlic powder

Heat pan over med-high heat.  Once heated up, hit it with the cooking spray and 2 tsp. of olive oil.  I do it this way because of Weight Watchers.  The always use cooking spray and adding the 2 tsp. of oil adds flavor and gets that all important "good" fat worked into your diet.  Sprinkle one side of the chicken with the Old Bay and Bayou Blast.  Add to the pan, spiced side down.  Cook the chicken about 10 minutes each side (till internal temp reaches 165 deg.--can you tell I just got a nifty meat thermometer?)

While the chicken is working, add the rice to your rice cooker, along with the tomatoes and the drained and rinsed beans.  Mix it all up and then cook.  The beans and tomatoes will cook along with the rice.  Once it's cooked, add the chili powder and garlic powder. 

When the chicken is cooked, dice it up and add it to the rice mix and VIOLA  dinner is ready.  It's quick and easy, well, quick if you have a rice cooker like I do. Very tasty.  Weight Watchers point value for one serving - 5 points!