Tex Mex Rice Bowl

Our grocery store is within walking distance from our apartment, the cost of that convenience is that it is always packed.  We started strategically going to the grocery store on Saturday nights  (romantic, I know) or early Sunday morning just to miss out on the delightfulness of the rush.  Last week some woman with god-awful hair stood in the self-check out line berating a woman who had what she deemed to be too many groceries for that line. It got really ugly, really quickly.   We try to avoid that kind of crazy at all costs.  On this particular day, we weren't so lucky so I passed the time flipping through a Cooking Light magazine when I spotted this recipe.   We were excited to come up with another vehicle for the Corn and Black Bean Salsa, so far we've put it on tacos, chips, quesadillas and fajitas.  I was concerned that it would be weird on top of the rice bowl because both recipes have corn and black beans, but it wasn't a problem at all.  The salsa was the perfect compliment to this easy, healthy weeknight meal.


What you need: 
1 cup of Ben's 10 minute brown rice
5 or 6 chicken breast tenderloins
1 can black beans
1 cup of frozen corn, thawed
2 packs reduced sodium taco seasoning
1/2 cup water
1 jalapeno, diced
1/2 cup onion, diced
cilantro
corn and black bean salsa (optional)

What you do: 

• Cook the rice according to the package.
• Cook the chicken.  I used my Foreman grill and then diced the chicken into bite-sized pieces.
• Sautee the onion and jalapeno in a large skillet (that has a lid)

• Add to the skillet the chicken, water, taco seasoning, black beans and corn. Cover the skillet and let cook for until the beans and corn and hot about 4 or 5 minutes

• Finally, stir in the cooked rice and chopped cilantro. Heat throughly and serve with some mexican cheese and salsa. 

Notes: 

• The original recipe called for ground sirloin and made 4 servings for 306 calories.  I swapped out the beef for chicken because it was in my freezer, so I have no idea the actual calorie count, but it can't be that bad. 
• The original recipe called for the jalapenos to be used as a garnish, but I think sautéing them  added a nice heat to the dish that wasn't too overwhelming. 
• I would recommend doing a little prep work before you start-- defrost the corn; cut the vegetables and rinse the black beans-- because once you start adding everything to the skillet it goes pretty quickly. 
• The rice bowl reheated well for lunch the next day.