Recipe: Easy Crock Pot Chicken and Mexican Fried Rice

It is pretty much summer weather here in Washington state. When you live in the Pacific Northwest, often times your house does not have A/C. I mean, we seriously would only NEED to use it about 2-3 months out of the year, tops. It's actually a rarity that is has been above 80 these past few days, considering it's only mid-June. So a lot of us just make do without!

The only times I  get seriously upset about not having any A/C (other than when it's time to go to bed and my room is still too hot) is when it is time to cook dinner. I don't want to eat salads and sandwiches until September, but I seriously do not want to turn on my oven when it's 85 degrees in my house. 

So today I thought I might use the crock pot and see if that helped. I threw together one of my all-time versatile favorites. I hope you like it!

Shown in this picture: 1 yellow container of Mexican Fried Rice, one red container of Easy Crock Pot Chicken, 1 blue container split in half between cheese and avocado. I also added 1/2 purple to my tally sheet tonight to account for the salsa/tomato sauce in both recipes. 

Easy Crock Pot Chicken

2-3 lbs. chicken (I use breasts because it is what I always have on hand, but it turns out well with thighs too)

2 cups salsa

2 Tbsp. taco seasoning (I blend my own so I can leave out the salt and other garbage! But a taco seasoning packet would work too)

Optional:

1 can black beans

1 can corn

(if you add these ingredients, you may or may not want to add more salsa, but you really can't go wrong either way!)

Put all ingredients into slow cooker and cook on low for 6-8 hours. When chicken is cooked all the way through, pull apart using two forks and stir to allow chicken to absorb the salsa/taco seasoning juices. 

Various Ways to Serve:

• My favorite way to serve this chicken is with my Mexican Fried Rice (see recipe below) in a bowl with a little cheese, avocado, and/or sour cream. 
• My husband likes to just dip into it with chips.
• My son likes to put it on nachos with cheese. 
• It also makes a good (but somewhat messy) burrito filling. 
• Sometimes we use the leftovers to make quesadillas. 
• I will also use the leftovers to make a "taco salad."
• My husband has even thrown it into his scrambled eggs before!

You get the idea- it's very versatile!! 

Mexican Fried Rice

3 Tbsp. oil

1 cup rice

1 diced onion

1 tsp. granulated garlic

salt/pepper

1 tsp. ground cumin

1/2 cup tomato sauce

2 cups chicken broth

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add rice. Cook and stir constantly until rice is puffed and golden. Sprinkle with garlic, salt, pepper, cumin. Add onion and cook for 2 minutes until onion is tender, but do not overcook the rice. Stir in chicken broth and tomato sauce. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer on medium-low heat for 20-25 minutes or until all liquid is absorbed. Fluff with fork. 

So I am not gonna lie- I always use long grain white rice with this recipe. Technically it is not 21 Day Fix approved, but I have tried to use this recipe with brown rice before and I just cannot figure out what I need to tweak in order to get it right. If you find success in re-creating this dish using brown rice, PLEASE share with me your secrets!!