Lazy Friday
I really don't like cooking on Fridays. For the longest time I kept planning Friday dinners, only to decide around 4pm that I had NO desire to cook, and we'd end up ordering in, pushing our meal back a day and ruining my weekend meals (I usually make things that take longer on the weekend). So, now, on Fridays we either eat out, Tom makes tacos, or I use the crockpot so I have minimal work. This is one of the easiest things to throw together in the morning: shredded chicken, to be used for tostados/tacos/just plain eating.
Basically, spray the crockpot with a little oil. Place a couple chicken breasts, a can of beans (your choice, I like black and I drain/rinse them), a 12 oz. jar of salsa (I used verde here), and some herbs/spices. I use salt, pepper, a few dashes of hot sauce, oregano, garlic powder, chili powder and cumin. Let is cook on low while you are at work. When you get home, stir the pot a little and the chicken will shred effortlessly. I usually cook it an additional 30 minutes or so after it's shredded, with the lid off, so it can absorb more of the flavors and thicken up a bit.
Tonight I decided to make some Spanish rice and this was actually my first time making it. I cheated and used *gasp* minute brown rice because, again, I am lazy on Fridays. I just heated up some oil, added a few tablespoons of diced onions and cooked them for about 2 minutes before adding a tablespoon of tomato paste and a clove of minced garlic. After cooking 30-40 seconds or so, I added the rice to toast a couple minutes. Then I added chicken broth, chili powder, and cumin. Turned out pretty well.
We ate the chicken on corn tortillas (sprayed a little oil on them and baked them in the oven) with all the toppings: reduced fat cheese, reduced fat sour cream, tomatoes, lettuce, a little extra salsa.
