I recently was looking for a healthy yet straight forward summer recipe that would make a delicious Sunday night dinner for us and allow for leftovers to hold us for much of the remainder of the work week.
Not only did I find 1 recipe that looked good and relatively easy, I found 2; 1 was pasta based and 1 was rice based; both called for a cubed chicken breast and lots of vegetables (similar vegetables for both). Both recipes have a bit of a Mexican flair. When running the concepts of the recipes by Ed to get his feedback on which I should make first, he voted for the pasta-based option.
So off to the grocery store I went with my ingredient list. While there, I picked up a couple of extra ingredients so that I could make the rice-based recipe the following week.
I came back and cut up the vegetables that I bought; I took a couple of chicken breasts out of the freezer and began to boil them in chicken broth (to cook them such that they’d remain tender). After all of my chopping, I realized that I had too much for my recipe. Additionally, the chicken breasts that I used were so large that I decided I could actually make both of the recipes. (I think I was secretly leaning towards the rice-based dish and this just gave me an excuse to make that one as well.)
Both of the recipes turned out to be delicious and a hit with the family! I ended up freezing about 1/3 of each and we were happy campers for the rest of the week with our respective dinners.
Following are the recipes should anyone be interested in a fairly quick and healthy all-in-one meal that’s best served cold (kind of like a salad meal) which is perfect for summertime. While the recipes have very similar ingredients, they are very different from one another due to both the base (rice / pasta) and the flavorings.
Pasta Chicken Salad Recipe
1 full-side of a chicken breast; cooked and cooled (1 large or 2 smaller chicken breast cutlets)
1.5 cups dried rice cooked (with 3 cups water) and cooled
2 cups diced fresh tomatoes
1.5 cups diced bell peppers (your choice of color(s))
1 medium onion – diced
1 can (pint) black beans; rinsed and drained
1 can (pint) sweet corn; drained
2 Tbsp fresh cilantro; minced
Add Vinaigrette:
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp black pepper
Mix all of the above and serve (or refrigerate)
Rice Chicken Salad Recipe
1 full-side of a chicken breast; cooked and cooled (1 large or 2 smaller chicken breast cutlets)
1 16 oz box of pasta (any shape you like) cooked and cooled
1 can (pint) pinto beans; rinsed and drained
2 cups diced fresh tomatoes
1.5 cups diced bell peppers (your choice of color(s))
1 medium onion; diced
2 tbsp fresh cilantro; minced
2 cups salsa
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin
Mix all of the above and serve (or refrigerate)
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