Yesterday was one of those days. I was booked from 6am to 9pm. I had muffins for breakfast, leftover quesadillas for lunch, a banana & a granola bar for a snack, and had given up and pulled some soup out of the freezer to heat up for dinner when I got home around 9.
However, something magical happened – I got out of class at 5:20 – a full hour and 20 minutes early. That gave me about an hour and a half to get home, make food, eat food, and get back down to campus for a 7:00 meeting. Challenge accepted.
I rocked it. I got home around 5:35, opened up the original recipe (from skinnytaste.com), ground my own chicken, prepped, cooked, cleaned up, and photographed by 6:40, at which point I threw my food in a container and took it to the meeting with me. I missed out on the gene that keeps people from eating in meetings/class/wherever. Seriously. I’m pretty much ALWAYS eating. Anyway, it was delicious, and really, really easy.
I don’t expect everyone to own (or care to use) a meat grinder – you can totally just buy ground chicken or turkey. For me, it was cheaper to buy a pack of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, throw one in the freezer for later and grind two. Since the cost benefit to the budget outweighed the grinding hassle, I went that route.
Ingredients (makes 4 servings)
- 1 1/2 c brown rice
- 2-3 garlic cloves, minced
- about 1 lb ground chicken or turkey
- salt & pepper
- cumin
- about 1 1/2 c frozen peas
- 1 8oz can tomato sauce
- 1 medium tomato, cut into chunks
- about 1/4 c cilantro, chopped
- 1 medium potato, cut into 1-inch(ish) cubes
- 1-2 bay leaves
- 3/4 c water
Directions:
- Get the rice going in a rice cooker or follow directions for cooking rice on the stove
- In a large fry pan, heat a touch of olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and stir for a few seconds, until fragrant. Add the chicken, season with salt, pepper & cumin to taste & cook, stirring, until starting to brown.
- Turn the heat down a touch. Add the peas, tomato sauce, tomato, potato, cilanto, bay leaves & water. Stir, cover and cook for 15-20 minutes, stirring once or twice & adding more water if needed, until the potatoes are cooked through.
- Serve over rice. Enjoy!
Way to go! If I didn’t know better, I’d swear you were the project manager in the family.
Nope, just the first-born.
Ground your own chicken?? Yowza! I’m sure that made it taste all the better!
It was delish, for sure. Not to mention cost effective! I remember you saying your food processor was worth its weight in gold – so is my stand mixer (and all its attachments). Love that thing.