Fiesta Chicken w/Cilantro Lime Rice

As you can see, I purchased a new frame and managed to get it up on the wall without breaking it (yet). I'm not so certain it won't come crashing down upon the guitars in the middle of the night scaring the you know what out of us and leaving lots of damage in its wake. I'll keep you posted on that.

Since we saw Robert Earl Keen this week, I decided that I would prepare what I am hereby proclaiming to be 'Fiesta Chicken' for dinner on Thursday. This meal is a Tex-Mex meets Southwest meets my slow cooker sort of thing. Before I get into the actual recipe, let me first state my preference for the term "slow cooker" over "crock-pot". Crock-pot is actually a brand name, but it reminds me of the phrase "crock of s---". You can fill in the blanks. Have fun with it!! Feel free to comment on what four letter 's' word your crock would be full of, but keep it clean it as my grandmother may read this. Slow cooker sounds like you've got a plan and like you are just going to sit back and relax, possibly with a tasty beverage of some sort, while your food stews in its own goodness all day. While a slow cooker is usually "full of it", it being what I have chosen to throw in and some might say I too am "full of it", I would rather be a nice, laid-back slow cooker. So there you have it. I used my slow cooker last night.

In order to make cleaning up your slow cooker a little bit easier, I recommend using a slow cooker liner. It's essentially a big baggie that fits inside the pot and when you are done cooking and eating, you just throw it away. There is usually some liquid that has gotten out of it somehow, but nothing like what it would look like had the liner not been there.

The ingredients for Fiesta Chicken are:
- 6 chicken breasts (about 2.5 lbs)
- 2 cans of Campbell's Cheddar Cheese Soup
- 1 can of Ro*Tel Original
- 1 can (8.75 oz.) of Whole Kernel Corn, drained
- 1 jar (4.5 oz.) of Roasted Red Pepper Tapenade
- 1 can (4 oz.) of Diced Green Chiles (mild)
- 1 medium yellow onion, sliced
- Juice of 1 lime

The corn is not a necessity but it doesn't do any harm either. I also am aware that the tapenade defies the fiesta theme, but it is at least roasted red pepper. I would prefer to use Campbell's Southwest-Style Pepper Jack Soup, but I can never find it and the cheddar does just fine. There is apparently a Campbell's Fiesta Nacho Cheese Soup, but I cannot find that either nor have I tried it. I'm sure it would work as well.

I suppose there does not really need to be a method to putting everything in the slow cooker, but for me there is. I start with one of the cans of soup at the bottom of the slow cooker followed by three of the chicken breasts. I make sure to press the breasts into the soup so that some of it covers the top as well. Then I put in half of the canned/jarred ingredients and half of the onion, followed by the other three chicken breasts and the remainder of the canned/jarred ingredients. I have no idea whether this layering technique makes any difference, but I'd like to think that it does since the chicken on the bottom gets the same amount of stuff. When everything is in, then I add the lime juice and cover it. I cooked it on low for 8 hours yesterday, which makes for super tender chicken that shreds very nicely. I have also cooked it for 6 hours on high before and I recall that the breasts held together a little better with the shorter cooking time. So it's just a question of whether you want to shred the chicken or not. The shredded of course works better for tacos and burritos. The picture to the right is what it looks like when done cooking.

I came across the recipe for Cilantro Lime Rice after deciding to take a stab at making rice similar to Chipotle's. I know at least a couple of my readers are avowed Chipotle fans so this may be of particular interest to you. It's very simple and super tasty. The ingredients are:
- 1.5 cups of cooked rice
- 1 lime
- Zest of 1/2 a lime
- 1/4 cup of fresh cilantro, chopped
- Salt and pepper to taste

I prepare the rice as normal except I add the juice from one lime a little before the water comes to a boil so that it gets cooked into the rice. Once the rice is cooked, I mix in the lime zest, cilantro, salt and pepper. That all there is to it.

I decided to go for a burrito bowl and put the chicken and rice in a bowl along with some green tomatillo salsa and some shredded Mexican cheese blend. I highly recommend this meal.