Cook Once, Eat Thrice: Mexican Style Chicken Edition
And…. it’s the weekend. We can all take a big sigh and relax a little. The work week is done, and it’s time to kick back and enjoy the last little bits of summer… read a book, take a nap… ah ah ha ha ha just kidding! Back-to-School is in full swing, and every parent I know is trying to find the cheapest price on a 400 pack of Crayola markers, and that specific designer binder that your daughter “just has to have because she will be the biggest dork in school if she doesn’t”, and indoor/outdoor shoes that don’t look like every one eles… sound familiar? oh yea, and after you’re done scrounging the face of the earth for the last pair of rhinestone shoelaces, you walk in the door exhausted, irritable and everyone looks at you with one simple question: what’s for dinner? *Cue hysterical crying*
Ok, ok, maybe i’m being a little over dramatic but back to school for the kids means new, or restarting old, routines. Plus that ‘adjustment period’ everyone has… new class, new teacher, maybe even new to the school? Let me help you a little during this crazy time of the year… and welcome you to a new 3-part series I have created with you in mind to hopefully help through these crazy times.
The Cook Once, Eat Thrice series is just that, cook one main portion of the meal, and use that in three separate, delicious and easy meals. Once the main part is cooked, each meal subsequently should take about 20 minutes of hands on OR total cook time. Today I’m bringing you (and really it should be no surprise to those of you who know me), Cook Once, Eat Thrice: Mexican Style Chicken Edition – Part 1. Part 1 will show you the ‘main portion’ to prepare, and give you the first meal. Part 2 & 3 will give you the full recipes for the next two meals you will make. We all enjoyed each of these separately and I know I didn’t get sick of it once, but I love mexican style food. So let’s get to it…
It’s time to bring out the crock pot, because your main piece to these three dishes is this delicious shredded chicken!
The Ingredients:
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 tbsp cumin
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- 3-4 cloves of garlic smashed
- 1/2 cup cilantro
- 1 tsp chili powder
- salt & pepper to taste
The How-To:
- Put your chicken in the crock pot laying them in a single layer. Add the rest of the ingredients on top. No liquid is needed!
- Cook on high 4-6 hours.
- Once cooked, remove and shred.
That’s it! How easy is that?! You can have that done at work, and it’s not one of those crazy big preparations to ‘make crock pot cooking easy’.
So now that you have the hard part completed, it’s time to make dinner tonight… and what do we have planned? Meal #1 is: Shredded Chicken Tacos with Homemade Easy Peasy Dinnertime Guacamole!
The Ingredients:
- 2 of your cooked Mexican Style Chicken breasts shredded
- 7-8 medium sized tortillas
- 1 cup diced tomatoes
- 1 cup sour cream
- Homemade Easy Peasy Dinnertime Guacamole (recipe below)
- Hot Sauce
- Cilantro
- and any other tasty topping you want!
The How-To:
- Warm your tortillas (microwave is fine), and put about 3 tbsp shredded chicken in each.
- Add your favourite toppings, and serve!
Yup! Dinner was made and served in under 20 minutes since that handy little crock pot of yours took all the hard work (and heat) out of your kitchen. I will say this, since each meal in the series revolves around the mexican style shredded chicken, you should probably note that each meal will be mexican styled. We ate the cook chicken all week, and enjoyed it and had no complaints about eating that style of food so many different ways in the same week. IF you would prefer not to, I totally understand! After tonight’s meal, shred the rest of the chicken, put it in a freezer bag, and freeze until your next mexican inspired meal time comes. The best way to defrost the cooked chicken is to let it sit in your fridge all day, and it will be ready and waiting for you when you get home!
I’m sure you have little helpers or maybe you’re just ‘doing it all’ tonight, but you want to give those tacos a kick to the next level… try this Easy Peasy Dinnertime Guacamole. It takes about 5 minutes to prepare, and makes just enough for dinner tonight so you’re not stuck with browning guacamole for a week in your fridge!
The Ingredients:
- 2 ripe avocados, pitted
- 1/4 cup cilantro
- 1/4 cup red onion, diced finely
- 1/4 cup chopped tomato
- 1 tbsp plus 1 tsp lime juice
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- black pepper to taste.
The How-To:
- In a small to medium sized bowl mash the avocado with a fork. Some people like smooth, some like chunky, so mash it until you like it.
- Add the rest of the ingredients stirring gently.
- Let sit while you set the table and call everyone for dinner!
What can I say more about this? Without overdoing it, I cannot stress how easy this series and these meals came to me. I like serving my family healthy & delicious food and with new schedules coming up… I want to continue doing that, but not slave away in the kitchen all day. Who has time for that?! Now to give you a little idea of what to expect in part 2 and part 3, you will NOT be seeing a salad from me. It’s not that I’m against salad in the least (i’m sure you see almost all of my recipes and pictures with a side salad of some sort) but the point of this series is to create a dinnertime meal, and salads can be wonderful, but I wanted to offer a little more “umpf” this time around. That’s not to say in the future of this series there won’t be salads included but I think you can see where I’m coming from.
On that note my dear foodie friends, I wish you all a safe and wonderful weekend with your family and friends! Thank you so much for stopping by even on a Saturday! If you have any suggestions or comments, please share! I’m all ears… or eyes… or… well you know what I mean. And in the spirit of back-to-school shopping and new schedules… (as one of my favourite books turned to movies would say) “May the odds be ever in your favour”.
Cheers xo
