The Magnificent Go-To Dinner: Chicken + Veggies + Whatever

Anyone I've ever cooked for probably has eaten this meal (or some variation of it). I sometimes think that I should diversify my cooking because I probably make this a solid 75% of the time I cook anything...but then I remember how easy it is and how good the leftovers are and I cook it anyway.

See, there are the ingredients. Nothing difficult at all. This time, I experimented with this frozen chicken, but usually I will buy and cook normal chicken. This was actually pretty easy though because I was able to just put it in the oven while I prepared all of the other food. Cutting out a step in the cooking process = happy me. Everything else is pretty normal: pepper, onion, rice, beans, salsa, and cheese.

First, I chopped all the vegetables. I actually ended up using two green peppers and one and a half onions, just because that's what I had in my fridge and I wanted to use them before heading to the beach for the weekend. After doing this, I put that chicken in the oven and got to work on the veggies.

So good. I was on Skype with my friend Alicia for most of the time that I was cooking, and she totally called me out for taking pictures of the food as I was cooking it, by the way. By the time the vegetables were done (which I had to cook in two batches because there were so many!) I had also heated up the black beans and gotten started on the rice.

Now let me tell you about this Boil in a Bag rice. My mom has used this for a long time, so I'm always shocked when people haven't heard of it. It's seriously so easy. The rice comes packaged in these little bags, which you just throw into some boiling water for 10-12 minutes, and then you have perfectly cooked rice.

After all this was done, I put rice, beans, vegetables, chicken, salsa, and cheese on a plate. Easy, delicious dinner. But the best part is that these foods all go really well together as leftovers and they reheat really nicely in the microwave. I'll be able to take this to work for lunch for the next few days and I'll be a very happy camper.

Yummy food and leftovers galore!