Hispanic Chicken and Rice

My grandmother is Puerto Rican.  She was born here in the US, but her father was born in Puerto Rico and then moved to NYC as a young adult.  My great grandfather, who I never met, made a traditional chicken and rice dish ever Christmas eve.  He learned the recipe from his father, and then it got passed down to my grandmother.  Aroz con pollo, that Christmas eve meal, has been one of my favorites for as long as I can remember.  My mom, sister and I made aroz con pollo this year.  It take a few hours to make and is a lot of work.  I love the dish, and wanted to make an easier, faster version of it.  Ok, so mine isn't as good as the real thing.  But it's a nice week night dinner.

Ingredients: 
Spanish yellow rice mix, found in the hispanic foods section of the grocery store
Chicken, I used 2 chicken thighs because they were on sale
Salsa to taste
1 can of peas

Start Cooking:
1.  Pre heat oven to 350 degrees.  Put the chicken in a baking dish and cover with 1/4-1/2 cup of your favorite salsa.  Bake for an hour.
2.  While the chicken is baking, make the rice according to the directions on the box.
3.  Once the chicken is cooked, let sit for about 20 minutes so it can cool off.  Pick all the chicken off the bones, and make into bite size pieces.  Add the chicken to the rice, along with the salsa that was baked with the chicken.  If you like, add extra salsa.
4.  Drain and rinse the canned peas and stir into the rice and chicken.

finished rice and chicken, minus the peas(I didn't have any on hand)

Enjoy! 

Easy, Healthy Breakfast

I've always had a hard time with healthy, nutritious breakfasts that will give me energy to start my day.  I can make that happen, but I do not have time to cook a big breakfast every morning.  So I was browsing around for some ideas and morphed what I found into my own version of egg and  biscuit cups.  I made a batch of 6 cups, froze 3 and put 3 in the fridge.  I can then heat them up in the morning before work and have a high protein, high energy breakfast.

Ingredients: 
6 biscuits from the fridge section in the tube
6 eggs
milk
cheese
season salt to taste
1/4 cup onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup bell pepper finely chopped

Start Cooking: 

1.  Saute the onion and pepper in a small skillet, until tender and slightly browned.  Remove from heat to cool.  Meanwhile, pre heat the over to 350 degrees.

2.  Spray 6 jumbo muffin tins with cooking spray.  Flatten out the biscuits into the bottom of the muffin time.  

3.  Crack the eggs into a large bowl and beat with a few tablespoons of milk and the season salt to taste.  If you do not like season salt, use regular salt to taste.  Mix in the cheese, however much you like.  Then mix in the cooled veggies.  

4.  Pour the egg mixture into the muffin cups, making sure there is an even amount in each cup.  

5.  Bake for about 20 minutes, until the eggs are set and starting to brown.  Also check to make sure the biscuit is cooked through on the bottom.  Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely before storing.  

Tips and Hints:

1.  You can easily add meat to the egg mixture.  Just make sure the meat is cooked all the way through before adding it to the eggs.  

2.  Serve with fruit for a complete breakfast.  

3.  Use whatever veggies you have on hand.  Onions and bell peppers are a good starting point, but if there are others you like, use them.  

Enjoy!