Cooking ruts suck, right? Unfortunately, I find myself in cooking ruts more often than I would like to admit. I fall into routines for making the same dinners every week, and to be honest, I'm over it. I want to introduce new and delicious meals into my arsenal, and spice things up in the kitchen, and at the dinner table.
I'm tired of spaghetti with meat sauce, tacos, fish with rice, and enchiladas. I'm SICK of breakfast for dinner more than you know, and right now, I can't think of a single other thing I've made in recent history. A RUT.
So when I saw my friend Stacey's Snapchat story the other day featuring this GORGEOUS foil pack meal with chicken and rice and other stuff, and I had to know... What IS that? The snap story continued with images of really delicious looking Mexican-inspired chicken dinner, kids and husband asking for more, and the best part? Nearly zero cleanup.
After practically begging, Stacey sent me the link from Chelsea's Messy Apron, for the recipe she used, and another one she was making that night and we were in business, but more on that another day, IF it comes out good.
Whoa, it looked AMAZING... That very next day, I went to the store, and got the ingredients for both meals, as well as for typical stuff and I was actually excited to get in the kitchen and cook my family some new-new for dinner.
As we were getting closer to dinner time, I literally sat there staring at the clock, anxiously awaiting the time I have been dreading, the time to get into the kitchen and make dinner.
FINALLY, it was time to get cooking, and as I got going, I knew that this meal was going to be a hit, even based on the seasoning mix alone, consisting of cumin, garlic powder, salt, pepper, smoked paprika and chili powder, smelled INSANE. Like, mouthwateringly delicious. OoooWEE!
Now, I need to warn you, my photos aren't that great. I didn't anticipate loving this dinner as much as I did, and I didn't' anticipate my family loving it as much as THEY did. And therefore, I didn't anticipate writing anything about this meal for SD&S, but here we are, and here these photos are too... ANYWAY!
Following the directions, I soaked my instant rice, pounded my chicken breasts, dredged them in seasoning, and started to assemble my foil packets. Water-soaked rice, topped with seasoned chicken, corn on one side, black beans on the other, a couple of strips of bell peppers, some cream cheese pats on each breast of chicken, then finally topped with some tangy salsa verde.
After sealing each of the 3 individual greased foil packets up super tight, and placing them on a baking sheet, they were ready for the oven. Forty-five minutes and 400 degrees later, soup's on! We had dinner.
OH MY GOSH. Upon opening the first packet, the aromas escaped with the steam, and it was amazing. I couldn't wait to stir everything up and dig on in. And that's just what we all did.
Moving the chicken aside, I stirred the veggies in with the beans, rice, and cooking juices, and then replaced the chicken, and smoothed the melted cream cheese and salsa verde over the meat, added the cheese and other toppings like cilantro and avocado, and boom, ready for chow.
Delicious. Amazing. Scrumptious. Mouth-watering. Both Michael and Major agreed, and Major seriously couldn't stop talking about it while he was eating. This meal was insane! Everything was cooked perfectly, even the rice was tender and the chicken was juicy. The whole thing was bursting with Mexican flavor, and I couldn't have asked for more.
I ESPECIALLY couldn't ask for more when it really and truly was the EASIEST clean up ever. I'm talking it took just a couple of minutes to get everything thrown out and put away. So not only did it take only just about 10 minutes to assemble everything, but it took less time to get everything put away when all was said and done.
Now this is what I call a true WINNER WINNER, CHICKEN DINNER.Thank you Stacey for sharing your golden nugget of a recipe, and thank you to Chelsea's Messy Apron for putting this out there to the world to enjoy. I'm grateful, because between the two of you, I got out of my dinner-time rut.
What's your favorite dinner recipe? What helped YOU get out of YOUR rut?
Foil Pack Creamy Salsa Verde Chicken, Rice, and Veggies
I took a recipe I found, tailored it to my family, and it ended up being the most delicious Mexican-inspired foil pack chicken dinner ever. YUM!