Chicken Tostadas

This really should be a manageable Monday meal because it's definitely under $30 and under 30 minutes...but since we're packing to move and I don't have a lot of time (or energy) we're pretty much having a manageable everything this week.
When I was pregnant with my oldest I lived and breathed Mexican food. I couldn't get enough of it. I would eat salsa and guacamole by the spoonful and enchiladas were a daily necessity. This wasn't so much the case for my last pregnancy. It was actually the complete opposite.
Before I even knew I was pregnant I got violently ill after eating at Mexican restaurant. Because we had been trying to get pregnant I passed on the margaritas so I knew it wasn't that, and I chalked it up to food poisoning. I gave my beloved Mexican food one more attempt at 3 months pregnant and the same thing happened. But this time it happened before I even got to put the food in my mouth. The smell alone was enough to make me get sick right in the restaurant. On the table. 
After that I couldn't be around Mexican food for the rest of my pregnancy. The one time my husband came home with a taco I made him go outside and eat because even the thought of it in the house made me sick. It was so strange because before that nothing made me happier than sitting at a Mexican restaurant with a margarita and a giant plate of tacos in front of me. And if I could do it while wearing a sombrero then life was pretty much complete. 
Much to my husbands delight I'm finally able to cook it again and one of our household favorites are these tostadas. My mom made them for us while we were visiting my parents a couple years back and we fell in love. They are so easy to make, easy on the wallet, and you don't have to worry about side dishes because it's a meal in itself. Plus if you have small hands in your household you can always take what you made and stuff it in a mess free (or at least less messy) taco shell. 
The best part is they are totally customizable to what your family likes. I have made them with chicken, steak, ground turkey, you name it and it they are all good. Here's how I made them tonight: 

Ingredients: 
1 bag tostadas
1 can refried beans (I use vegetarian because we don't eat pork) 
1 package yellow rice 
1 lb chicken 
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 package Ortega cilantro and green chile skillet sauce
Cheese, lettuce, olives, salsa, etc. 

Directions: 
Preheat oven to 350. 
Boil 2 1/2 cups water for rice. 
In a large skillet pre heat your olive oil over medium high heat. Add chicken and brown. 
Add your rice and cook as directed. 
Once your chicken is browned add your sauce, turn heat to low, and continue to simmer until fully cooked. 
Place tostadas on a non stick cookie sheet.
Spread a layer of beans, rice, and chicken (you can shred it or chop it) then place in oven for 5-10 minutes. 
Remove and place whatever toppings you chose. 

Like I said, this has become a weekly dinner meal in our house and you can change it up however you want so even the pickiest eaters can enjoy!

{Disclaimer: I am in no way being represented or compensated by any products that I mention in this post. As always, my opinions are my own. I am sharing this recipe because I believe in quick, easy, healthy, and affordable meals. With that being said, I am not responsible for what you cook. You cannot sue me for the products you use or buy, choosing to undercook your meal, or any fires you light in your kitchen. But know that if you do accidentally catch your kitchen on fire- so have I.}

Manageable Mondays: Homemade Chicken and Rice Soup

As I had said in yesterdays post there's a ton of things you can do with left over chicken. I had planned on making chicken salad (because my husband is obsessed with it) but unfortunately our house had a rough night last night. Both kids decided to wake up at 2am...and then stay up for the rest of the night. Along with my 2am wake up call also came a stomach virus. OH. MY. GOSH. I haven't been in that much pain since child birth.

When I finally managed to get out of bed at almost 3pm there was no way I was going to make chicken salad. The mere thought of mayonnaise was enough to send my stomach right back up so chicken soup it was. There was also no way I could go to the store, so I had to use whatever was in our fridge and somehow it turned out to be the best chicken and rice soup I've ever made.

Ingredients: 

1 tablespoon olive oil 

2 cups chopped carrots 

2 cups chopped celery 

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 32oz container of gluten-free chicken broth 

1/4 cup brown rice, uncooked 

2 cups rotisserie chicken, shredded 

1 teaspoon ground pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano  

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme 

1 teaspoon dried parsley  

1 sprig rosemary 

2 bay leaves

Heat olive oil in large pot and sauté carrots and celery on medium-high heat for about 2 minutes. Add minced garlic and sauté for an additional minute. Pour chicken broth into pot and bring to a boil. Add 1/4 cup rice, pepper, salt, oregano, thyme, parsley, rosemary, and bay leaves. Continue to boil uncovered for 1 minute then cover and simmer. Shred your chicken and then add it after your soup has been simmering for 5 minutes and then continue to simmer until your rice is cooked. Remove your bay leaves and rosemary sprig. 

Luckily for me, it was pouring rain all day so it didn't feel super weird making soup in July. Even more lucky was the fact that because my kids were up all night they crashed for an extra long nap and I got to sit on the couch with my soup and watch 3 straight hours of horrible reality television. It was amazing.

Slow Cooker Sundays

One of the best cooking tips I've ever gotten was from a 23 year old guy. It was actually one of the best life tips I've ever gotten. He told me, "now that you're a mom with a kid that eats real food you're gonna need a crock pot." Because he was someone with no kids and who lived off of sandwiches and pizza, I was a little confused as to where his advice was coming from (probably his mother) but it was genius none the less. After I explained to him that the mashed up vegetables my son had been eating was in fact "real food" I got in my car, headed to the nearest Target, and picked up a crock pot. The first greatest decision in life was to marry my husband. This was my second. 
One thing I've learned about those miracle cooking machines is that they all cook differently. The first one I bought was small but mighty. I would always have to knock an hour off of whatever cook time the recipe said. Unfortunately, because its on the small side you can't fit a lot in it. The other crock pot I have (the one I used today) is much larger and older. In turn, it cooks everything much slower and I find myself always adding time at the end. It was given to my mother by her mother and now it's been passed down to me. And by passed down I mean I needed a larger crock pot than the one I had so I stole it from her.

I usually love to cook dinner. It's the hour I take out of every week day to turn on music, pour myself a glass of wine, and just tune everything else out. We have a "no kitchen rule" while I'm cooking dinner. No one is allowed in the kitchen. No one. If you need a glass of water, I'll get it for you, but don't step foot over that kitchen line. As a result, my house is usually completely destroyed by the time I'm finished cooking but it's totally worth it that hour. Sundays are the one day that I hardly ever take that hour. We've usually spent the day at the pool and then I get everything ready for the week. By the time dinner rolls around I'm either feeling too lazy to cook or we just aren't home, especially during the summer. My crock pot almost always makes an appearance on Sundays. 

Today I decided to be bold and make a roasted chicken. I have a HORRIBLE history with cooking whole chickens. And by that I don't mean that I tried once to cook a chicken and it just didn't work out. I mean that after several attempts I have yet to successfully cook a whole chicken. Not one time. The most mortifying attempt, which was also my first, was the time I thought I had prepared the most glorious meal ever and when we went to cut into my beautiful masterpiece the inside was completely frozen. I'm talking we couldn't get a knife through it. Who knew you had to thaw a chicken before cooking it? (I was young and stupid). The most painful attempt was the time I went to take the chicken out of the oven and dropped the entire thing on my foot. I gave up after that one for a while, it had gone too far once physical injuries were occurring. The most hilarious attempt was the time I planned a romantic dinner for my husband and when I put the chicken on the serving plate the entire thing fell completely apart on the plate. It looked like someone had put the chicken in a blender. The good news is I've learned a lot from all of my attempts and I'm finally be able to successfully cook the chicken of our stomachs dreams.

Lots of cooking whole chicken attempts requires buying lots of whole chickens. In all of those purchases I have always only bought ones that have the giblets removed. I had enough issues cooking the thing I didn't need to add removing it's parts onto the list. Unfortunately, the chicken Gods were against me yet again today and when I went to the store they didn't have any without the giblets... but I was a woman on a mission so I bought it anyways. Now, raw chicken grosses me out in general but having to physically remove the organs from it flat out terrifies me. I spent the next 30 minutes googling how to properly remove the giblets. I went a little too far and even watched a YouTube video, but if I was going to actually be able do this I needed to be prepared so that I could do it quickly enough where I was finished before throwing up every where. I mentally prepared myself, put on a pair of gloves, opened the package, and looked inside. Instead of seeing something out of an anatomy book I found all of the giblets wrapped up neatly in a plastic bag. That whole time all I had to do was pull out a plastic bag. While I was happy that I was saved from a situation that would have probably given me reoccurring nightmares, I was kind of pissed that I had just wasted a half hour watching YouTube videos of people performing this task. Imagine the type of person that takes the time to make YouTube videos about removing giblets from chickens. They are everything you're picturing right now. 

Anyways, whether you get the chicken with the giblets removed already or not, know that it's not that bad and all you really have to do is remove a plastic bag. Unless you're going to a farm and picking up a fresh chicken...but I really don't think that's the type of person reading this blog. 

Ingredients:

1 4-5lb whole chicken (obviously adjust the weight for how many people you're feeding)

1 package McCormicks Rosemary Roasted Chicken seasonings 

2 tablespoon minced garlic 

1/2 lemon

2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoon ground pepper

3 sprigs fresh rosemary

   Now I realize that most people have the seasonings included in the package at home so feel free to use those. If you do use the McCormicks package note that it is not intended for a whole chicken so ignore the directions included in the package. 

Seasonings and spices are always a little tricky when you're going gluten-free. It's hard to know what could contain wheat and often times it's a company's "secret" recipe so they wont list all of the ingredients. I usually stick with McCormicks brand because they are inexpensive and more importantly the company has made a point of stating that their single spices are 100% pure (meaning they aren't sneaking any substitutes in there that could contain gluten), and that because their extracts are made with Ethyl alcohol opposed to grain alcohol all of those are gluten-free as well. This is especially helpful when it comes to Vanilla extract. It used to kill me when I had to spend twice the amount on Vanilla because a company labeled it as gluten-free. The best part is that if their is gluten in one of their products they make sure they state so on the package in big, bold letters, even if one of the ingredients is so much as derived from a wheat source. It doesn't get much better than that. 

Rinse your chicken (both inside and out) with cold water and pat dry. Mix all of your spices and garlic in a bowl with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. I sprinkle additional salt and pepper on the skin before hand but it's optional. After you've mixed them together, lay your wings flat and rub the mixture all over the outside of the chicken then turn it over and do the same to the other side. You're going to get really personal with your chicken, making sure you get inside the creases of the wings and legs. 

Then add lemon slices and your rosemary to the inside. I know that the spice package already contained rosemary and garlic but again, that wasn't intended for a whole chicken, and in my opinion you can never have too much of either one of those things. At this point you can tie the legs together with twine to really lock in the flavor. Unfortunately, I'm not the kind of person that has twine laying around her house, and if I did my son would probably have already used it to tie me up.

One EXTREMELY important detail of this operation is that you cannot put your chicken sitting directly on the bottom of the crock pot. There's a lot of juice coming off of it and if you don't set it on top of something the whole thing will fall apart (see disaster story number 3 above). If your crock pot came with a roasting rack, great. If not you have a few of options. The first is to lay it on a bed of carrots, celery and onions. The second is to grab some foil, form them into small balls (a little bit larger than a golf ball) and lay those on the bottom of your crock pot. The third is to put a microwave safe dish on the bottom. That's the option I went with. 

Lay the chicken on top and then cover it with additional lemon pieces and rosemary sprigs. 

Put the top on and cook it on high for 5-6 hours or low for 8-9 hours. Again, this all depends on the size of your chicken and how quickly your crock pot cooks things. If you're home brush some more olive oil on the top half way through cooking and make sure there's no pieces of your chicken sticking to the sides of the crock pot. 

Once your chicken has reached an inside temperature of at least 165 degrees you're all set. At this point you can stick it under the broiler for 5-10 minutes to get a more golden skin, or you can simply take it out of the crock pot once it's reached an inside temperate of 150 degrees and finish cooking it in your oven. If you do this put it in a roasting pan and then cook it for 400 degrees for about 30 minutes. Because I was home (and hungry) that's what I did and I also added some carrots and celery in the pan along with the chicken. You're chicken will be tender due to the fact its been roasting for hours so be very careful when removing it from the crock pot. If it falls apart a little just go with it, that's what makes it so good.

Pour the juices in the bottom of the crock pot CAREFULLY into a pot on the stove. You can add a little cornstarch/water mixture if you want to thicken the sauce or just leave it be. Adjust the flavor adding more spices to your liking and then pour on top of the chicken once it's done cooking. 

The best part is there's so much you can do with the left overs. You worked hard to make that chicken so don't let it go to waste. 

{DISCLAIMER: Always wash your hands, counter, sink, etc. when handling raw meat. I am not responsible if you decide not to hardcore disinfect any surface raw meat has touched and you cannot sue me if you or someone else gets sick. I am also not responsible if you don't have a meat thermometer and decide to wing it as far as if your chicken is cooked or not. If you eat or serve raw chicken you will get sick, and it will not be my fault. It will be yours. Because you ate raw chicken.) 

Arroz con Pollo

I've only read one gluten free blog and it started out with some lady talking about how she spent her morning out in the garden picking fresh herbs for her roasted chicken while she watched the fog roll in over the mountains. I stopped right there and haven't read a gluten free blog since. I don't even think I've read a blog since period. I'm 99.9% sure they aren't all like that (I never say 100) but I just can't take a lady who spends her mornings picking fresh herbs from her garden, wearing what I can only assume is a pastel colored J.Crew sweater with gardening gloves and shears to match, seriously. My 4 year old had just colored himself from head to toe in marker and this lady was watching fog. 

 
I'm sure when I'm older with no kids hanging on to me (or coloring all over themselves and my carpet) and a husband who has the need to eat every 5 minutes I'll feel differently. But for now that woman and her blog just isn't my cup of tea. And lord knows said woman drinks a lot of cups of tea.
With that being said, I get that I'm probably not her cup of tea either. I'm more of that "oh hey, I just saw your child having a meltdown in aisle 7 and you're still trying to cook a reasonably priced, somewhat healthy dinner...I got you" cup of Pinot Grigio. Or bottle. This is more of that kind of recipe. To either spice up your night or to burn your kids mouths for throwing a fit in aisle 7 (kidding of course). 
But if you're all about it gardening lady, then by all means grab those paisley print garden shears and head to your nearest cilantro plant!

Because even Lilly Pulitzer needed to escape sometimes.

I think that this dish would be better if you took a whole chicken and cut all of the parts. If you have the time, energy, and lack of gag reflux for that then I highly suggest it. I however have none of those things so I used chicken thighs. That alone was a huge accomplishment. PLEASE don't use breasts for this. I know you want to. So did I. But it's just not going to work out.  

Ingredients:  

1 package chicken thighs (about 5 thighs)  

1 tsp fresh ground pepper  

1 tsp kosher salt  

1 tbsp cumin  

1 tbsp chili powder  

1 clove garlic, minced 

1 bay leaf

2 tbsp olive oil  

2 1/2 cups water 

1 (14.5oz) can diced tomatoes, drained (I use the kind with green chilie's but you can use the ones without if you want to tone it down a little)  

1 package Sazon Goya WITH SAFFRON (Sazon Goya con azafron)  

1 10oz package Vigo yellow rice (Let me just tell you- I have an OBSESSION with this rice. My best friend and I ate it every day for a year straight when we were in high school. Every. Day.) 

1 frozen bag of peas 

1/2 of a lime

Cilantro for garnish

Directions:  

Remove chicken thighs from package, wash and pat dry. Please don't be that person who doesn't wash their chicken thighs. 
Cut off any excess fat but do NOT cut off skin. 
Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a deep set frying pan.
Season thighs with salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder, and garlic. Brown in pan for 2-3 minutes on each side. DO NOT COOK, just brown. They will cook all the way with the rice.

Add 2 1/2 cups water, your drained can of diced tomatoes, 1 packet of Sazon Goya, and 1 bay leaf. Bring to a boil.

Add your Vigo yellow rice and continue to boil for 1 minute. Stir it all around, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove lid, add peas, and stir then replace lid and simmer for an additional 10 minutes. 

Your rice should be fully cooked and your chicken should easily pull back with a fork and have no pink. 

Remove chicken and pour rice into a large serving bowl. Add chicken pieces on top. 

Squeeze half of a lime on top and garnish with cilantro. 

There are so many things you can do to this recipe to make it your own. Add green olives, shred the chicken, on and on and on. I never got to the pea's because I wasn't prepared to fight that battle with my son. Have you ever attempted to pick out every single pea from a rice dish? It's just not worth it.