Crock pots are an amazing invention….and have only been around for about 44 years, which actually blew my mind. They make prepping dinner for the week almost effortless. When school starts to get crazy, I turn into a typical college student and feel as if I don’t have the time to be creative in the kitchen on a nightly basis. Enter in the trusty crock pot. With just a few ingredients, 6 (unattended!) hours, and one crock pot, you can have a weeks worth of dinner ready by the end of the day. Last week I decided to go for a Mexican approach, so I gathered up the ingredients I needed and had on hand, threw on some traditional salsa music (Guaguanco Mania — great song, thanks Spotify), and set to work…for all of 4 minutes, then it was done. As canned foods can tend to be higher in sodium, I chose to drain and rinse the black beans and corn, but I promise it didn’t take away from the taste. Recipe below, as per usual.
Mexican Crock Pot Chicken
Ingredients:
1 package boneless, skinless chicken breasts (mine had 4 good sized pieces)
1 can salsa of choice
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can whole kernel corn, drained and rinsed
**Optional additions could also include: bell pepper, onion, tomato, or taco seasoning. I was crunched for time and didn’t feel like chopping anything up.
1) Place chicken breasts in bottom of crock pot. Dump the can of salsa on top of chicken.
2) Drain and rinse black beans before adding to crock pot.
3) Drain and rinse corn kernels before adding to crock pot.
4) Feel free to add in any additional ingredients to your crock pot concoction, the more the merrier!
5) Place lid on crock pot, set on low heat and allow to cook for 6-7 hours.
6) 30 minutes before its done, remove the lid, shred chicken with a fork, then replace lid and allow to cook for remaining 30 minutes.
7) Eat and enjoy!
Having the same meal day after day can get boring and redundant, so I made sure to enjoy mine a number of ways by mixing with some leftover couscous I had, serving it in lettuce wraps, or even mixing it up with some guacamole (personal favorite). Delicioso!
ciao down,
clara
