Growing up with a younger sister, I always chuckled when my mom's friends would comment about their sons constantly being hungry--and eating. Well, now that I think about it, that still holds true as the pictures I tend to see most often on social media posted by these now adult men are of food.
Now I have two growing boys at my house. Oh and did I mention they are both playing soccer in addition to football and those schedules overlap? Thankfully soccer games happen during the week on the same field as football practice does so there will be some schedule maneuvering and apologies to coaches ahead of time (we're not the only family that overlaps both and it's our 3 year doing this with my older son). This means our dinners will need to be on the go at least 75% of the time during the week, quick and easy AND filling.*
Last week I found myself with an almost empty fridge, a few random items in the pantry, leftover grilled chicken from the night before and two boys who swore they were going to starve to death if they didn't eat before practice.
The result? Chicken Tacos--to go.
Ingredients
1 1/2 generous cups of grilled chicken, diced
Taco Seasoning
1/4 cup of water
1 can refried beans
1 box or bag of Spanish or Mexican rice (I used Knorr's Spanish rice)
6 flour tortillas
Cheese of your choosing and any other accompaniments
Directions
Prepare rice and beans according to package directions as they will take the longest to cook.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees
In a saucepan over low heat, combine chicken, 2 tablespoons of taco seasoning and enough water to rehydrate the chicken and create a light sauce.
While the chicken is reheating, place tortillas in the microwave for 10-20 seconds to make them pliable: I actually just stopped the microwave just before the beans were ready and put the tortillas on a plate on top of the bowl.
Place each tortilla into a nonstick muffin cup. I have both the traditional round pan and the mini loaf pan and went for the loaf pan. Working quickly, create a shell with each tortilla. I promise, it's easier than it sounds and the shells don't have to be perfect!
Place 3-4 tablespoons of cheese at the bottom of each shell and put the pan into the preheated oven for about 5 minutes to crisp them up a bit and melt the cheese.
When shells are ready, add the chicken, rice, beans and any additional toppings that you like. I put the beans on top and only filled them 3/4 of the way to keep everything together and "avoid spillage." These got gobbled up immediately and of course, there was a round 2 AFTER practice.
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