Knockoff

by Mara @ What's For Dinner? on January 12, 2010

in chicken/turkey,Mexican/Latin,simple recipe

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I had a rough morning. During one of my first classes of the day, the long-arm stapler I had in my room jammed. The first 3 times it happened, no problem… I unjammed it and the kids stapled their projects. The 4th time though, no such luck. The spring or something ricocheted the top of the stapler open which then smushed my left index finger.

It hurt, but I didn’t realize how badly it was cut until a student said “Um… Mrs. R? (I still can’t get used to that) You’re bleeding, like, a lot.” CRAP! I was! There’s about a 1 cm chunk of skin thats super damaged and gross, and a bruise a-forming. I kept saying all day I had a fight with the stapler and I lost. Since my left index finger is messed up, and I type properly, please excuse any type-os. I would’ve rather it been a red Swingline stapler…

In any case, tonight’s planned dinner was inspired by one of my favorite bloggers, Iowa Girl Eats (who, as a matter of fact, is giving away Amy’s Organics products) when she made her homemade Chipotle bowl. I love Chipotle, and as a matter of fact, a Chipotle post was one of my first posts ever! I’ve attempted a few times to make Chipotle knockoffs, but it always ended up tasting super “healthy”. I put together a few recipes into this glorious bowl:

Recipe 1: Cilantro Lime Rice (a la Iowa Girl Eats)

Cook rice (I made 2 cups of uncooked rice for 4 cooked cups of rice. HOORAY leftovers!). Add 1/3 c. chopped cilantro, the juice of one and a half limes, and 1 Tbsp. butter. Mix well, keep warm.

Recipe 2: Chili-Lime Chicken

Marinate boneless skinless chicken breasts in the juice of 3 limes, 2 Tbsp. chili powder, 1 Tbsp. olive oil, 1/2 Tbsp. garlic powder. Cook thoroughly and chop into bite-sized pieces.

Recipe 3: Spicy Black Beans

Heat 1 Tbsp. olive oil in a small pot. Add 1/2 an onion, diced small. Add one can of drained black beans, 1 Tbsp. chili powder, and 1/2 tsp. red chili flakes. Simmer a minute, then add 1 c. broth. Simmer another few minutes. Keep warm.

In my grandma’s surprise bowl, I assembled: 3/4 c. cilantro lime rice, one chopped chicken breast, 1/2 c. black beans, 1/4 c. fresh salsa from the local market, 2 Tbsp. reduced fat cheese, 2 Tbsp. fat free sour cream, 1/2 chopped avocado

I was so sad when this was gone…it was even better than the last Chipotle bowl I had, and I knew that all the ingredients were fresh and healthy! I have a smaller one packed for lunch tomorrow, and Adam definitely enjoyed it as well.

I rounded out my meal with a small treat of 1/2 c. of reduced fat pumpkin ice cream with a few chocolate chips in my tiny CaliBowl: