Fun Recipe Friday: Arroz Con Pollo Y Frijoles

No, I don't speak Spanish!  I'm leaving this recipe up to someone else this week.  I'd like to introduce my guest recipe blogger this week, James Puisis.  He does recipe creating for Con-Agra foods and is sharing this delicious recipe with my readers today. Enjoy!

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Four Ways to Come Up with a Great Summer Meal

                It’s not uncommon to struggle with creating a new recipe for your next meal. If you’re like me you want to have things planned out because you have a family to feed. So how does one come up with ideas for the next meal? Here are four ways to come up with ideas for your next meal.

1.       Use Seasonal Ingredients – Different seasons offer different foods to form the basis of your next recipe. Using seasonal ingredients helps to keep your food fresh and spurs creativity. For instance there are a number of great tomato recipes that can be made with fresh in season tomatoes.         There is much evidence to support the idea that using seasonal ingredients in your meals actually makes you feel better during each season. When coming up with a new meal first ask yourself what ingredients you will use.

2.       How Many are You Feeding – Before making a recipe always make sure you have a sense of how many people you will be feeding. The size and potions that you will need to feed a group certainly determines what sort of recipe that you should make. Different recipes fit different audiences and audience sizes. Build your meal around the how many people you are feeding.

3.       Listen to Your Taste Buds – Let your taste buds be your guide. Once you have a sense of seasonal ingredients and how many people you are feeding, your taste buds are actually a really good source for leading you in the right direction with your next your recipe. Listen to what sounds good to you for your next meal.

4.       Research and Experiment – In order to come up with new ideas sometimes it is best to gets some inspiration from other sources. Do research and find new ways of coming up with recipes. Eventually these ideas will start to form your own. Also experiment around on your own. Experimentation helps you practice and gives you expose to new ideas for your next meal.

Here is a recipe for your next meal:

Arroz con Pollo y Frijoles

Ingredients

·         2-1/2 pounds chicken thighs

·         1 teaspoon garlic salt

·         1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

·         PAM® Original No-Stick Cooking Spray

·         1 cup long-grain rice, uncooked

·         2 cans (10 oz each) Ro*Tel® Original Diced Tomatoes & Green Chilies, undrained

·         1 can (14 oz each) reduced-sodium chicken broth

·         1 can (16 oz each) Rosarita® No Fat Traditional Refried Beans

·         1/2 cup shredded Oaxaca, Chihauhau or Mexican blend cheese (1/2 cup = 2 oz)

Directions:

1.       Season chicken with garlic salt and pepper. Spray large skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium-high heat until hot. Place chicken, skin side down, in skillet. Cook 7 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Remove chicken from skillet.

2.       Add rice to skillet. Brown rice in pan drippings over medium heat about 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add undrained tomatoes and broth; blend well. Place chicken on top of rice. Bring to a boil.

3.       Reduce heat; cover and simmer 20 minutes or until rice is tender and chicken is no longer pink. Remove chicken from skillet; keep warm. Drop beans by tablespoons onto rice; sprinkle with cheese. Heat an additional 5 minutes or until beans are hot a

This post is written on behalf of Ro*Tel. For more easy summer recipes visit www.ro-tel.com. 

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