Grilled Chicken with Black Bean Salsa

I discovered this chicken with black bean salsa last spring. It is one of my absolute favorite ways to prepared chicken on the grill. The rub combines hot sauce, brown sugar, garlic, salt, and pepper for a sweet-spicy flavor that is perfectly complemented by the texture and acid in the black bean salsa. Not only is it delicious, it's super quick to fix and healthy too!

First, I combined the salsa ingredients. It's just a can of black beans, drained and rinsed, 8 oz. drained, crushed pineapple, 1/2 a red onion, a plum tomato, a clove of garlic, lime juice, and salt and pepper. Not only is it delicious on this chicken, you'll love it with tortilla chips too.


Now for the rub. Super simple, it's brown sugar, hot pepper sauce, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Give it a stir to combine.


I cleaned a package of chicken breasts and cut them into 4 oz. portions. Then I divided the rub evenly among the chicken.


They don't call it a rub for nothin'. So rub!



Grill the chicken breast over medium heat, about 4 minutes per side or until juices run clear. Serve topped with the black bean salsa (and chips, if you like).


Chicken with Black Bean Salsa from Taste of Home's Light and Tasty Magazine

1 can (15 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (8 ounces) unsweetened crushed pineapple, drained
1 small red onion, chopped
1 plum tomato, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper
RUB:
1 tablespoon Domino® or C&H® Pure Cane Dark Brown Sugar
1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (4 ounces each)

For salsa, in a large bowl, combine the first eight ingredients; refrigerate until
serving. Combine the brown sugar, pepper sauce, garlic powder, salt and pepper;
rub over both sides of chicken. If grilling the chicken, coat grill rack with
cooking spray before starting the grill. Grill chicken, covered, over medium heat
or broil 4 in. from the heat for 4-7 minutes on each side or until juices run
clear. Serve with salsa.

Yield: 4 servings.

One serving: 1 chicken breast half with 3/4 cup salsa Calories: 269 Fat: 3 g Saturated Fat: 1 g Cholesterol: 63 mg Sodium: 710 mg Carbohydrate: 31 g Fiber: 5 g Protein: 29 g Diabetic Exchange: 3 very lean meat, 1-1/2 starch, 1/2 fruit.

Weight Watcher's Points: 5 per serving! Love this recipe. Low in points, big in flavor!

Meal Plan and Grocery List 4/27- 5/3

This weekend has been absolutely beautiful and consequently seems to have flown by. I can't believe that's it's already Sunday night and time to post another meal plan. According to last week's meal plan tonight I was supposed to make Quick Fettuccine Cacciatore. I didn't want to waste a minute of the finally-nice weather. So instead of cooking, we took a family bike ride, played some corn hole in the driveway, blew bubbles, and ran around the back yard laughing. Like I say in the guide to meal planning, the plan does have to be flexible. I have a feeling this flexibility will come into play more often as the weather gets warmer and evening plans become more spontaneous. For now, I've got a plan in place for the week ahead and here it is:

Monday April 27th

Chicken with Black Bean Salsa

Tuesday April 28th

Spaghetti and Garlic Bread
I love the way this Spaghetti with meatballs from Reeni at Cinnamon and Spice and Everything Nice looks. If I have time, I may try it this week.

Wednesday April 29th

Taco Salad

Thursday April 30th

Minestrone with Tuscan Polenta Bread

Friday May 1st

Make Your Own Pizza

Saturday May 2nd

Hotdogs and Marshmallows around the firepit

Sunday May 3rd (Brunch)

Onion Pie
Romaine and Orange Salad with Poppyseed Dressing

Grocery List

Produce

red onion
medium white or yellow onion
2 sweet onions
bunch of green onions
garlic
lime
mushrooms
head of lettuce
romaine
2 tomatoes
spinach
celery

Meat

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 lb. Italian turkey sausage
1 lb. lean ground beef
pancetta or 9 slices of bacon
6 slices of bacon

Dairy

reduced fat cheddar
light sour cream
half and half
egg substitute
2 eggs
butter

Dry Goods

brown sugar
spaghetti (I used whole wheat pasta)
1 pkg taco seasoning
Baked Doritos
soup pasta
cornmeal
flour
sugar
baking soda
salt
sliced almonds
rosemary
garlic powder
Italian seasoning
mustard powder
poppy seeds

Canned Goods

15 oz. black beans
8 oz. crushed pineapple
hot pepper sauce
Spaghetti sauce
2-15 oz. cans kidney beans
black olives
salsa
Western salad dressing
42 oz. beef broth
15 oz. garbanzo beans
1 can stewed tomatoes
11 1/2 oz. can vegetable juice
6 oz. tomato paste
olive oil
8 oz. dried tomatoes in oil
fat free evaporated milk
cider vinegar

Freezer

Garlic bread
Italian blend vegetables
9 in. pie shell

Grill Baby, Grill!

Friday night is traditionally make your own pizza night in our house. Then today dawned beautiful and sunny and the temperatures climbed to all of 80 degrees! It snowed here just a couple of weeks ago! The sidewalks were packed with people getting out and moving, the streets were filled with happy citizens cruisin' with their radios up and their windows down, warm breezes blowing through their hair. There was definitely a shake-off-that-winter-blues carefree spring happiness in the air. No way were we wasting it assembling pizzas, while hovered over the oven. We're a backyard livin', grillin' out family and it felt GOOD to be back!

This meal was nothing fancy. I thawed some brats earlier today. I needed to throw together a pasta salad for a church dinner tomorrow and it was perfect alongside those brats. I rounded out the meal with Bush's Grillin' Beans, the Steakhouse variety. We love those beans! I'm also pretty fond of the Bold and Spicy variety too. The whole dinner was a treat. I could just about do a happy dance thinking about it all now.

I hope that beautiful weather finds all of you this weekend too!

Tuna Cakes

After last night's involved and indulgent burritos, I needed something quick and easy and a little lighter tonight. Some of you may remember that I'm not the biggest fan of canned tuna from my Spicy Tuna Linguine post. And you may also remember that my husband does little to disguise his distaste for "all things fish" if you read my fish taco post. Tonight, while I was mixing this up, he wandered through the kitchen and asked aloud, "I wonder what possesses someone to see that recipe and actually want to try it." These tuna cakes were pretty tasty. If you liked the tuna patties that your mom used to make, you'll probably like these better. And everyone ate them...without complaint. Not too shabby. Confession: though I despise that aquatic little twerp Sponge Bob Square Pants, and have seriously tried to ban him from our home, I may have employed Sponge Bob to entice my 4 year old to eat these, by calling them "crabby patties". Whatever works, right?

I found this simple recipe in Kraft Food and Family magazine. All you need is 12 oz. of white tuna in water, a package of stuffing, a cup of cheese, a carrot or two, some mayonnaise (I apologize for the state of my mayo container, it took a soak in the cooler after our last picnic),and some sweet relish.


Combine all of the ingredients in the bowl. Add 3/4 cup of water and mix well. Then cover and refrigerate for 10 minutes.


Heat a skillet coated with cooking oil or non-stick cooking spray and place 1/3 cup portions of the tuna mixture onto the skillet, forming cakes.



Gently flatten using a spatula. Cook 3 minutes on each side until golden brown. I followed my husbands lead and sprinkled mine with Frank's Red Hot. Very nice.



Tuna Cakes from Kraft Food and Family

Prep Time: 10 min
Total Time: 26 min
Makes: 6 servings

Ingredients:
2 cans (6 oz. each) light tuna in water, drained, flaked
1 pkg. (6 oz.) STOVE TOP Stuffing Mix for Chicken
1 cup KRAFT Shredded Mild Cheddar Cheese
3/4 cup water
1 carrot, shredded
1/3 cup KRAFT Real Mayo Mayonnaise
2 Tbsp. CLAUSSEN Sweet Pickle Relish

Directions:

MIX all ingredients. Refrigerate 10 min.

HEAT large nonstick skillet sprayed with cooking spray on medium heat. Use ice cream scoop to add 1/3-cup portions of tuna mixture, in batches, to skillet.

FLATTEN into patties with back of spatula. Cook 6 min. or until golden brown on both sides, carefully turning patties over after 3 min.


Nutrition Information: Calories 320, Total fat 17 g, Saturated fat 5 g, Cholesterol35 mg, Sodium 810 mg, Carbohydrate 24 g, Dietary fiber 1 g, Sugars 3 g, Protein 19 g, Vitamin A 35 %DV Vitamin C 0 %DV Calcium 15 %DV Iron 10 %DV

Weight Watchers Points: 8 pts for 2 cakes. Use lowfat mayo and reduce fat cheese to shave fat grams and a point or two.

Cheesy Beef and Bean Burritos: For Here OR To Go

Part One: For Here



Some of my readers may remember my post titled How to Make Your Man Love You More: Philly Cheese Mac. This recipe also qualifies for the How to Make Your Man Love You More Category. It was so good, so cheesy, so delicious. Everyone at our table adored it. The idea for this post was actually inspired by my good friend Amy. I called her up during the long 5 1/2 hour drive home from our visit to Indiana. Don't worry mom, both hands were on the wheel, I was using my bluetooth! Our conversation turned to grocery shopping. We were joking that if we allowed our husbands to do the household shopping, we'd have a freezer full of those individually wrapped burritos.



Then she said, "That's what you should make for your blog! You should figure out how to make those." Hmm. I thought, maybe I will make burritos this week. I've made tacos, fajitas, quesadillas, enchiladas, and chimichangas, but I've never made burritos. I set out to create the perfect burrito recipe for a crowd or for one.

I began by melting 5 tablespoons of butter in a skillet.



Then I chopped half of a very large onion and 1/3 cup of green pepper.



Add to the butter and cook until tender.



Then stir in 1/2 cup of flour.



Next, I gradually added 3 cups of beef broth. I just drained the liquid from my canned beef. Cook and stir until smooth and thickened.



Next I stirred in a can of tomatoes with green chilies.



Add in a seeded and diced jalapeno pepper, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, and salt. Stir and simmer for about 5 minutes.



I also added a can of Hormel chili and 8 oz. of cream cheese, cubed. Cook and stir until the cream cheese is melted.




Now for the beef. You'll need about 8 cups of shredded beef. You can roast or cook your own beef. This would be a good recipe if you had lots of leftover beef roast. I have an abundance of home canned beef, so I used that. Pressure cooked in the jar, it's extremely tender and flavorful. It was perfect in this recipe.



Go ahead and shred the beef.



Now add the beef to the sauce and cook until heated through. If you must, taste it now. A little sneak preview of how delicious these burritos are going to be.



Now we're ready for assembly. You'll want to start with flour tortillas. I had quite an assortment. A couple of half used packages were chillin' in my fridge and I needed to use them up. Then, I picked up a new package at the grocery earlier this week. Good thing! This recipe makes quite a few burritos. I used them all!



I believe that a good burrito needs a bean element present. So I gave each tortilla a nice bean schmear. That sounds appetizing, doesn't it?



It looks as appetizing as it sounds. We're going for flavor here, people...it's not a beauty contest.



Next, I topped with a blend of cheddar and monterrey jack cheese. I didn't measure, I just "eye-balled" it. You can buy Jack and Cheddar already mixed together. I happened to have a couple bags of each in my fridge, so I mixed them in a bowl.



Add about 1/2 cup of the beef mixture to each tortilla.



I rolled each burrito up, with the ends tucked in, and placed them seam side down in a baking dish. I sprinkled with some extra cheese before I popped them into a 350 degree oven for 35-40 minutes.



Here is the result:


Let's lean in for a closer look... Have mercy! It's pure burrito bliss! I'm not kidding.


Part Two: To Go

Sure, leftovers are good, but they only last a day or two. I decided to try my hand at mimicking a well-loved convenience food, the freezer burrito. To be honest, I've never eaten one. I know, what's wrong with me?! Well, if they taste like these, I might be inclined to spend the $2 plus dollars per burrito. For now, I know these are good and although I didn't add up the cost of my ingredients, I'd bet they're more cost effective too.

While my dish of dinner burritos baked, I continued to assemble burritos for individual packaging. I wrapped each burrito in waxed paper.



I wrapped them again in foil.



Then I sealed each with a label complete with cooking instructions and a little love.



I added one more safeguard against freezer burn, by placing them into a freezer bag and then I took them to our garage freezer. Perfect placement for my husband to grab one for his lunch on the way out the door to work.



I should note that if you are not feeling ambitious enough to assemble 24 (or more) burritos, you may want to cut this recipe in half.

Cheesy Beef and Bean Burritos

1/2 large onion or 1 medium onion, chopped
1/3 cup chopped green pepper
5 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups beef broth
1 can (10 ounces) diced tomatoes with green chilies
1 diced jalapeno pepper
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 can Hormel chili
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, cubed
8 cups beef, shredded
24 flour tortillas
6 cups shredded Monterrey Jack and Cheddar cheese blend
1 can refried beans

In a large skillet, saute onion and green pepper in butter until tender. Stir in
flour until blended. Gradually stir in broth. Bring to a boil; cook and stir
for 2 minutes. Reduce heat; add the tomatoes, jalapeno pepper, and
seasonings. Cook for 5 minutes or until heated through. Stir in chili and cream
cheese until cheese is melted. Stir in beef.

Spread some refried beans down the center of each tortilla. Sprinkle with 2-4 tablespoons cheese. Spoon about 1/2 cupful of beef mixture over the cheese.
Fold ends and sides over filling. Place into two greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking
dishes or wrap some burritos for individual servings (see below). Cover and freeze one casserole for up to 3 months. Cover and bake burritos at 350° for 35-40 minutes or until heated through. Serve with lettuce and sour cream.

Yield: 2 casseroles, 1 dozen burritos each or 1 casserole and a dozen individual frozen burritos.


For individual servings: Wrap each burrito in waxed paper, then aluminum foil. Freeze in a large resealable freezer bag for up to 3 months.

To reheat: Remove foil and waxed paper. Place one burrito on a microwave-safe plate. Cover with paper towel. Microwave on high for 2-1/2 to 2-3/4 minutes or until heated through, turning burrito over once. Let stand for 20 seconds.