An artist has to eat! Hell, we all do! You've gotta keep up your strength, energy, and creativity! Not to mention your sanity in these troubling times. To do that, everybody knows you need rest, recreation, and of course ... a good meal! Times are tough, not everyone has a lot of money to go around and food bills can be insane for many homes and households.
Now, not everyone is an artist, but we all need to eat! As everyone who knows me also knows that I live a quiet life and I enjoy cooking. Today, I'm starting this new blog series called "Modest Meals" because I want to share some of the simple, yet delicious meals that my husband Kevin and I make and that can easily fit into any budget.
(I want to give a shout out to one of my good friends, the fabulous Ms. McGee, who has been reminding me that I haven't posted this recipe she's been anticipating, so here goes!)
What you need for this meal is simple for the main ingredients:
Chicken breasts
Black beans
White rice
Olive Oil
Adobo seasoning (yellow label) or whatever seasoning you like
Side Note: I love Seminole Swamp Seasoning, but I can never find it at my local Publix anymore. I love this stuff and I always used to cook with it. Anyone who has ever tried it knows that it's freakin' amazing!
You can get it at:
I just realized in writing this blog that there is a website to order if your local grocery store doesn't carry it. YAAS!
Now, depending on your servings, you can create whatever portions of this meal you require based on your family size, etc. Since it's just Kevin and I, we tend to only eat one meal a day, so we always have bigger portions. You'll notice that as we go through the weekly blog entries for our meals. I also use a LOT of olive oil in just about everything.
This meal is pretty simple and so is the way to prepare it. You get your chicken breasts and trim them, cut off the fat and ickies to get them ready. We always gently rinse our chicken in cool water because that water that chicken comes in the packaging? Bleh. It's awful. Don't look it up online to see what it is. Just gently rinse the chicken and get rid of it.
(Some people say not to rinse because it splashes everywhere and the risk of salmonella, etc. Just get a nice lemon scented Lysol spray and clean up after meal prep and rinse it gently. It's all good.)
Once I've trimmed, cleaned, and rinsed the chicken, I put it into a gallon Ziploc bag, seal it, get a flat metal meat tenderizer and just pound it a little to flatten it some. Don't wallop the crap out of the bird meat. Just flatten it some. Then, take them out and put them in a glass baking dish. Pour some olive oil over one side, generously sprinkle with Adobo or whatever seasoning you prefer, and turn them over. Do the same to the other side. Put a bit more oil and water in the glass baking dish, enough to have the water/oil about half way or a little more up the sides of the meat.
Bake at 385 degrees for approx 40 minutes or until the chicken is over 165 degrees internal temperature. Check it with a cooking thermometer. Don't mess around. Cook your meat!! Always!
About 20 minutes before the chicken is due to be done, get the rice and beans ready. You can get plain black beans or those seasoned ones. I tried it with both. I like the seasoned, but see what you think! It's just onion and garlic powder anyway, I read on the label. Put them in a small pot and just heat them up.
Any white rice preference is fine, of course, but I like organic white rice. Kevin and I are good with a cup of it, so we boil a cup and a HALF of water with olive oil and stir in the rice. Reduce heat to a simmer and let cook for 15 minutes in a covered pot. Stir when done.
(I have a friend who never knows how to make rice just right, so the general rule is a cup and a half of water to every cup of rice. It's always come out perfect for us that way.)
Then, when the chicken is done, I put the cooked meat on a cutting board and cut it down the center and then sideways into chunks. Of course, do it however you like, but I like chunks of chicken in this meal. We distribute the rice and beans evenly, give ourselves one chicken breast each, and mix quickly in a big bowl each while everything is hot. We put it in our dinner bowl and eat!
See? Easy! And delicious of course. It's the seasoning that gives it the flavor.
I hope you try to cook and enjoy this meal for yourself! I know there are tons and tons of recipe blogs and videos out there, but here at Delmari Books, a lot more goes into writing than just sitting in front of a computer all the time. Good nutrition is important and a healthy meal is very important to my creative process. Not only that, it's pleasing to be able to just have something simple and delicious and then get back to enjoying life!
Check back weekly for another recipe! There are plenty more where this came from and I know you're going to love what other delicious Modest Meals we have for you!
Ciao for now! Thanks for reading!
Joseph & Kevin