Quick and Easy Chicken Taco Rice

Quick and easy recipes are my favorites. Recipes that don’t require a lot of cooking and heating up the house are always on the top of my list during the warmer months. Taco Rice is quick,easy and perfect for the summer months. Using precooked chicken, you can have this on the table within 30 minutes.

My friend Crystal introduced me to this recipe years ago when she had The Homemaker’s Homestead forum. Crystal has a large family and most of her recipes reflect the fact, but they are easy to adjust for your needs. When I first read the ingredients of the Taco Rice Recipe, I knew it was something I wanted to try. At that time we were still eating red meat, but over the years, I have changed the recipe for using chicken.

When I make this recipe, I normally cook a package of boneless, skinless chicken breast and roughly shred it. But last week when I made this, I cooked a whole chicken in the crock pot and picked the meat off the bones and froze what I needed for the day it would be used. If you are only cooking for 1 or 2 people, a package of chicken tenderloins would work perfectly.

I serve Taco Rice with tortilla chips and all the fixings for tacos.

Chicken Taco Rice

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cooked rice
• 3 cups of shredded chicken
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 TBSP butter
• 1 ½ TBSP taco seasoning (I use homemade, but 1 package of store bought will work)
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 cup salsa
• 1 cup shredded cheese
• Additional water or chicken broth may be needed

Directions:

Cook rice and set aside to cool enough to fluff. Fluffing the rice with a fork will keep it from mushing together when adding it to the other ingredients.

In a pan, add butter and sauté onion. Add tomatoes, salsa, taco seasoning, chicken, and rice and simmer for about 5 minutes. Add cheese at the end before serving. If needed, you can add a little water or chicken broth to the pot to keep everything from sticking to the bottom.

If you try this recipe, leave me a comment because I'd love to hear about it. Or if you just want to leave a comment and say, "HI!" do that because I'd love to hear from you either way.

Spicy Sausage Pasta

A cheesy, spicy pasta and polish sausage recipe. Instant pot directions included. With sausage, cheese and pasta what can go wrong?

I found this recipe from another blogger and when I read about it I knew it had to be good.

The thing about this recipe, you can adjust the spice to your likeness. The first time I made this, I started off with medium Ro-Tel but the second time, I made my version of Ro-Tel. I will have to say, it was much tastier the second time.

Another good thing about a pasta dish, you can choose whatever pasta you like. When it comes to choosing pasta at the store, I allow Jamie to pick whatever kind he thinks he'd like to try for dishes like this one.

Wondering how I made my Ro-Tel? I used a can of diced tomatoes and a half a can (small) of hot chilies. I mixed both in a bowl and let them sit overnight in the refrigerator. ~ Super yummy!  Yeah, we like our spice spicy!

~Spicy Sausage Pasta~

1 tbsp olive oil
1 lb smoked sausage
1½ cups diced onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups chicken broth
1 can Ro-Tel tomatoes with green chilies
½ cup heavy cream
8 oz Rotini pasta
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

In an oven-safe pan over medium high heat add oil, sausage and onions and cook until lightly browned. Add garlic and cook for a minute more.  Add broth, tomatoes, cream, pasta, salt and pepper and stir. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer until pasta is tender about 11-12 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in ½ cup cheese. Top with remaining cheese and broil until cheese is  golden brown and bubbly.

** I wanted to add, I DID NOT broil my pasta. With the heat we've had, I'm not willing to crank up the oven just for broiling. But, I did top the pasta with cheese and put the lid back on for a couple of minutes, to give it time to melt and become yummy gooey.

Instant Pot Directions:

Heat pot on the saute setting. Saute sausage, onion, and garlic until brown. Switch over to Manual setting and set the time for 4 minutes. Add the liquids and pasta  and stir. Put the lid on and lock. Cook for 4 minutes and do a quick vent. Open the lid and add the salt, pepper, and cheese. Stir and close the lid and let sit for a minute or two so the cheese can melt.
I found four minutes to be long enough for my pasta, but if you need it longer. Turn the cooker back on for another 2-3 minutes. Remember pasta will become mushy if over cooked. Do a quick vent to help in not overcooking.

Coleslaw Chicken Wraps

This is perfect for lunch or a light supper, dinner, whatever you call that evening meal in your home. It is quick and easy to make and if you have your chicken precooked and sliced, it is even quicker to make when you are in a hurry.

I found this recipe on On the Homefront website. Actually, Nancy posted a link to it on her Facebook page and it popped up in my news feed and my mouth began watering.

I was a little concerned when I saw the recipe called for a poppy seed dressing. Since poppy seeds tend to show opiates in drug testing, I knew I would not be able to make the recipe with this dressing. I asked Nancy about substituting the dressing and she recommended any creamy dressing. So that is what I did; I found a bottle of Nature Valley Creamy Parmesan Dressing while grocery shopping. My husband loves Parmesan so I knew this would probably work for us. To me, Parmesan has a strong taste so I used a little ranch dressing to cut the strong cheesy taste. OH. MY. WORD. The two mixed together is AWESOME. My husband told me this recipe reminds him of the Hawaiian Chicken Sandwich at the sandwich shop in town. ~ That's a good thing!

Hint, Hint, Hint... be sure to DRAIN your pineapple very well or you'll have a juicy wrap. ~See my photo~ Also, I had on hand the fajita size tortillas for fajita night. Burrito size tortillas would work better.

         

 Coleslaw Chicken Wrap

1 bottle    Creamy Parmesan Dressing
1 cup       Ranch Dressing
2 lbs       Chicken breast
1 package     Coleslaw mix  (14oz)
1 can       Pineapple tidbits, drained
1             Sweet red pepper, finely chopped ( I used a green pepper)
8            Tortillas
Salt and Pepper to taste

Marinate the chicken in 1 cup of the dressing for one hour. (I used only about ½ cup of the Parmesan dressing because my chicken pieces were small) Drain and discard the marinade. Lightly coat your grill with oil and grill the chicken for 6-8 minutes per side or until done. Let stand for 5 minutes before slicing.

In a large bowl, combine the pineapple, coleslaw mix, red/green pepper and the remaining dressing (½ cup Parmesan dressing and ½ cup Ranch dressing); toss to coat. 

Divide among the tortillas; top with chicken. Roll up tightly and chow down. :)