Mexicana Bowl

If you know me, you know I'm a meal planner. I hate it, but I do it because it saves me money and I don't have to think about what's for dinner every night.  Whenever I do my meal planning and huge grocery shopping trip I always make sure that dinner that night is quick and easy.  Somehow grocery shopping always zaps my energy and makes me a little moody (I blame Costco and all the old people/kids that stop for samples)

While Sully and I did our epic grocery trip I made sure to get something quick and easy for lunch and came up with a simple dinner idea. When Jason and I started dating, he came over once and had one of my family's fave quick dinners and it soon became one of his favorites. Nothing fancy, but super easy and tasty.

Crispy Chicken Ceasar Salad

• 1 lb of chicken strips (we get the spicy ones because they have less breading)  
• 2 bags of Light Ceasar Salad Mix

Chop up your chicken and mix it in with your salad mix. I have to make a double batch because my husband and daughter love it, and it's just way too easy!

But back to why I started writing this post. My girlfriend Lindsey made these yummy wraps when we went camping together. I took her idea and changed it a bit and came up with a new dinner. I got a stamp of approval from the hubs and D was "ok" with it but not a fan of the "green leaves" in it ;)

The Mexicana Bowl

 Grab your crockpot, a slow cooker liner (because they're genius!), carne asada and your favorite marinade (I used Lawry's Steak and Chop)

Toss in the meat in your crock and cover in marinade. Cook on low 4-5 hours.

 Now that it's all cooked, it's time to chop it all up. 

Get the rest of your ingredients for the rice portion of the dish. (Brown rice, black beans, cilantro, cumin, salsa)

Microwave or cook your brown rice. Chop up your cilantro (I used about a 1/3 of this bunch) Place rice in a bowl, add cilantro, 3/4 cups of black beans, cumin to taste and 1/2 cup of Salsa and mix together. 

Now the fun part. There are lots of ways you can eat it. You can take your rice mixture, chopped up steak and place it in a bowl and top with sour cream, avocado and more salsa. (That's what we did)

 Or you could take all of the same ingredients and put it in a tortilla or make a lettuce wrap. I didn't want to waste extra calories on a tortilla so I did without and still thought it was delish. D wasn't a fan of the cilantro...because she's 5 and picky. Sully on the other hand loved the rice mixture and avocado.

Mexicana Bowl

• 1 lb of carne asada (this made a double batch for leftovers)
• a bottle of your favorite steak marinade (Lawry's Steak and Chop)
• Brown rice (i cheated and used Uncle Ben's 90 second version)
• Fresh Cilantro, chopped (1/3 of bunch)
• 3/4 cup of Black Beans
• 1/2 cup Salsa (i used Jason's Uncle Tab's famous homemade salsa)
• Cumin, to taste
• Avocado
• Sour Cream
• Salsa for topping

Grab your crock and add meat and marinade, cook on low 4 to 5 hours. Take your cooked meat and chop it up.  While chopping, cook your brown rice. Place brown rice in bowl. Add chopped cilantro, black beans, cumin to taste and your salsa. Mix together.  Now add the meat to the rice mixture and top with avocado, sour cream and salsa. 

This could easily be made with chicken. You could also add tomato, onion or cheese to the combination as well. I just used what was handy. Enjoy!

PS best part of this recipe is that you will have lots of meat leftover so it's great to use in other dishes...nachos, fajitas, just meat and a veggie side or steak salad :)

PSS what's your best advice for concurring the grocery shopping dragon?

Love,

Stace