easy lime chicken taco meat with costa rican rice & beans :: recipe

As the end of the school year comes near I feel like we are all either getting bored with the same old rotation or are looking for easy dinner ideas to fit in to busy spring schedules. With this in mind I thought I’d share my favorite EASY to make recipe that is always a hit with my entire family.

Pay attention to the *asterisks* in the below ingredient lists as I give you some time saving cheats for a few of the items, if you want make those yourself go ahead these are just suggestions on how I save time in a pinch. Both of these recipes easily feed my family of 5 with leftovers, which makes for an easy lunch for me the next day.

Costa Rican Rice and Beans ::

• 4 cups cooked rice *I make 2 boil-in-a-bag packages and call it good
• 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 lime
• Cilantro to taste (if you don’t like cilantro leave this step out)

Take the cooked rice and fluff with fork. Mix in rinsed and drained black beans. Squeeze juice from 1/2 lime onto beans and rice, add chopped cilantro and mix well. Serve hot or cold.

Lime Chicken Taco Meat ::

• 1-2 lb rotisserie chicken meat, shredded or chopped to desired size *My local grocer even has packaged shredded rotisserie chicken from their deli that I just have to pick up and then give a little chop to it
• 1 lime
• Taco shells
• Lettuce
• Salsa
• Guacamole *find a prepackaged brand you like and save yourself the time of making your own
• Tomatoes
• Grilled onions *only if you have the time/inclination to add another ingredient into the mix
• Cilantro
• Shredded chihuahua cheese

Preheat a skillet on medium. Juice the lime into the skillet and add rotisserie chicken meat. Stir regularly until meat is completely heated.

That’s it.

I use this meat to make tacos, quesadillas, and taco salads for the various members of the family. The littlest one gets a quesadilla to save us from too big of a mess, his sisters get tacos or salads from the same ingredients. Use the salsa and guacamole as the “dressing” for your salads and just layer the rice and beans, chicken, salsa, guacamole, and any other toppings that fit your likes onto a generous layer of salad greens.

The best part of making this meal is that I’m spending about 15-20 minutes on prep and maybe 5 more dishing up all the different variations of ‘tacos’ for my family from this one set of easy to make ingredients.