Spicy Chicken And Rice Bake Better Homes And Gardens

The Secret Recipe Club has become one of my favorite blogging events. Each month I not only discover a new blog and try one of the recipes I find there, but I also meet many new blogger friends as well. This month Angie, my group's very helpful leader, assigned me Darned Near Domestic and as I started to read Kristy's posts I knew I found a wonderful source of family friendly recipes. Kristy is a very talented stay-at-home mom of two boys and she includes posts of craft projects and activities that are very kid friendly. I thought at first I would try one of her yummy breakfast recipes but when I read this recipe for spicy chicken and rice I knew it was what I was looking for. Not only does this recipe have a delicious list of ingredients but it is also from one of my favorite cookbooks, The Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook. When I checked out the recipe in the book I saw that it is listed as a low fat, health conscious recipe…even better. I added a little sour cream and chopped cilantro when I served it with big tortilla chips. They made great scoopers for this tasty dish. A little salad and a cold beer rounded out the meal.

I wanted to kick up the spices a bit (I wouldn't have if my grandchildren were coming to dinner) so I substituted a small can of roasted green chilies for the green pepper, used Rotel tomatoes and peppers instead of a regular can of chopped tomatoes and added a couple of pinches of red pepper flakes. I mixed into the mixture a cup of grated sharp cheddar cheese and added another cup to the top of the casserole. I guess it's not so low fat anymore, oops. Whatever…it was delicious and a dish that I will definitely make again. I hope you will visit Kristy's blog, Darned Near Domestic, because you will find many family friendly recipes there. I'm going to bake her chocolate raspberry thumbprints this weekend. Don't they sound wonderful? I'll let you know.

Spicy Chicken and Rice

2 to 2½ lbs meaty chicken pieces (or a rotisserie chicken)
½ cup chopped onion
½ cup chopped green sweet pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon cooking oil
1 14-1/2 oz can tomatoes, cut up
1 15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup tomato juice
1 cup frozen whole kernel corn
⅔ cup long grain rice
1 tsp chili powder
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp ground red pepper

Remove skin from chicken pieces, rinse; pat dry. Set aside.
In a large saucepan cook onion, sweet pepper, and garlic in hot oil till tender but not brown. Stir in undrained tomatoes, drained black beans, tomato juice, corn, uncooked rice, chili powder, salt and ground red pepper. Bring to boiling. Transfer mixture to a 3 qt rectangular baking dish. Arrange chicken pieces atop rice mixture.
Bake, covered, in a 375 degree oven for 50 minutes or till chicken is tender and no longer pink and rice is tender. Makes 6 servings.

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