let me introduce you to dump rice.

first round in cleaning out the pantry. i found some tequila in the bottom of the pantry, so i took a swig (ugh, mistake, im not as hardcore as my father) and thought of making a margarita chicken with some spanish rice. because, well, i had two boxes of instant rice and my cook book told me to.

as for the chicken,


INGREDIENTS:
chicken (i had the precut tenders, breasts work fine)
1/2 cup lime juice (i only used half a lime that was for some reason in a little baggy in the cheese drawer. i only realized it was for nick when we was digging around for it so he could put it in his corona. oops.)
2 tblsp olive oil
2 tblsp cilantro (i used the dried kind)
a few sprinkles of sugar
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp paprika
1.5 oz tequila (the other .5 went in my belly)



DIRECTIONS:

in a bowl, pour lime juice, olive oil, tequila, and spices until well blended. marinate the breasts at least 30 minutes, but no longer than 24 hours. cook them on a skillet over medium heat on each side until juices run clear. done!

and wait!
guess what!

it wasn't dry ass chicken! woo!











then, i made some spanish rice. now, betty crocker had a great recipe. easy, painless. but uh, i didnt have much of anything to work with. because i also haven't gone to the grocery store for anything. we dont even have sliced cheese. what! im cleaning out the food!

so i followed the next recipe as best as i could.


INGREDIENTS:

1

cup uncooked regular rice (i totally used one of those bag o' rice things)

1

medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)

2

tablespoons olive oil

cup water

1

can (14 ounces) diced tomatoes (woo! i have like four cans of that crap!)

1

small green bell pepper, chopped (nope, didnt have that.)

1 1/2

teaspoons salt

1tblsp chili powder 1 clove garlic, minced


DIRECTIONS:

in a large skillet, cook chopped onion and garlic until tender. okay, side note. i have one of those choppers that keeps everything so contained and neat. and i hate it. i cant put a damn layer of onion in there and chop it up without it sucking them up in the blade and getting stuck. so here i am, beating the shit out of the dang thing while nick is giving me the stink eye because he is engulfed in his Harry Potter book.

ugh, i hate it.

/rant

once the onion and garlic is cooked, add the chili powder. you'll know when you've put enough in there because you'll want to gouge your eyes out from pain. let that cook for about a minute. then add the rest of the ingredients. (water, salt, tomatoes, rice, etc) bring everything to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook, covered, for 20 minutes.

this is when i go digging in the pantry. "im sure there's some more crap i can throw in this rice to get rid of it." the only thing i found was corn. nick gave me a weird look when i took out a can of black eye peas i cant seem to get rid of.

so here is meal one. margarita lime chicken with dump rice. haha. nick loved it, he went back for seconds on the rice. but then again, spicy something with corn. everyone loves that.