Welcome to the Black Parade

It's Tuesday. You have the man hunger, but not enough time or energy to cook. So you think about cooking a standard grilled chicken, but it sounds so boring. No worries, it's the Vazquez sisters to the rescue! Try this recipe out to spice up a bland weeknight dinner:

Black Bean Chicken

Serves 3-4

Mariana learned this recipe at some point during college and it's always been a hit. Paula adopted it once she moved out of the house and it's also a favorite of hers. Best part? It's easy and requires very little actual cooking.

Ingredients:

• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 can of black beans, drained
• 1 small can of chunky salsa (We use Herdez' salsa "casera". We swear our dad buys it for us by the case)
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• Sour cream

Preparation:

Cut the chicken up into even pieces, about 2 inches big each. Season the chicken with salt, pepper, and garlic powder and then sautee in olive oil.

Once the chicken is cooked, but before it starts getting too dry, add in the beans, salsa, and most of the cilantro. Let simmer for a while. If it's too watery leave it uncovered, but if it has a good consistency, cover it. The chicken is cooked, so you can simmer for just a while, but long enough that the chicken soaks up the yummyness.

Serve the chicken with beans, add a dollop of sour cream on top, and sprinkle the cilantro over it. Tadah! One delicious meal without much effort. Can't ask for much more!

We apologize for a lack of picture on this one. It was so delicious we ate it all before we remembered to take one. Oops! But we certainly didn't forget your music!

Bon appetit! Buen provecho! Yummmmm!

Mariana and Paula

Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams

Ah, so I know it took me a week to do it, but I'm finally doing it! I'm posting that yummy recipe that I mentioned last week! I came up with this while my sister was away last week on her honeymoon and I was just cooking for one. This is a pretty quick fix but full of lots of flavor and nutrition! And if you are making it for more, just multiply the amounts as needed!

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients

• 1 chicken breast, thawed
• 1 can of black beans
• 1 small Roma tomato, diced
• 1 small avocado, sliced
• 4 Romain lettuce leaves
• Hummus of your choice (I used Trader Joe's tomato basil hummus)
• Gorgonzola crumbles (Feta crumbles would also go very well!)
• Seasoning for chicken
• 1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil ("EVOO"-Compliments of everyone's favorite (NOT) Rachel Ray)
• 1/2 tsp Garlic salt
• 1/2 tsp Fresh ground pepper
• 1/2 tsp Dried oregano

Preparation

Begin by cutting the chicken breast into about a half inch sections. Place chicken in a bowl and drizzle the EVOO over the chicken. Sprinkle the garlic salt, ground pepper and oregano and toss to cover the chicken well. Let marinate for about 15 minutes.
Grill chicken over medium heat on a skillet until it is no longer pink in the center. The good thing about slicing the chicken beforehand is that it cooks much quicker now. Be careful not to overcook it though! You want to make sure it is tender and juicy.
 Place the whole Romain leaves on a plate and spread a small amount of hummus on each one, about 1 tbsp. for each leaf. Next, add on a few slices of chicken (Now is a great time to a taste test of the chicken-for quality control purposes, of course!). Last, top each leaf with about a tablespoon of black beans, some of the diced tomato, a sprinkle of cheese crumbles and a few slices of avocado.

Starting with the top left and moving clockwise, you can see the layering of savory ingredients!

And that's it! You are ready to enjoy your delicious meal!

I actually ended up using only about half the chicken breast that I grilled and saved the rest for another quick meal for lunch the next day:
Take a pita, cut it in half and open up each half to create little pita pockets. Fill each half with your left over chicken, some black beans, diced tomatoes, sliced avocado and drizzle on a little dressing of your choice.

Your musical selection for this meal is a wonderful classic performed by an even more wonderful man!

Bon appetit! Buen provecho! Yum yum!

-Paula, the less tan and relaxed sister...