My mom makes a dish she calls "Southwest Chicken." It consists of chicken, browned and then baked (covered in fiesta-style shredded cheese), pasta (generally something hollow like penne or ziti), black beans, Rotel, and topped with more cheese. It's delicious, and we'll usually eat it with a cheesy bread (we love cheese).

I took a twist with the Southwest Chicken dish and made it into a quicker, take-it-to-lunch recipe, by using boil-in-bag brown rice and canned chicken. Check it out below.

Southwest Chicken and Rice (TWO SERVINGS)

Ingredients-
1 bag of microwavable brown rice
1 can of chicken breast in water
1/4 packet of Southwest Seasoning
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil (or olive oil)
1 can of black beans
1 can of Rotel (or similar crushed tomatoes with mild peppers, to taste)
1/2 cup of shredded fiesta-style cheese

Directions-
Cook brown rice per direction. I usually cover with water and cook in the microwave for 12 minutes (as opposed to 10) to make sure it's good and done.
While rice is cooking, drain canned chicken. Place chicken in skillet with oil and top with Southwest Seasoning. (This can be done to taste. I used about 1/4 of the paper packet). Cook chicken until nice and browned.

Once rice and chicken are done, place rice into two separate containers (Tupperware, Rubbermaid, whatever). Top each with one-half of cooked chicken. Top Chicken with black beans and cheese.

Now, lid it and stick it the fridge. You now have lunch for the next two days. I packed a separate, smaller container of Rotel. This way I can microwave my lunch and then top it with the cold Rotel, but you can do it however you like. It also tastes nice with sour cream on top.

Each serving of this is less than 400 calories, so enjoy!

xx,
K.