A recipe and a birthday!

Boy do I have a yummy recipe for you! I found this recipe for One-Pan Chicken Burrito Bowls over at No. 2 Pencil. Since we have a seriously lack of Chipotle here (sad face!), and we love Mexican food, I thought this would be a for sure winner in our house.

Pic from No. 2 Pencil, because I suck at taking pictures of my food.

I couldn't have been more right! This recipe is also super easy. 

Ingredients

2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut up into bite sized pieces

3 tbsp of olive oil

1/4 c of diced yellow onion

1 c of uncooked extra-long grain rice (we used brown rice because we had more of that)

1 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes, drained

1 15 oz can of black beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 tsp of garlic powder

1/2 tsp of chili powder

1 tsp of cumin

2 1/2 c of low-sodium chicken broth (could be a little less, actually)

2 c of shredded cheese (whatever you prefer, we used cheddar)

salt & pepper to taste

diced tomatoes, diced green onions, sour cream, and guac as toppers. 

Instructions

1. Saute onions in 2 tbsp of olive oil until translucent.

2. Season diced chicken with S&P, add chicken to pan and cook over medium heat until it's started to brown.

3. Move chicken to one side of pan. On the other side, add 1 tbsp of olive oil and saute uncooked rice for about 2 min or until it's a little brown. 

4. Stir in black beans, canned tomatoes, chicken brown, garlic powder, chili powder, and cumin.

5. Bring to simmer then reduce to low heat.

6. Cook about 20 min or until rice is tender and some of the broth has cooked off. 

7. Sprinkle with cheese, let set for 2-3 min off heat for cheese to heat.

8. Garnish with green onion, tomato, sour cream or guacamole. 

It takes about 30 minutes from start to finish, and makes a lot. Travis had seconds, and there's enough for probably 2 more bowls. Emily ate everything but the chicken because she's weird and picky. Some days she likes certain foods, other days she doesn't. However, we will definitely be adding this to our recipe rotation. 

Speaking of Emily, today is her 3rd birthday! I don't know when that happened. How did 3 years go by so fast? This picture feels like it was yesterday:

We surprised Em this morning by hanging balloons on the outside of her door this morning. She was so surprised! I got a great picture of her shocked little face, and then she laughed and squealed! It was so cute. I hope she talks about it all day at school. We sent her with birthday cupcakes to share with her friends. Tonight we're having a BBQ with family, complete with a "Cinderella" cake as requested by the birthday girl. More pictures to come! 

Do you have any special birthday memories from your childhood?