Freezer Meals Day 9- Mystery Meal

Sweet mother of Abraham Lincoln this dish is good.  I tell you what, I think I am just going to turn this blog over to my husband.  His food is absolutely amazing!!  I've been in a "I don't want to cook cause my kitchen is a mess" mood this week.  I cleaned it all up and made some tamales earlier this week.  By the end of the tamale run, not only was my kitchen a mess, but so was the rest of my house.  I've never been good at cleaning as I go.  A trait I am trying to acquire.

By the time tamale day is over, I'm wiped out and don't feel like cleaning.  3 days later...I turn into a tornado. (after everyone and their mom has seen my messy house and I'm so embarrassed I finally decide to do something about it) I put the kids to bed and plow through the house cleaning every nook and cranny. Anyway... still feeling like I don't want to cook, my hubby decided to get creative tonight.  I had a few different dishes that I had on the list to try for this week, but just wasn't feeling it.  So we decided to switch gears and let Trever take a wack at a new dish.  And of course he passed with flying colors.  There are quite a few steps to this one, but they go pretty quick. Especially if you have the rice made up ahead of time. 

So here is the deal... We are not sure what to call this.  So we are going to have a contest.  Not sure what the winner will get.  Maybe just the satisfaction of naming one of my dishes.  We will see. But leave a post with your desired recipe name. Trever and I will choose and let you know. The contest will run until next Saturday the 14th.  Be sure to check in daily for all of the fun names!

Mystery Meal

Rice

½ pablano pepper seeded, ribbed and finely chopped

2 tsp minced garlic

1/8 large onion finely chopped

Salt to taste

2 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp olive oil

3 cups cooked rice *

1 tbsp lime juice

Heat oil in a pan, add pepper, garlic, onion, salt, and sugar. Saute until tender. 3-4 minutes.  Stir in cooked rice.  Add 1 tbsp lime juice.

Chicken Marinade-

3 tbsp lime juice

3 tbsp water

1 ½ tsp salt

½ pablano pepper (seeded, ribbed and finely chopped)

1 tbsp prepared minced garlic (not the dried minced)

1 tbsp sugar

2 lbs of chicken (raw and diced)

2 tbsp olive oil

 In a medium bowl combine marinade ingredients.  Toss in chicken.
Stir to coat.  Let sit 5-10 minutes.

Heat olive oil into a frying pan.  Bring to medium heat. Toss in chicken, discarding the liquid. Cook for about10 minutes or until cooked through.

Jalapeno Cream Cheese (we just used half of this recipe and saved the rest for another meal)

1 8 oz package cream cheese

8 oz sour cream

2-3 jalapenos (ribbed and seeded) **

Salt to taste    

2 tbsp sugar

1/8 large onion finely diced

3 tbsp lime juice

1-2 tbsp chopped cilantro

Soften cream cheese and blend in a blender well. 

additional ingredients needed

1/2 cup monterey jack cheese shredded

1 cup tortilla chip pieces

Layer

in a 9x9 (you can do a larger pan to make it thinner if desired) aluminum pan, put rice in the bottom, packing it down firmly. Add cooked chicken to the top of the rice.Top with jalapeno cream cheese. Sprinkle with Monterey Jack cheese

Cover with foil and label.  Freeze

To thaw, Bake covered at 350 for 35-45 minutes or until heated through. Uncover and broil on high for 3-5 min. until cheese is golden.

If making fresh... just skip to the quick broil to crisp the cheese.

Top with tortilla chip pieces.

* Day old rice is best, but if it's fresh, after steaming/cooking it... spread it onto a cookie sheet and bake at 250 for 15 min. This will dry it out a little bit and keep it from clumping so much.

** Each Jalapeno has a different heat content from what I've found.  Also it depends on how well you clean out the ribs and seeds.  Make sure to clean them out well (I like to use rubber gloves to avoid catastrophy) I would start with one.  Taste it and add more according to tastes.  Trever added 3 and it wasn't spicey at all, but again, it just depends.