This Stuff Is Amazing!

Oh, how I love this chicken & black bean combo. I've shared the recipe before, but I'll share it again here for convenience sake.

Chicken & Black Bean Taco Filling

• 2 T. Extra-virgin olive oil
  
• 1 1/2 lb. chicken (boneless or not, whatever you have on hand)
  
• 1 t. cumin
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1/4 t. pepper
• 2 1/2 c. fully cooked black beans
• 1 bag frozen corn
• 1 large jars salsa (or 2 regular sized jars)
• 1/2 c. water
• 2 t. cumin
• 1 t. chili powder
• 1 t. salt

1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Season chicken with 1 t. cumin, 1/2 t. salt & 1/4 t. pepper. Add chicken to skillet. Cook for 5-8 minutes, flip, cover skillet and continue cooking until chicken is fully cooked.
2. Remove chicken from skillet. Shred meat and return to pan. Add all remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.

*This should make enough for 3 meals, depending on how much you use. It freezes perfectly in a freezer bag and thaws overnight in the refrigerator.

I pulled a bag of this combo out of the freezer on Friday night to make nachos. Unfortunately, I inadvertently bought "Scoops" instead of regular tortilla chips for our nachos. So, I decided since I had a little time, I'd have fun with the chips.

I filled 1 1/2 cookies sheets with the scoops and then added about a tablespoon of filling in each one.

Then I topped each chip with a little bit of cheese and put them in the oven just long enough for the filling to warm up and the cheese to melt.

Aren't they cute?

We really enjoyed this as an appetizer-style dinner. The kids had fun eating their "little bowls." I'm definitely going to make this again. I think they would be perfect for entertaining with a little dollop of sour cream or guacamole on top.

After our nacho feast on Friday night, I still had about 1 1/2 c. of chicken and black bean filling left. So on Sunday I decided to use the leftovers to make a chicken tortilla soup. I've done this before, but I had to switch things up a little this time.

I put the leftover filling in a saucepan and added about 4 1/2 c. chicken stock. I didn't have any tortillas on hand so I decided to add some leftover spaghetti noodles, just to bulk the soup up a bit and make it heartier for the younger kids to eat, since they still have a tough eating thin soup with a spoon.

It turned out delicious!

Last time I posted this recipe I shared a few other ideas on what to do with this mixture. You can read those here.

Visit Blessed With Grace for more Tempt My Tummy Tuesday and Tammy's Recipes for more kitchen tips.

Also, stop by Blissfully Domestic and share your domestic bliss from this week.