Sometimes I surprise myself

I am going to let you in on a little secret.....

(this is the suspense building)

Sometimes, I decide that the best way to lose weight (for me) is to avoid having food in the house.

I literally do not grocery shop.

....but even then, I manage to make myself snacks from the random (random) leftovers that lurk in my pantry and refrigerator. Such delicacies include: "feta cheese melted in a tortilla dipped in balsamic vinegar. Orrrrr, croutons in a bowl....no salad. Orrrrrrr I have been know to also just take a spoon of sour cream add some salt annnnnd that's it. I eat it.

I eat everything!!

That is my problem.

So anyways, last night I realized that I had a pretty empty fridge. Vacation -in Florida- in bathing suits- in front of friends-is only 7 weeks away after all! But, instead of combining all of the bad stuff and telling Pat to fend for himself, I decided to challenge myself.

What could I make that would taste good and be good for me that already existed in my kitchen without having to make any additional trips?

Well let me tell you - I kind of kicked butt.

I made spicy chicken with red beans and rice. It was soooo good. and Sooooo easy. Granted I am not really at total emptiness - like i will be at the end of the week, but as you can see from the picture above, my resources were limited to say the least.

If you would like to enjoy the same quick, hearty, little meal here is the tutorial:

Using a medium sized skillet, saute diced red onion and garlic in a small pad of butter.

Add a tiny bit of olive oil (presumably because you have run out of the butter necessary to continue the sauteing process)

then add a slightly drained can of red beans.

Sprinkle on cayenne pepper, sea salt, thyme, oregano, and black pepper

cover with lid after stirring and continue to simmer for like 2 minutes.

Cut up a tomato and add it to the mixture.

Boil water for the bag of Minute Rice that you were lucky enough to have rationed from the week before.

Dice up boneless skinless chicken breasts (3 for the 2 of us - they were small).

Fire up your grill pan (note: if you don't have one of these, you are missing out. $40 at William Sonoma and sooooooooo worth it)

Repeat the same spices using Lawry's instead of sea salt (no reason for the switch, thats just how i roll)

Cook all the way through and then add to the red bean mixture.

Wait until the rice is cooked then place the rice in the bowl and spoon your red bean chicken combo on top of it in a bowl. Sprinkle with fresh (uncooked) diced tomato.

It is spicy (which is good for your metabolism) and it is good. I didn't serve a heaping portion of rice so that helped but if i had had other ingredients available i might have added some cilantro too. This picture was taken after a couple of bites. It was a more impressive presentation before I mixed it all together..... and realized that i had nothing to blog about from the day except for this little creation.

Try it if you like spicy and/or you live in the cold.

This was great on both fronts.