Chicken, Beans & Rice

Simple, toddler friendly, nutrient packed, freezes well.....all things I love and all things in this recipe:

Chicken, Beans & Rice

1 cup rice
2 tsp. vegetable oil
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups water
1-15 oz. can black beans, drained & rinsed
2 cups cooked, cubed chicken
1 tsp. garlic powder
salt & pepper to taste

In a medium saucepan heat oil. Add rice and stir until translucent. Add water and a dash of salt. Stir well and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

Add remaining ingredients and heat until warm. Add water if necessary or oil to reduce stickiness.

I usually double the recipe and freeze in meal-sized portions. When I want to have it for toddler lunch, I put into my mini crock pot (straight from the freezer) with a few tablespoons of water, first thing in the morning. By lunch, it's heated through and ready!

This post is being linked to:

• Crock Pot Wednesdays at Dining With Debbie

Quick Fix Ahead: Frozen Burritos

I do this often for the toddlers.....

plop two or three frozen burritos in my mini crock pot first thing in the morning. By lunchtime, they are defrosted and heated through. For the toddlers, I use my pizza cutter to cut them into 6 or 8 pieces each. It's a toddler favorite.

For hubby, I put a few burritos in a crock pot then poured enchilada sauce over them. He loved them!

This post is linked to:

Simply Made Sunday at Our Homeschool Fun

Toddler-Friendly Corn Dog Muffins

Corn dog muffins are yummy and I like how convenient they are, too, and they freeze well. They're just not toddler-friendly if you use the conventional recipe because you need to cut hot dogs into pieces so they don't become a choking hazard. I don't know why I didn't think of this before--cut up the hot dog and put into muffin mix?

I used two boxes of Jiffy Muffin Mix and made it according to the package directions. I'm sure any cornbread recipe or mix would work. I sprayed my silicone muffin pan with Pam, and filled the cups equally with the batter.

I cut 6 hot dogs up into little pieces and put about half a hot dog worth of pieces into each muffin cup.

I baked the muffins according to the package directions.

I let them cool, then got my Ziploc bags ready, bagged them up and put them in the freezer.

I got one Ziploc bag out of the freezer the morning I served them to the toddlers and let them defrost on the counter for a couple of hours, then zapped them in the microwave to warm them up.

There was a problem when I cut them in half to put on the toddler plates--they fell apart. There was too much hot dog pieces per muffin--oops. Good thing toddlers aren't picky. Actually, they enjoy taking muffins apart before they eat them anyway!

So, next time, I will put about a third of a hot dog per muffin and I will probably mix the muffin mix and hot dog pieces together in the batter before I put it in the muffin pan.

More, Please! (Pamm's Brown Bag Burritos Toddler Verdict)

Today was the first day I served Pamm's Brown Bag Burritos to the toddlers.

This morning, first thing, I grabbed two burritos straight out of the freezer and put them in my mini crock pot on high. They were 'frozen together' so about an hour into it, I separated them and rearranged them in the crock pot. At lunchtime, I pulled them out and they were defrosted and heated through and to my surprise the tortillas had a slight crispiness. They were in the crock pot for almost three hours.

So, at lunchtime I used my pizza cutter to cut them into toddler-sized pieces. I was delighted at how little mess they made (the picture looks messier than it was). They held together quite well. Each burrito piece was like a toddler-sized burrito.

I put them on the toddler plates and served them with frozen mixed veggies and banana slices.

The banana slices are always the first to be eaten--I didn't get my camera ready quick enough to capture that. And when I say "frozen veggies" I mean I served the frozen. My little guys gobble them up as a summer treat and they are great for teething!!!

Anyway, I was very pleased at how the burritos held together even when they were cut into toddler pieces. There was little mess to it all with a normal amount of wiping faces and hands (I was preparing for the worst). All the toddlers ate it and when I looked at them most were saying "more, please" in sign language so I knew they loved it.

It's definitely a hit and will be served often.

Pamm's Brown Bag Burritos Makeover

I have been wanting to learn how to make my own burritos for a while now, I just needed the right recipe. I recently read this Brown Bag Burritos post and knew I could make something like that. So with excitement, I made my grocery list of the stuff to make them -- I just had a question: is that the big can or the smaller can of refried beans? So, I just guessed and tweaked the recipe a bit.

Here's Pamm's Brown Bag Burrito Makeover

2 pounds ground beef

1 large can refried beans

1 large can enchilada sauce

1 small can black beans

1 - 4 cup package shredded cheese

1/3 cup dried minced onions

1 Tbs. garlic powder

1 tsp. salt

1 Tbs. dried oregano

20 burrito-sized flour tortillas

Brown the ground beef and drain. Add all other ingredients (except tortillas), bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray baking pan(s) (I used two pans) with cooking spray. Fill the tortillas with about 1/3 cup of the meat and bean mixture. Roll tortillas, folding in the sides, into burrito. Place in baking pan (I was able to fit 8 in each 9x13 pan). Spray the tops of the rolled burritos with cooking spray. Place in oven for 15-20 minutes to crisp and beginning to brown.

After they cooled, I put them in the reusable bag the tortillas came in, then in the freezer.

My taste tester LOVED them! He said they're not very spicy and toddler-friendly. He loved the crispness of them, too--that's the part I added to the original recipe besides a few ingredient tweaks. He had them right out of the oven.

Stay tuned for the reheat and toddler review.........