Tonight’s recipe was brought to you by I’m really tired of the same old chicken. There are a bazillion things to do with chicken and I keep doing the same things over-and-over. And over.

Can you say rut, boys and girls?!?

Once upon a time, I would just make dinner. Ya know… head into the kitchen and just put something together. Usually pretty good, and usually never to be replicated because it was made with whatever I happened to see and fancy at that moment in time.

And that’s how tonight’s dinner came to be.

I had a vision of stuffed chicken breasts for dinner, tonight. Mexican-style, although I had no idea what I wanted to do. I just wanted those comforting spices. And then I took out thin-sliced chicken from the freezer. Thin-sliced chicken breasts are just not conducive to cutting open, making pockets, and adding a filling. They do, however, fit into individual baking dishes and accept a filling on top.

When I finally realized my chicken breasts were thin-sliced, I grabbed a couple of ceramic bowls and went to work.

I oiled them and coated them with bread crumbs, and then fitted the chicken into them. In a skillet, I sauteed onion, bell pepper, garlic, and mushrooms. I added cumin and ancho chili powder and cooked it off a bit, and then added a can of drained black beans and about 4 ounces of crumbled queso fresco. All of that went into the chicken breasts and they went into a 375°F  (190°C) oven for about 35 minutes.  The rice was just yellow rice – basic white rice cooked in chicken broth with some annatto and coriander.

The chicken breasts lifted right out of the containers – and they were huge. I could have easily split one for the two of us – but that wouldn’t have made a pretty picture – and it’s all about the picture.

So… we both ate half and the rest went into the ‘fridge for lunches.

Tomorrow we’re back to normal around here. The snow has stopped and I’ll be off to work in the early morning. We’ll have to see if we can continue the rut-breaking for another day…

In the meantime, there’s lots of Peach Rice Pudding in the ‘fridge…