Chicken Burrito Bowl

With a busy toddler running around and me working a lot of evenings, the crock pot has become a must have at our house to make healthy dinners happen with significantly less frustration.  My husband's favorite crock pot meal is the chicken burrito bowl.  Bonus - the kids all like it too!  This is one of the easiest meals to make.

Ingredients:
1.5# boneless, skinless chicken breast
2 cans black beans - drained and rinsed
1 can corn - drained and rinsed
1 jar salsa of your choice
1 Tbsp chili powder
1/2 Tbsp cumin powder
1/2 Tbsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
1/4 cup water/chicken broth/veggie broth
brown rice or quinoa


Optional Toppings:  cheese, sour cream, guacamole, fresh cilantro

Directions:

1.  Place chicken in bottom of crock pot.  Add remainder of ingredients, except rice/quinoa and stir.  Make sure chicken remains covered.  Cook on low for 8 hours.  After chicken mixture is cooked, shred chicken with two forks and then mix all ingredients well.

2.  Cook brown rice or quinoa according to package directions.

3. Put rice in each bowl and top with chicken mixture and desired toppings.



That's all there is to it.  Even my twins can make this one so long as they have help measuring.

Makes great leftovers too!

New Year, New You!

Find out why you should start your new year with a 30 day clean eating challenge.  Learn which foods are nourishing and which foods are holding you back. I want to give you the tools to succeed in living a healthier life!  There are two events coming up soon.  See the information below for details.  If these times don't work out for you, please let me know so we can arrange another time for you.

Topic: 30 Days to Healthy Living
Time: Dec 17, 2015 2:00 PM (GMT-6:00) Central Time (US and Canada)

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I can breathe again.

Well, when I last left off, I had just graduated from PA school and I was looking for a job.  I was also living with my parents while we built a house.  THREE years have passed (good grief) and there have been so many answered prayers.

We are loving our new house.  We have just enough bedrooms and a big wide open living space for hosting friends and family.  Jonathan loves his four car garage and we all love our neighbors.  We designed it with the idea of living in it forever and I think we just might...Unless, of course, God has something else planned for our future.

When I graduated from PA school, I took a job in primary care that required a commute to a nearby town.  I loved my patients and walking beside them in life cheering them on and crying with them during the tough times.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to do all my work during normal work hours and my family was suffering for it.  One of my twins was getting a lot of notes home from school and my other twin was developing quite the attitude.  I was always stressed out and I took it out on my family.  The birth of another baby girl in December of 2015 was the tipping point.  I stopped just praying about a change in our situation and started looking around to see what I could do to get my kids out of daycare.

I never saw myself in urgent care, but this is exactly where I am now.  I was always afraid that I wouldn't be able to keep up with the pace and that something would come in that I couldn't handle.  But, the hours (part-time) and the ability to take all three of my kids out of daycare was exactly what I had been praying for.  Despite the fact that there are no guaranteed hours, no benefits, and I was scared of this field, I took a huge leap of faith and God has blessed us abundantly for it.  The same day I turned in my letter of resignation, Jonathan got a promotion to a closer office.

This change has made my life feel so much more balanced.  My twins are doing better, I'm not stressed out all the time, my marriage has improved, and I get to watch my baby learn and grow.  I don't get to be quite so invested in my patients now, but I do get to be more invested in my friends and family.  And the job isn't nearly as scary as I thought it would be.  I'm getting much more comfortable with things like sutures and IV fluids.  I'm becoming a much more well-rounded PA.