Spicy Cajun Chicken and Rice

The first meal I ever learned how to cook all on my own was a simple version of cajun chicken with rice and vegetables. Now a few years later and after countless changes and mess ups I've come up with my favorite dish to make. It's simple and easy to make too! Trying to impress someone? Well here you go! It's perfect for a dinner at home date night, even if your partner doesn't like spicy just add half the measurement of spices to the mix and you're good to go.

Serving Size: 4-6    Prep Time: 30 minutes    Cook Time: 30 minutes    Total Time: 1 hour

1 lbs of chicken breast
1 8oz can of diced tomatoes
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 white onion
2 jalapeños
2 cloves of garlic
2 cups of brown rice
2 cups of water or chicken broth
3 tbs of olive oil

For spiced mix:
1 tsp chili pepper
1 tsp cayenne
1 tsp cajun
1/2 tsp creole
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp thyme
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:
1. In a small pot add your water or chicken broth and rice and leave on low setting to cook while you complete the rest of your meal.
2. Dice your onion and garlic. Place 1 tbs of olive oil in a medium sized pan and add the onion and garlic, leave on medium/low heat and stir until the onions are translucent.
3. While the onion and garlic cook, in a small bowl mix together all the spices. Then dice your chicken and add into the bowl.
4. Once the onions and garlic are finished, remove them from the pan, add 1 tbs of olive oil and then the chicken. Be sure to continuously stir around and check the chicken so that it is cooked fully.
6. While the chicken cooks now you will chop up your bell peppers and jalapeños, don't forget to check you chicken so it does not stick to the pan or overcook.
6. When the chicken is finished remove from the pan and add the final tbs of olive oil and the rest of your chopped vegetables. Stir them for a few minutes before adding in the already cooked onions and chicken. Let that sit for about 2 minutes and then add in the drained can of tomatoes.
7. Let this sit for about 5 minutes, meanwhile check the rice and remove from its pot. After that, your food should be ready to be removed and you are ready to eat!

Unleash Your Inner Goddess of the Sea

For a while now I have been a huge fan of smoothie bowls, I've turned my sisters and my friends onto them. They are a great way to get in your fruits and vegetable servings without it feeling like a huge chore or having to force yourself. Lately there has been this trend of blue or "mermaid" smoothie bowls, and we'll since I myself am a mermaid I just had to try one. So I scoured through tons of Instagram posts and Pinterest pins looking for the perfect one to try, but it was all to no avail. None of them sounded like they would taste very good or had a bunch or weird stuff in it that would be way to hard to find or purchase and I'm not calling myself a broke girl's guide for nothing. Instead I decided to just try the ingredients that I knew would go well together and would taste just as good as it sounded.
The only ingredient that can be a bit pricy is the Spirulina or the Blue Green Algae, luckily from the good old days at Spouts I had some that I had gotten for pretty cheap. Other than that everything you will need might already be in your refrigerator!

The recipe I used for my Mermaid Smoothie Bowl is:

1 frozen banana
1 frozen green apple
1 frozen pear
4 frozen peach slices
1/2 cup of green grapes
1/4 cup of almond milk
1/4 cup of low-fat yoghurt
2 tablets of Blue Green Algae
                or
1 tsp of Spirulina (mix in slowly to get desired color)
Juice of half of a lemon to help counter the taste of the Spirulina
*top off with blueberries, sliced banana, grapes, chia seeds,and coconut flakes

I was very very skeptical before I tasted it because I had no idea how it would go but I was pleasantly surprised and loved how it tasted and I hope that you do too!

Fruit and Oats

Besides eggs, oatmeal is one of my favorite breakfast foods. It's quick and easy to make and fills you right up. I have so many oatmeal recipe varieties, and honestly you can put anything and everything in your oatmeal. Today though I will show you which is my favorite and healthiest, in my opinion.

For this recipe I used:

1/2 cup of steel cut oats
1 cup of heated almond milk

For garnishing I used:

1/2 of a sliced banana
blueberries
sliced almonds
agave syrup

Now of course instead of almond milk you can use water to whatever kind of milk you prefer, this is just what worked best for me and let me tell you it tastes pretty amazing. I used to put strawberries on top instead of blueberries because I like the taste of them better but I was surprised when I found that I did not like how sweet the strawberries made the oatmeal versus the blueberries. Also blueberries are a great source of antioxidants making this meal pretty well rounded.