Chicken Azteca Recipe

I love getting tried and true recipes from my friends!  A few years ago, a friend gave me this recipe for Chicken Azteca.  I tried it and loved it, my non-bean eating family did not, but they were willing to keep it on the menu if I didn't make it often.  We were feeding the missionaries from our church the other day for dinner and I decided to pull the Chicken Azteca recipe out and make it using THRIVE FD Sweet Corn and THRIVE Instant Black Beans.  It turned out great!

Because I was running out the door, I didn't have time to reconstitute the corn and black beans and threw them into the crockpot dry and added in 3 cups of water.  When it came time to serve dinner, I drained some of the liquid out of the mixture and wish I hadn't.  So that will be different the next time I make this recipe.  I also had some extra chicken breast that I added and had to pull out before shredding it as it was too much chicken, although no one else thought there was too much chicken.  My husband did say there were too many beans.  But since he didn't pick any out of his dinner, that means there really weren't.  Adjust your quantities of Beans to match your family's preference.

Chicken Azteca

2 cups THRIVE FD Sweet Corn

1 1/2 cup THRIVE Instant Black Beans

3 cups water

1 cup salsa

1 clove garlic or 1/8 tsp garlic granules/powder

1/2 tsp ground cumin

4 boneless skinless chicken breast or 2 cups THRIVE FD Chopped Chicken, reconstituted

1 pkg cream cheese, cubed

Hot Cooked Rice

Shredded Cheddar or THRIVE FD Cheddar Cheese, reconstituted

Combine corn, beans, 1/2 cup salsa, garlic, cumin, and 3 cups water in slow cooker.  Arrange chicken over top; pour remaining salsa over chicken.  Cover; cook on High 2-3 hours or on low 4-6 hours.

If using fresh chicken breast, remove chicken and cut into bite-size pieces; return chicken to slow cooker.

Add cream cheese and stir.  Cook on High until cream cheese melts and blends into sauce.

Serve over rice.  Top with cheddar cheese.

Day 2

This recipe made a lot!  So even though the missionaries were eating with us, I still had a ton of leftovers.  I mentioned it at the end of our meal on Day 1 that I thought it would be good wrapped in a tortilla. Everyone seemed to agree so the next day, that's what I had for lunch.  To make it more like a burrito, I chopped up a fresh tomato and added some sour cream.  It was delicious (and I ate it again the next day).  I think it would be even better with some fresh pico de gallo.  And if you notice the white cream on my tortilla, that's sour cream.  That is my trick for keeping burritos and tacos together - take a small dab of sour cream and put it where the tortilla overlaps.  Super easy and makes setting your food down to help a child without having your dinner fall apart so much easier!