Easy Dinner: Chicken Taco Salad

The rain is pouring down outside.  We got home late after going to see Young Frankenstein last night, and my rear end is dragging this morning.

It's one of those "not enough coffee in the whole world to wake me up" sorts of mornings.

Despite the running around like crazy people frenzy in which we've been living our lives these days, we've managed to stay on the healthy eating train for the most part for the last three weeks.  I can feel it, and not just in the loosening of my waistbands on my jeans.

On a day like this when I'm tired, though?  Eating healthy can be a challenge.  Who has the energy to plan something super healthy or cook everything from scratch to serve up for dinner?

What I do is keep a few easier to prepare meal ideas on hand for just such an occasion, so there are no excuses when dinner time rolls around to call for a fatty, processed food pizza or nasty drive-thru crapola.  Thinking some of you may be trying to make healthier choices as well, I'm going to share my new favorite quickie dinner idea.

Greek Rice Salad

Found a recipe that looks yummy on an index card as I was re-organizing recipes today.  With a little tweaking, I think I've made it a healthier -- and yummier -- version of something we already liked.

Which makes it something yummy we can eat more frequently now that we are trying to eat more healthfully.

Anyway, thought I'd share it with you all, in case you want to give it a try, too.  It's easy and the leftovers make a wonderful salad to bring in for lunch the next day.

Here's the recipe:

Quick Southwestern Rice Side Dish

I finally bought a new desk chair today, after giving away the older La-Z-Boy recliner that I'd been using as a temporary seat.  It was way too low and it made writing for any length of time uncomfortable, even though it was really comfy as a plain old chair.

We just couldn't fit it well into the living room any longer without overcrowding everything.  So I found it a new home with someone who could really use it.

And managed to find myself a new desk chair that has memory foam in it, so my achy joints are much happier at a much better height for typing.

I found it, of all places, at Sam's Club several weeks ago, but waited to buy it until we had gotten the recliner out of the way, which happened this morning.  Finally.  When we went over to get my desk chair, we found that the one we purchased was the last one they had.

Clearly it is a popular chair, and I'm thrilled I managed to get one.  So is my back, because it has an awesome back support feature, too.

While we were there, we picked up a rotisserie chicken for dinner this evening.

I love the rotisserie chickens from Sam's Club; they are tender, moist and nicely flavored, and the skin comes off easily for a less fatty meal.  Plus, they make for a light cooking day for me.

But, when we got home, I couldn't figure out what to serve with it.  Sure, we can have a salad -- but what else?

Easy Navy Bean Soup

This week's cooler temperatures have made me crave warm, comfort soup.  So yesterday evening, I whipped up a quick and easy version of the Senate Navy Bean soup that I usually make in the crockpot.

But because I'd forgotten to soak my beans yesterday, I had to improvise with canned beans and prechopped veggies -- and it turned out seriously yummy.

Here's what I did:

I bought a bag of chopped mirepoix veggies from the freezer section at Kroger -- chopped onion, carrots and celery.  I was in a hurry to get dinner started, because I was behind on my usual cooking time, and this seemed an easy way to get veggies into the mix without having to chop and prep.

And boy, was it ever easy.

I put a tablespoon olive oil in the bottom of my large Dutch oven, and heated it over medium-high heat.  Then I tossed in the bag of frozen, chopped veggies along with a teaspoon of minced garlic.  As this was softening, I stirred occasionally, and also scrubbed up a couple of small, red-skinned potatoes which I diced small and added to the pot.

Quick Curried Lentil & Chicken Soup

There really is nothing better than a good bowl of Indian dal with some fresh, warm naan from the oven.

At least, for me anyway, it is some serious comfort food. It warms up my tummy, and makes my tastebuds sing.

Which is kind of funny considering I'm a girl from the WV hills who only tried Indian food for the first time when she went away to college.  But the palate wants what the palate wants, eh?

I've been playing around with various dal soup recipes for ages, trying to come up with an approximation of a fantastic dal they used to have at a now nonexistent Indian restaurant in Morgantown, WV.  (If anyone has the recipe for the dal they used to serve at Cafe of India, please, please share it!)

I'm still tinkering, but haven't come up with perfection just yet.

Today, though, I'm pulling a quickie version out of the hat because I forgot to throw everything into the crockpot for some homemade soup this morning...and it's too late to make it utterly from scratch now.  (Ooops!  That's what I get for organizing and cleaning up around the house today and forgetting about dinner.  I need an Alice.)

Here's what I've got bubbling on the stove at the moment: