Nutritious, Inexpensive, and Sustainable: Latin-Inspired Citrus Chicken with Rice and Beans

Greetings all! With apologies to my regular readers, my day job as a PhD student working on a dissertation and teaching college classes has been consuming a lot of my time lately. In an effort to bring you all more regular updates of the healthy delicious food you've come to expect, I've invited my friend Lynn to contribute to Skinny Gourmet. When we agreed to collaborate on a few foodie projects for the blog, Lynn asked what her name was. I told her to pick her own super-hero identity. So I proudly introduce to you the first installment from Butter Vixen, and her hubby, Sugar Daddy.

Global financial meltdown? Environmental crisis? A husband who needs to lose weight? New high vegetable, lots of whole grain, low meat dietary requirements? What is a Butter Vixen to do? Rise to the cooking challenge! The game: make one full week of breakfasts, lunches, and dinners for under $100, with the highest nutritional value and the least produced garbage possible. We’ll start every week with one cooked chicken – autumnally tasty, traditionally comforting, nutritionally (and economically) sound. Over the week, the pieces transform into something new for supper at night, though leftovers rule for lunches.



I used a combination of for-the-week foods, and pantry staples. Overall, I spent about $46 on new things, and about $30 to go into the pantry. And to start the week off right, we begin with a latin-inspired roast chicken with a flavor-packed citrus sauce. Rice and beans round out this healthy, delicious and inexpensive meal.

Latin-Inspired Citrus Chicken

By the Butter Vixen


Two 4 oz. dinner portions, plus 10 oz. leftover meat, plus the carcass

1 baking chicken (I used a $4 local chicken, rather than a $15 organic chicken)

For rub:
3 t. brown sugar
2 t. ground cumin
1 t. salt
4 cloves garlic (minced)
¼ t. cayenne
1 T. fresh oregano (I had it in the garden, dried would be fine in smaller portions)
1 T. olive oil

In cavity:
½ an orange
1 big spring oregano

Spread the mix of oil and spices under the skin of the chicken. Sprinkle cavity with a little salt and pepper, then insert a half orange and spring of oregano. Bake until delicious.

Citrus sauce
3 cl. garlic, minced
Juice of one lime
¼ c. orange juice
1 T. honey
2 T. chopped cilantro
2 T. chopped mint

Saute garlic 1 minute. Add juice & honey, simmer until slightly thickened. Remove from heat and swirl in the herbs. Drizzle over the sliced chicken.

Rice and Beans

By the Butter Vixen

6 servings

Rice:
1 c. white rice
4 cl. crushed garlic
1 ½ c. broth

Make rice just the same as usual, but use chicken broth as the liquid, and stir in the crushed garlic.

Beans:
1 medium onion, diced
1-2 serrano peppers, diced
1 T. adobo sauce (or 3 chipotles in adobo sauce)
½ t. cumin
¼ t. cayenne
2. large cans of black beans, or 3 c. black beans
Salt to taste

Saute onions and chiles. Add black beans, simmer 15 minutes. Add spices, stir, add any tomatoes or leftover bell peppers you have lying around to use up, simmer another 10 minutes.

We serve with cut up tomatoes and a little sharp cheese – extra antioxidants and calcium!

Sunday Dinner (Day One) nutrition facts:
1 serving legumes, 1 serving grains, 1 serving antioxidant veggies, 1 serving green leafy
Chicken (4 oz.): 200 cal/4g. fat
Rice & Beans: 465 cal/ 2 g. fat
(Plus salad & salad dressing)