Clean eating doesn't mean boring eating (plus, a fajita rice recipe!)

I'm just going to be honest, I didn't have much of an imagination when it came to clean eating at first. Thankfully, my husband and kids are gracious eaters and just go with the flow when it comes to dinner time and whatever crazy kitchen experiment strikes me that day. As I mentioned in my last post, we had a lot of boneless, skinless (and sometimes tasteless) chicken breast dinners at first. Though we don't have that all the time now, the good old chicken standby is still something that's perfectly suitable for dinner and pretty well received by most audiences. :)

One night last week, we had oven roasted chicken (sprayed with a little olive oil and seasoned up with dry rotisserie seasoning before baking). While the chicken was in the oven, I had some brown rice going in the rice cooker and I sautéed a pan full of green pepper and onion slices (with a little olive oil, garlic and seasoned salt). We had asparagus on the side (that's canned asparagus in the photo and it was NASTY, so pretend it's fresh. Ok? Ok.). This dinner was totally simple, flavorful, and the whole family enjoyed it! 

I'm sure you can figure out how to season and bake chicken (if not, consult Google); but let me tell you a little more about the fajita rice! First, if you don't have a rice cooker, go get ya one! I just have a Rival cheapy from Target and it saves a TON of time and I've probably had it about four years. Brown rice and quinoa are two of our clean eating staples - this little budget-friendly kitchen appliance cooks both, doesn't hog a burner on the stove or need me to babysit it, and there's virtually no chance you can screw it up! 

Here's what you need:

• Brown Rice (I prefer the brown jasmine rice - check the ethnic foods section if you can't find it with other rice varieties).
• One small onion, thinly sliced (I like sweet or white; it really doesn't matter; red may even fly, but only use half in that case!)
• About two cups of green pepper slices, maybe one large green pepper. I'm not sure. Mine were already sliced Eyeball it. 
• Drizzle of good olive oil.
• Seasoned salt, about a tablespoon of garlic
• Sea salt (or kosher salt)

Here's what you do: 

• Cook your rice (I use 2c, dry, for our family of six).
• Put your sliced onion and pepper in a skillet
• Drizzle with oil and season with salt and garlic; sauté until tender (I like ours with the slightest touch of brown...but that's just personal preference).
• Transfer rice to large bowl and lightly season with sea salt; transfer onions and peppers to rice bowl. Gently toss all together. 
• Serve and enjoy!

PS. We are NOT hardcore green pepper people; in fact, we've been known to pick them out of some foods. However, they are quite delicious in this rice dish. 

PPS. This is a good dish to make and take to a potluck or dinner with friends. We did so over the weekend and it was a crowd-pleaser. Just put it all in an air-tight container and you're good to go! 

Hope you love it!!