I’ve broken out my Biggest Loser DVDs. I’ve looked up strength exercises online. I bought weights. I vowed to stop eating crap from the café at work and cook healthy meals instead. (Saving money and calories!) But that’s about as far as I’ve gotten. Plans. Nothing more than plans. And one healthy-ish meal.
Honest truth—I can stand in the kitchen all day long and bake up a storm. But when it comes to cooking dinner, I lack patience. I just want something to eat right now. I don’t want to stand around chopping and stirring and flipping, all for a meal that’ll take me less than 5 minutes to eat. It just doesn’t seem worth the effort. Which is why I find myself eating PB&J way too often.
But this was a recipe I could actually manage. Nothing too taxing. Nothing too time consuming (because the crockpot does all the hard work). Nothing too far out of my comfort zone, or my skill set. I got this! Piece of cake! Err. Chicken!
Chicken gets tender in the crockpot with some homemade stock (bonus! Strain it and save it for tomorrow’s dinner.) It gets shredded in the stand mixer. (Seriously. 20 seconds = perfectly shredded chicken with no fuss.) Then it gets thrown together with the broth, tomato sauce, some veggies, and seasonings. Boom. You’ve got yourself a flavorful dinner that won’t break the bank or your waistline.
I thought the chicken was delicious on it's own, but my tastebuds wanted a little more of a kick. So I added a little sriracha, and it immediately went from yum to heck yeah. If you're not a spice fan, leave it out--no harm done. I served it over rice, but have since eaten some of the leftovers as tacos, which was equally delicious! Now if only I could motivate myself to actually workout, we might be in business.
PS - I just Google translated the name of this dish and apparently "ropa vieja" means old clothes? Um. What? I'm confused.
