Carnitas with Cilantro Lime Rice and Corn Salsa - A Chipotle Fake Out

It's like bringing your favorite burrito joint home to your own kitchen!

There's a Chipotle right across the street from work. It's really one of the only restaurants close and quick enough to hit up during my 30 minute lunch break. I can usually be in and out and back to the breakroom, food in hand, in under 10 minutes. Most days it's actually quicker than getting food in the cafe downstairs, yet I rarely venture over.

Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I'm not one of those Chipotle addicts. I like it, don't get me wrong. I just don't love it. It's always delicious and I enjoy eating it, but I don't make a habit of having it on a regular basis, even though it's readily available. Maybe I'm weird. Maybe I'm poor. Maybe I'm just ashamed of my Hobbit-sized single soft taco/kids' chip meal.

But making my own Chipotle fake out meal at home? Now that's a different story.

While hitting up Chipotle might be quicker and more convenient, making this kind of deliciousness with your own hands, in your own kitchen is a thousand times more satisfying. And you don't even have to do a ton of work. It's mostly a crockpot meal.

Take a little time before you head to bed the night before to sear your pork on the stovetop to give it a nice flavorful exterior before marinating it in the fridge overnight. (Put together your corn salsa the night before too, for an extra head start.) Turn your crockpot on in the morning and let it do all the hard work while you're working hard. When you get home, the only thing left to do is shred up the pork and throw it under the broiler to give it it's signature carnita crispiness while you boil some rice.

Serve it all up with your favorite fixings and you've got yourself a delicious fake out meal to feed an army for a fraction of the cost of the real thing.

Now this I could make a habit of.

Chicken Ropa Vieja

So I have this brilliant idea that I’m going to lose some weight this summer. I made a plan to work out and eat right. By my self-imposed deadline of September, I’ll totally be skinny. Well… Not skinny exactly. Let’s be reasonable. “Less fat” is the more realistic goal.

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.