Good Food Every Day

"That'll Do," also known as "Cupboard Dinner"-- or, when my husband makes it "P's 2-alarm-Mexican-Firehouse-Kitchen-Skillet-Thing." It gets a lot of play in our house because you can make it with stuff that you can generally find in your cupboard already. It's also EXTREMELY flexible and forgiving.


Required:
Rice
(I like the super-cheap-- and probably not very nutritious-- pre-seasoned yellow spanish rice bags. pre-packaged pilafs are fine. If you're more health-conscious, brown rice would also be fine.)
1 med. onion (color of your choice)
1 or 2 peppers (color of your choice)
Olive oil
1 sm. can of tomato sauce

Optional:
1 jalapeno or a couple of serranos if you like heat
2 Chicken breasts, if you like meat
1 can of chick peas/garbanzo beans if you want protein without meat.
1 zucchini or other squash cut into coins or bite-sized pieces if you want more veggies.

- Make your rice.

- Chop small to med. onion (color of your choice) and sautee in 1-2Tbls olive oil. Right before the onion reaches the tender stage, throw in some cut peppers (I usually just cut them into strips-- too lazy for more chopping). I like 1 red and 1 yellow, plus a jalapeno for heat. Feel free to mix and match whatever peppers you want.

- Just before the peppers get tender (1-2 minutes), add an 8oz. can of tomato sauce. cook over low-med. heat until everything is tender.

-Top the rice with the tomato/pepper/onion mix.

-If using chick peas, add them when you start cooking the peppers. Same thing for the squash.

-If using chicken, sear the breasts in the olive oil over high heat first thing before cooking the onions.


There's really no rules to this one-- You can add any veggies or beans you have on hand, alter the spices to your taste, use it for a side dish or main course. It tastes good cold the next night, too.