Black Bean & Corn Salsa Chicken

I am making a HUGE batch of taco chicken for the week.  I plan to use it for tacos, nachos, eat it over rice, and over lettuce.  It's great for my husband to take to work and it gives us lots of options.  You can use this recipe for dinner if you'd like.  Just cut back on the amounts of everything for smaller servings and adjust it to your liking :)

I was inspired by my favorite dip for tortilla chips! My husband makes a killer black bean corn salsa with a jalapeno and he seasons it with cumin, garlic powder and chili powder.  It's so good.  I figure I would just do that and then add chicken to make a meal out of it! I'm constantly craving the black beans and corn ;)

Pictured above are all of the seasonings I used for this yummy dish.  Salt, pepper, chili powder, green chile tabasco sauce, cumin, crushed red pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder.

Here is the frozen chicken, the black beans and corn.  I drained the black beans AND the corn.  There will be plenty of natural liquid from the green chiles and chicken.

Here is the finished product before cooking with the cans of green chiles added and all of the seasonings on top.  The seasonings are what makes the dish.  I may need to go back and add more as it cooks, actually.

So it's only 2:15pm.  Hubby's not home from work til around 5pm tonight but he's running to the store to get a few things for the rest of the week, so I have about another 4 hours for this to cook.  It started just after noon on warm.  The thin chicken breasts are already softened.  I also had some thicker chicken that is very much still frozen.  I've adjusted the temperature to high for now to get the chicken cooked through.  At about 4:30pm I will put it back on low so we can have super moist shredded chicken.

Ingredients:
-3 lbs. chicken breasts
-2 cans of yellow corn
-2 cans of black beans
-2 small cans of green chiles
-equal parts cumin, garlic powder, salt, pepper, chili powder, red pepper flakes (makes about 4 tablespoons total, the same amount as a taco seasoning baggie)
-4-5 small dashes of green chile tabasco sauce
Optional: sour cream, shredded cheese, avocado, additional taco fixings

Recipe:
Place chicken breasts on the bottom of the crockpot.  We took our straight from the freezer.  Layer the corn, black beans and chiles on top.  Use the mixed taco seasonings next, creating a layer on top.  Add the dashes of tabasco sauce.  Mix well.  Cook on medium (or high if no medium setting) for 4-5 hours.  Stir occasionally to ensure the chicken stays moist.  After about 4-5 hours, remove chicken and cut into smaller pieces to make sure it is cooked thoroughly.  Cook an additional hour on high.  Shred the chicken and serve.  

I just made mine into tacos.  I used a good heap of the black beans and corn from the crockpot, the chicken, some shredded low-fat Mexican cheese, a few slices of avocado and a dollop of fat-free sour cream. It was DIVINE! I had tons of variety in every bite.  I decided not to make anything as a side dish since it was so filling.

My husband made enchiladas out of his :)  He put the shredded cheese, sliced avocado, and sour cream on the outside.  

And since I used 3 lbs. of chicken, we have PLENTY left for the week.  I can't wait to have it on lettuce, with some rice, and with some tortilla chips! 

Now I'm off to make some homemade applesauce in the crockpot ;)  Check back soon for that recipe!

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