{Practically Chipotle} Chicken Burrito Bowl

This recipe is so easy and so versital.  You can switch out all sorts of ingredients to suit your style. We tried this last week and when  Mike took his first bite, he said, "This tastes exactly like Chipotle!" Let me just tell you that this recipe will have a regular rotation in our meal plan - everyone loved it!

◦ 4 cups cooked brown rice (cooked with 1 tsp. salt, then stirred in 1/4 cup cilantro and the juice from a small lime)

◦ 2 cooked chicken breasts or other meat, cubed or shredded and heated (leftover grilled chicken worked great)

◦ 1 can sweet corn, drained

◦ 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

◦ 1 cup shredded Monterrey jack cheese

◦ 1 cup salsa or Pico de Gallo

◦ 1/3 cup shredded lettuce

◦ 1/2 cup sour cream

Heat the corn, black beans and chicken before serving. Layer each of the ingredients above starting with rice and then adding meat, corn, cheese, salsa, lettuce and sour cream. Serve warm.

(You can, of course, pile all of this into a warmed tortilla to create a burrito, but we prefer the bowls in our family.)

Eat This, Not That

I borrowed Eat This, Not That from a friend recently and found some of the information very surprising. And when I get caught off guard, you know I have to share it! (BTW, they also have a Eat This, Not That for Kids and a Supermarket Survival Guide, if your interest is peaked, too.)

Okay, I'm going to share some of the shockers that apply to mistakes I might make:

- Cinnabon Classic Cinnamon Rolls have 813 calories and 32 g. of fat. 150 more calories than a Whopper! The price scares me away from those things every time, but they smell up the entire mall...they call to me...

- If you substitute BBQ sauce for mayo on a Burker King Whopper, you save 17 grams of fat. I'll just go without either, thankyouverymuch!

- By choosing a burrito bowl without rice at Chipotle instead of a traditional burrito, you'll save 500 calories and 83 grams of carbs. Just from eliminating the tortilla and the rice! WHOA.

- A large Blizzard has 6 grams of trans fat.

- Krispy Kreme donuts, however, have 0 trans fats. But the Glazed Blueberry Cake Doughnut has 330 calories, 17 g. fat and 28 g. sugar while the Whole Wheat Glazed Donut has 180 calories, 11 g. fat and only 10 g. sugar. (Ha! I said, "only," but in comparison - !)

- Ruby Tuesdays' Turkey Burger with fries has 1171 calories and 58 g. of fat. (FYI: ground turkey isn't always healthier...make sure it's lean! I learned that one the hard way.)

- The whipped cream on your drink at Starbucks adds 70 calories and 7 grams of fat.

- Wendys' Chicken BLT salad has as much fat as 15 chicken nuggets, mostly due to the honey mustard dressing. If you get the low-fat version, you'll cut 20 grams of fat.

Do you know what I got from reading all of this? I need to continue eating at home. We rarely eat out for financial reasons, but who knows what I'd weigh if that weren't an issue! Restaurants add so much unnecessary junk to their food to make it extra irresistible. When we cook at home, we know exactly what's in our meals.

Eat. At. Home. That's my lecture for the day.