Eat the Fridge Challenge

The man and myself tried to curb eating out this weekend. Don't get me wrong- we love eating out. It's a nice treat from cooking every night, which I try to do. However, between the two of us, we have a ton of food that begs to be eaten. Hence the "eat the fridge" challenge on Saturday.

I started by exploring the fridge, the pantry, and the spice cabinet. Usually our meals are centered around a meat with veggies for sides. I found some tuna, but wasn't feeling it, and we did have hot dogs, but we already had those for Saturday lunch. The canned chicken intrigued me since I haven't really explored that option. Ever.

After taking stock of what we had, I figured it would be an experimental night with some on-hand ingredients. I ended up making a Chili Salsa Chicken Bake which I served with chips and salsa because I was too lazy to make rice.

Chili Salsa Chicken Bake

You'll need:
* 1 can chicken
*1/2 can of black beans
*1.5 cups salsa
* 1/2 of chili seasoning packet
* 2 cups shredded cheese
* 1 tsp garlic powder
* 1 tsp lime juice (not really needed)
* 4 tortillas torn into random pieces (mine were 1-2 in.)
* 1 cup shredded cheese for topping (or more if you love cheese)
* sour cream for serving

Get cooking:
1. preheat oven to 375
2. add chicken to bowl and shred with fork, no large chunks
3. mix next 6 ingredients in bowl with chicken
4. spray pan with non-stick spray (recommend a 6*6 pan so you can layer)
5. place half of the torn tortillas on bottom, it doesn't have to be covered
6. layer half of the chicken mix.
7. place remaining tortillas and add other half of chicken mix
8. (optional) if you prefer, you can add salsa to the top before it goes into the oven
9. bake for 20-25 minutes
10. remove from oven, add cheese and bake for another 5-7 minutes or until cheese melts

The moral of the story- would I use canned chicken again? You betcha!