Hi! It’s me. The girl without an oven.
Actually, I have an oven. It’s sitting in my living room by my couch. See? There it is:
Oh man. If you’re one of my Facebook followers, you might have witnessed my first ever Facebook Live video where I showed off my new stove and made a bad joke about having gas. “Going Live” with you was super fun, so I’ll definitely be doing that more often. Please check it out and join us!
While I type, my favorite guy is going up and down the stairs to complete the transition from electric hook-up to gas. As soon as my pretty new dream oven is hooked up, I will be making a Peach Cobbler to reward Matt for all his hard work getting this set up for me! (To catch you up on the latest, on a whim we checked to see if Craigslist had anything for us. We didn’t have our hopes up. But would you believe, we found exactly one double oven and it is exactly what we want/need – except better?! And we got it for an amazing price!! So thankful!)
During the days I’ve been without an oven I’ve been using my crock pot, my electric skillet, my cast iron griddle, my blender, and my waffle iron quite a bit. As you can see, being oven-less has not been the end of my world.
This Easy Salsa Chicken Salad recipe is actually just a simple variation of my Crock Pot Chicken Tacos. I made this last Sunday when we needed to leave for church in ten minutes but I hadn’t figured out lunch for the day. I got out frozen chicken, ran it under some hot water, plopped it into my crock pot, dumped in some salsa, and left for church.
I said, “Wow, easiest meal ever.” and my boys said, “Mom you say that every day.”
It’s true. I only make food that’s easy. Multi-step recipes are not for me. And yet here we are still eating a healthy, real food diet. Don’t forget how to put the easiest, healthiest side dishes on the table too. Fruits and veggies are the best convenience foods there are!
Speaking of healthy convenience foods – big containers of Organic Mixed Greens are my favorite fast food to get at the grocery store! Instead of making my Salsa Chicken into a taco last Sunday, I dumped a big hand-full of mixed greens into a bowl, added my tasty chicken along with some tomatoes, black beans, and corn – and I had the best salad! I didn’t even need salad dressing. (Though you can take a look at the yummy options I have listed here.)
Easy Salsa Chicken Salad
- 2 pounds boneless chicken thighs or breasts
- 2 cups salsa
- Your choice of greens
- Your choice of salad fixins (I like tomatoes, corn, and black beans for this salad)
- Place fresh or frozen chicken in a crock pot.
- Dump salsa over the chicken.
- Cook on low for about 4 hours.
- Shred the chicken and serve with your favorite salad fixins.
A similar recipe to this Salsa Chicken idea is this Crock Pot Bbq Chicken Recipe. Dump it into the crock pot and go!
What are your favorite healthy convenience foods?
I bet you are going to love your new oven. We moved a couple of months ago and our new home has a gas range and oven. It’s my first time having gas in the kitchen ;) So far it’s been great!
This is my #1 go to recipe! I always add 2 cans of black beans and sometimes a can of corn. If you like Chipotle style eating, you can also add brown rice. My kids love to put it on soft tortillas or crunchy shells, but my fave is to put it over fresh greens. I agree – it makes a magnificent salad with no dressing!! We always have shredded cheese and sour cream handy too.