Have a recommendation? We'd LOVE to hear it!
Salutations Readers!

Kalamazoo has good food.
Great food, in fact. We have made it our mission to check out all the local eateries one at a time - and more for our own poor memories than any other reason, we'll be chronicling our adventures in food here. And some places float our boats way more than others, which is why we have developed the very scientific
five golden forks rating scale. Ok. It is not scientific at all. It is actually quite unscientific. But, it is something. And now, you can search all of our reviews by the forks rating. YAY!


But, wait! There's more!
Kalamazoo Foodies no longer just eat at restaurants then review them. There are recipes posted, some easy, some less easy, all delicious. There are, or will be, book reviews, the new
Foodie Movie Review-y which will focus on movies about food or ones that have a lot of beautiful food in them. There are other food musings, and hopefully soon contests and so much more. But, Foodie Friends, it is all about food. Because we love it!
And, we want to hear from you!

We want to hear your comments on our recipes and reviews. We want to know where you love to eat. And, we are looking for GUEST bloggers to broaden our horizons a bit. And, if you haven't found us on Facebook, you should do that too. Like our page for other fun Foodies stuff like photos, polls, and more.


SO KALAMAZOO PATRONS - where do YOU love to eat? Because we'd love to check it out and share our thoughts here. Give us a comment below, and quickly! Our tummies are grumbling in anticipation.

A Note from the Foodies about our typical fair:
So, you may notice as you read our blog that we often order the same thing wherever we go. OK, maybe not quite, but we do often order similar things. Kristin has her caprese salads and mushroom dishes. Kate has her baked goat cheese and things with tofu. Well, readers, we wanted to let you know that this is absolutely intentional. A) We love those things, so why not order what you love? And, B) It is a lot easier to compare apples to apples than it is to compare apples to comquats. So, we like to order similar things to have a good sense of how to compare them. Just wanted to let you in on that little secret. Bon appetit!

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Foodies at Home: Southwestern Chicken with Rice

As promised, here is the first installment for the Foodies at Homerecipe exchange!

Ingredients:
2 cans corn
1 can black beans
1 can chili beans
1 jar salsa
6 chicken breasts
Shredded cheese
Rice
(Makes 6ish servings)

How to prepare it:
1) Drain the corn and beans.
2) Mix together corn, beans, and 1/2 of the jar of salsa. Put in the bottom of the crock pot.
3) Lay the chicken breasts on top of the corn/bean/salsa mixture.
4) Cover the chicken breasts with the rest of the salsa.
5) Put the lid on and let cook for 7-8 hours on low or 3-4 hours on high.
6) When the goodness inside the crock pot is almost done, prepare the rice by following the directions on the package.

Plating the meal:
1) Put a bed of rice on the plate.
2) Spoon the crock pot mixture on top of the rice. The chicken should be so tender that it is falling apart.
3) Sprinkle the top with cheese.

Eating the meal:
1) Mix it together.
2) Enjoy.

Notes:
Paul and I just made this for the first time this week. We really enjoyed it, but like things a little spicier. If you are like us, here are some things we are considering for the next time:
1) Marinating the chicken in chipotle sauce before assembling the ingredients.
2) Adding some jalapenos to the mixture.
3) Adding some garlic and salt for a little more flavor.

This was really easy to make and made a lot, so you get a lot for your money. And, it is one of those lovely recipes that you can customize to your tastes and change up every time. I suspect that we will make this often, but will change it up each time.

And, we had leftovers for dinner last night, and it was almost even tastier day 2!

Calorie conscious note:
For those calorie counters, this is really a pretty healthful recipe. Calorie count will certainly vary by the ingredients that you chose, but you can count on the crock pot mixture to be in the 300s, then just add the rice and cheese (or don't) and you have yourself a very satisfying, yummy meal!


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