Weekly Pinterest Project: Quinoa Chili Frito Pie

Hello readers! As of today I am officially in my second trimester, and it’s true what they say: I feel loads better already. Well at least as far as the nausea and fatigue go. However, my appetite and energy seems to have come at the price of a pretty nasty sinus infection, so I’m still spending most of my time ‘resting.’ 

Good thing we just subscribed to HuluPlus through AppleTV and now have innumerable American TV shows at our fingertips. Just in time too, since I just polished off Season 10 of Friends this morning. 

How I've been spending my time: cuddled up with Bailey on the couch, watching Nashville.

But even though I’m spending most of my time housebound, I’m happy to be able to restart some of my house-wifely obligations again. I’ve been able to get back to cleaning pretty regularly and last night I even dared to try a new recipe…with chicken. That’s a big step in pregnancy, y’all.   

I haven’t touched chicken unless it came in Chicken McNugget form in over a month due to pretty severe food aversions to poultry. But when my friend Vicki was kind enough to spoil me with Fritos last week, I knew I had to use the luxury on something worthwhile: Frito Pie. 

I found this recipe on Pinterest for Quinoa and Chicken Chili and decided to give it a whirl. 

Original Source

I’m a big fan of any recipe that requires a crock pot and several canned goods, especially these days. This recipe is pretty simple and mega-delicious; plus the chicken and quinoa pack a protein punch that I’ve been lacking so far in my carboholic pregnancy. Now I still haven’t been able to handle raw chicken, so I took the extra precaution of using frozen chicken breasts so that I could just close my eyes and pretend they were blocks of ice.    

I adapted the recipe from this source. I stuck pretty close to the original recipe but, as per usual, added some Tony’s and Taco seasoning for a bit of extra flavor. What you do is, gather all of your ingredients: 

1 cup of rinsed, uncooked quinoa (rinsing takes some of the bitterness out)

2-3 chicken breasts

2 cans of stewed tomatoes
3 cups of chicken broth/stock

1 can of Rotel

2 cans of rinsed and drained black beans

1 can of drained corn

Put all the ingredients into your slow cooker and add seasonings: 

1 teaspoon of chili powder

2 teaspoons of cumin

2 teaspoons of red pepper

1 tablespoon of Tony’s 

1 ½ tablespoons of Taco Seasoning. 

You can cook on Low for 6-8 hours or on High for 4-7 hours. Before serving, separate the chicken and shred it with two forks before stirring it back into the chili and mixing it all together. 

Serve with cheese, sour cream, avocados, Fritos, whatever strikes your fancy. I’m personally partial to the Fritos and cheese, but that’s just me. 

The recipe was a big hit with Jonathan, so much so that he requested I get up with him at 6:30 AM to pack it in his lunch. And since I’m not quite back to being that good of a wife yet, I went ahead last night and packed him a Tupperware full of chili and a ziplock full of Doritos. I’m not sharing my Fritos… I'll never be that good of a wife.