Misty, I rarely cook with a recipe, so I’ll give it my best shot.
For the ground beef, I just did taco-style meat.
For the chicken, I used spices like cumin, paprika, a little cayenne, salt, and lime. You could also find some canned chipotle peppers and dice one or two to throw in with the chicken, or just add a TBS or two of the liquid from the can.
Although I didn’t do it for this event, you can flavor your rice with cilantro and lime like Chipotle does. The reason I didn’t is because we have a lot of cilantro lovers in our family, so I had 2 bunches of cilantro chopped up so people could have as much as they wanted, rather than it just being on the rice. But I do want to attempt the cilantro/lime rice!
For my beans, I always cook black beans with no seasonings because I use them for desserts too. I make big batches and freeze part of them for black bean chocolate cupcakes and brownies, and salting them during cooking would make those desserts taste awful! When I serve black beans as a side with something like this, I like to mix them with onion, red bell pepper, and corn, lime juice, salt, chili powder, and a little cilantro. It makes more of a warm relish or compote, not just a side of beans. If you wanted beans by themselves, add the salt, lime, and chili powder to taste to your beans.
And here’s my homemade salsa recipe…it’s famous in our family!
Merry Christmas!
