Chicken and Black Bean Green Enchilada Rice Bake

Feliz  Cinco de Mayo!  In honor of the day, I have one last Mexican inspired recipe to share.  This one is a very easy weeknight casserole.  Casseroles are something that do not appear on my blog very often because the men & boys around here just do not typically like them.  Grace and I do, but they tend to make SO MUCH that her and I are stuck eating the leftovers for the entire week.  Surprisingly, everyone seemed to like this particular casserole recipe.  Probably because it was a combination of flavors and ingredients that everyone likes, plus the ingredients were layered, rather than mixed all together.  To jazz this up even more, several of us topped our individual servings with a few dashes of Tabasco Sauce.  Don't do this if you don't like spicy!  My 8 year old learned that the hard way after putting about 1 Tbsp. on his!

Chicken and Black Bean Green Enchilada Rice Bake

2 cups white long grain rice, uncooked

2 1/2 cups cooked, shredded chicken breast

One 15-ounce can mild green enchilada sauce

One 4-ounce can sliced black olives

One 15-ounce can diced tomatoes

1/2 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon McCormick Gourmet Roasted Ground Cumin (regular Cumin is also fine. I was out of both, so I had to use a Fiesta Seasoning mix from Tastefully Simple.)

One 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (best shredded yourself!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and spray a 9×13-inch baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.

Cook rice according to package directions.

Place chicken, enchilada sauce, olives, tomatoes, sour cream, salt, pepper and cumin into a large bowl, mixing to combine. Pour cooked rice into prepared baking dish and layer beans on top of rice. Pour chicken mixture over rice and top evenly with cheddar cheese. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until cheese is melted and rice is hot.

Makes 6 to 8 servings

Source: Picky Palate