Need Lunch? Try This Healthy and Easy Winter Recipe

You must be experiencing an increase in your appetite ever since the days have become chillier. It’s perfectly normal to crave toasty warm and tasty recipes these days, but you also want to keep your calorie intake in check. That’s what makes this cauliflower rice bowl chicken enchilada recipe an absolute favorite of thousands around the world. It provides an easy and healthy fix for lunch that will thoroughly satisfy your tastebuds.

• A Simple Yet Nutritious Rice Bowl Chicken Enchilada Recipe
  • Chicken Enchilada
    • Ingredients
    • How To
  • Cilantro Lime Cauliflower Rice
    • Ingredients
    • How To
    • Assembling the Rice Bowls
• Nutrition Facts and Benefits of This Healthy Meal
  1. Lean Chicken
  2. Cauliflower
  3. Cilantro
  4. Black Beans
  5. Black Olives
  6. Tomatoes
  7. Corn
• Cauliflower Rice for Healthy Eating
• Conclusion

A Simple Yet Nutritious Rice Bowl Chicken Enchilada Recipe

Healthy eating doesn’t have to mean boring food. You can add lots of flavor and color to your meals, making them nutritionally balanced and absolutely delectable at the same time. This recipe offers the perfect mix of taste, health, and delicious appearance, with lots of veggies and cauliflower rice topped with a chicken enchilada. 

The cauliflower rice in this recipe is a great option, as it is a low carb alternative to regular rice.

The chicken enchilada is prepared in a slow cooker or an instant pot pressure cooker. As for the other toppings, these include flavor and nutrition-packed veggies such as cilantro, lime, black olives, tomatoes, corn, and black beans. You definitely need to give this enchilada bowl a try.

Chicken Enchilada

Ingredients:

• 1.5 lbs chicken breast, boneless and skinless
• Half tsp of powdered garlic
• One tsp of powdered cumin
• Two tsps of chili powder
• Eight oz package or can red enchilada sauce
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• Black beans, tomatoes, grilled corn, black olives, cilantro for toppings

How To:

• Add the chilli, garlic, and cumin powder to the chicken, topping with enchilada sauce, and add these to the slow cooker. 
• Put the lid on and set the cooker to “low.” 
• Cook for four to six hours (depending on your cooker) until the chicken seems tender and fully cooked.
• Once your chicken is cooked, use two forks to shred it. 
• Add the sauce.

Cilantro Lime Cauliflower Rice

Ingredients:

• One medium head of cauliflower, chopped into florets
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• One tsp chili powder
• Quarter tsp garlic powder
• Juice of one lime
• Two tbsps chopped cilantro

How To:

• Take the chopped cauliflower florets, add them to a food processor, and pulse for about fifteen minutes until it looks like the size of rice or couscous. Use the large holes on a box grater to grate the florets if you don’t have a food processor.
• Place a skillet over medium high heat and add two teaspoons of olive oil to it.
• Add the cauliflower to the hot skillet and season with the salt, pepper, garlic powder, and chilli powder. 
• Saute the cauliflower rice, stirring occasionally for five to seven minutes.
• Pour the lime juice and chopped cilantro, and cook for another minute.

Assembling the Rice Bowls:

All you need to do now is spoon the cauliflower rice into a bowl and top it with the chicken, black beans, tomatoes, grilled corn, cilantro, olives and any other of your favorite toppings.

Nutrition Facts and Benefits of This Healthy Meal

These chicken enchilada cauliflower rice bowls make for a hearty meal that packs a punch with healthy nutrition. Prepared with ingredients rich in protein, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and low in carbs, this delicious recipe will get you on track with healthy eating. 

You should know what you eat. To give you a better insight on the nutritional information of this meal, let’s look at the health benefits of the key ingredients.

1. Lean Chicken

You need protein as an important part of a blanched diet, for muscle growth and maintenance, and other health benefits. However, you also need to keep the fat and calories accompanied with it in check.

Skinless, cooked chicken breasts are a lean source of white meat. They have 31 grams of protein per 100 grams, and 165 calories per 100 grams. Protein contributes to 80% of these calories, while 20% come from fat.

2. Cauliflower

Cauliflower is a rich source of nutrients and compounds, and is high in Vitamin C. Other beneficial nutrients in cauliflower include vitamin K, calcium, iron, magnesium, and Potassium.

3. Cilantro

Cilantro or coriander leaves are a rich source of antioxidants that boost your immune system. These antioxidants include compounds such as terpinene, quercetin, and tocopherols, which may have immune-boosting effects, like reducing the growth of cancer cells and preventing cellular damage caused by free radicals.

4. Black Beans

Black beans are high in minerals such as calcium, magnesium, iron, copper, phosphorus, manganese, and zinc. These nutrients play a key role in maintaining the structure and strength of bones and joints. Other health benefits of eating black beans include lowering the risk of heart disease and strengthening the immune system.

5. Black Olives

Black olives are packed with powerful nutrients that offer many health benefits. The antioxidant nutrients in black olives, especially Vitamin E, help promote heart health.

6. Tomatoes

Flavorful and colorful tomatoes are also a major source of beneficial dietary nutrients in your foods. Being a rich source of the antioxidant carotenoid lycopene, tomatoes are known to lower the risk of heart disease and cancer. Other important vitamins and minerals in tomatoes include vitamin C, potassium, folate, and vitamin K.

7. Corn

Corn is an excellent source of vitamin B12, folic acid, and iron, which help produce red blood cells in the body, therefore protecting against the risk of anemia.

Cauliflower Rice for Healthy Eating

It’s a brilliant choice to opt for cauliflower rice as a low-carb substitute for regular rice—especially when you are looking for low carb meals and healthy eating options. Let’s explore why.

Cauliflower rice is made by grating or shredding fresh cauliflower, and can be cooked or eaten raw. Packed with the healthy nutrients found in cauliflower, cauliflower rice gives you the feel of regular rice at only ten to twenty percent of the calories you’d get from the same amount of cooked rice! 

Cauliflower rice is also an incredibly filling and remarkably hydrating food source, thanks to its low-calorie, water-rich composition. This makes it an excellent option for those who are watching their weight and/or looking to maintain a healthy diet. 

Moreover, eating cauliflower rice is a great way of maintaining optimal overall health, as cauliflowers are rich in healthy nutrients such as fiber, choline, and antioxidants, to name a few. 

Another amazing thing about this super-healthy vegetable is that it is available in various parts of North America all year round. That means you can find cauliflower rice in stores whenever you want, or make your own with fresh cauliflower.

Here are some more ways you can add or substitute cauliflower rice in your foods:

• Use cauliflower rice in fried rice recipes.
• Add it in stir-fries.
• Add cauliflower rice to couscous for more bulk.
• Use cauliflower rice to make homemade sushi.
• Use it as a base for a pizza crust.
• Make cauliflower rice burgers.
• Try stuffed peppers with cauliflower rice.

Also, if you are struggling with making cauliflower rice, here is a five minute video that you can use to make the perfect batch at home.

Conclusion

Any season can be a good time to add new, healthy recipes to your cooking routines. This recipe will be the perfect addition to your winter cookbook. It will inspire you to explore great food options while keeping a check on the calories you consume. Also, check out these quick three-ingredient recipes for when you are in a hurry to prepare a meal.