Chicken, Rice, and Black Bean Salad

I am -- ashamedly -- a member of the Lean Cuisine lunches club. For some reason, my biggest temptation to overeat is lunchtime, and those darn handy little meals prevent me from doing it!

Every once in awhile, I feel guilty about eating all the nastiness in those meals, and I make myself something at home. It's always tasty -- but unfortunately, the frozen meals continue to provide me with more variety than I can afford to provide myself during the week for lunches!

This salad is delicious and it's a total meal in one package. I'm labelling it Mexican, but like Liz before me...well..it isn't really mexican, per se. It's just darn tasty!

Chicken, Rice, and Black Bean Salad

(Liz's Cooking Blog)

1 cup brown (or white) rice

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked with olive oil, kosher salt, and Adobo Seasoning, cooled and diced (I used 3 bone-in chicken breasts that I had in the freezer, and just removed the skins)

1 can (15 1/2 oz) black beans, rinsed and drained

2-4 on-the-vine tomatoes, seeded and diced

3-4 scallions, thinly sliced

1 jalapeno chili, seeds and ribs removed, minced

1/4 cup white wine vinegar

3 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

- Cook the rice according to package instructions. Cool completely.

- Place cooled rice in a large bowl; add chicken, beans, tomatoes, scallions, jalapeno, vinegar, oil, and cumin.

- Season with salt and pepper; toss to combine

- Serve immediately, or refridgerate, covered, up to 1 day (I kept mine refridgerated for about 3 days..and it was admittedly not holding up so well by that 3rd day!)