Quick Stewed Chicken and Asparagus and Black Bean-Quinoa Salad

Tonight, I wanted to get in and out of the kitchen with minimal mess. That's usually the goal, but tonight I was fully committed. It had been a long day at work, and I knew my fiance and my daughter would be starving when they got home at 6:30 from a long day and my daughter's swim practice.
Earlier in the week, I skinned some whole chicken legs and set them in the fridge in a freezer bag. I meant to marinate them, but I never did. This morning as I walked the 15 minutes from my car to work, I did a mental inventory of what I had: the chicken, a can of spicy 365 black beans, asparagus, Roasted Red Pepper Soup, quinoa, salsa, cumin, lime, white wine, garlic, onion, my new Giada Di Laurentis stainless steel dutch oven. Hmm...surely only good things would come of this.
Here's what I did:
I placed the chicken in the Dutch oven and dusted it generously with cumin and a bit of cayenne powder. I then poured in about 1 cup of the Roasted Red Pepper Soup, doused the chicken with about a quarter cup of white wine, about 2 tsp of lime juice and a quarter cup of Lime-Cilantro Salsa. I mixed all of this and placed it on the stove on medium-high heat.
Meanwhile, I rinsed a half cup of Red Quinoa and combined it with 1 cup of water and 1 smashed clove of garlic in a small sauce pan over medium-high heat. I then rinsed and chopped my asparagus into thirds (after chopping the woody ends off) and placed them on top of and around my chicken. I added some minced garlic and half of a small, chopped onion, stirred and covered. By this time, the liquids in both pots were boiling, so I turned the heat down to medium for the chicken and Low for the Quinoa. While these items were content for the moment, I opened and drained my black beans and poured them into a medium glass storage bowl with a flat bottom and high sides. We already had some avocado chopped in the fridge, so I tossed this in, along with 2 TBSP of Cilantro Lime Salsa and let this sit covered on the counter.

I suddenly realized that I had some time to relax, so I decided to have a small bowl of the watermelon and cantaloupe that were already chopped and stored in the fridge. Yum! By the time I was done enjoying this and checking my Facebook, my family was arriving home. The first thing out of my fiance's mouth: Is dinner ready? I'm starving... My reply; Why, yes. Yes it is. Let's get it plated up and eat!

It was very yummy, and we were all very satisfied--even my 10 yo daughter who usually has something to say about at least one thing on her plate. Tonight, only good things (contented smile). If I had to do it over again, though, I would have added spinach leaves to cook with the chicken and asparagus. That would have made the meal even more nutrient rich and satisfying. Next time...

All of this took 1 hour with time to kill in between. What made the most difference was having the chicken skinned and ready in the fridge and focusing on what to make earlier in the day by doing my mental inventory on my walk. Had I really been on it this week, I would have planned all of the meals on Sunday, but what is ideal just doesn't always happen!