Dinner, Fast: Fried Rice

This meal has become one of my weekly regulars, and quite possibly my favorite meal to cook. It's super healthy, full of veggies, and takes about 10-15 minutes to prepare, start to finish. Who doesn't love a healthy, fast meal?!

I've started consistently meal planning each week, and I've really been taking advantage of our freezer. When I cook rice in the rice cooker, I always make a double batch and freeze the leftovers in freezer bags. This is the key for this recipe--cooking rice is not difficult, but when fast is the goal, it just doesn't work.

Now, on to the recipe. As with most of my recipes, I don't measure much, so adjust as you prefer!

First, gather your ingredients:

frozen cooked brown rice (go with brown rice, it's so much healthier and when it's cooked this way it doesn't taste any different!!)

1 bag of frozen mixed veggies--any kind you like

2-4 eggs (up to you!), scrambled and set aside

soy sauce

sesame oil

canola oil

1. Heat equal parts of sesame and canola oils in a large pan (total a few tbsp.).

2. Pour in frozen rice and frozen veggies, stir and cook over medium heat until both are thawed and warming through.

3. Stir in about 1/4 c. soy sauce (more or less), a little at a time, to your taste (my soy sauce, from the Honest Weight Food Co-op, is potent, so I don't use a ton).

4. Push rice mixture to the perimeter of the pan, and pour in scrambled eggs. Continue to stir and cook the eggs through, and mix together into rice mixture when they're set.

Additional soy sauce and sesame oil can be added when served if it needs more oomph. I also sometimes add a generous drizzle of rice wine vinegar while it's cooking, just for a little more flavor.

This is fast, easy, delicious, and a huge hit with both Lainey and Sarah (my 1-year old)...and adults!

Creamy Veggie Pasta

I've been slowly working my way out of my cooking rut...sleep deprivation (cumulatively over the past three years) combined with a busy schedule leaves me in no mood to spend much time on dinner. The good news is that moods like this force me to find more relatively easy, sorta fast-to-prepare recipes (no matter what, when cooking with fresh veggies, there's always peeling/chopping to deal with...maybe I can hire a sous chef? :) ). I found this recipe and modified it as usual, to create this delish dinner.

It was supposed to be a one-pot, boil everything all together deal, but I decided that taking one extra step to saute the veggies would make it less mushy and more tasty. I was right. Yum! We all loved it, the girls devoured it, there were barely any leftovers. Here's Lainey making her "mmmm!" face.

Creamy Veggie Pasta (vegetable measurements are approximates because I adjusted as I went; you may need to adjust slightly to your taste!)

2 small zucchini, sliced thin

1 small summer squash, sliced

2 cups mushrooms, sliced

2 large handfuls spinach

1/2 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 c milk

1/2 c parmesan cheese

2 tbsp butter

salt and pepper to taste

6-12 oz. macaroni (I like to use less pasta than recipes usually call for, or more veggies--my goal is to make the meal equal parts pasta and vegetables)

1. Cook the pasta.

2. While pasta is cooking, saute veggies in olive oil. I started with onions, then added garlic, mushrooms, zucchini, and squash. Once they were all tender, I tossed in the spinach to wilt.

3. In a large bowl, mix milk, parmesan cheese, butter, salt and pepper.

4. Drain the pasta and immediately pour into serving bowl. Toss to coat all with cream mixture.

This is another recipe that would work with just about any veggies you have on hand. Even frozen vegetables would work, just do as the original recipe suggested and toss it right in your pasta pot.

I hesitate to ask due to an historical lack of responses, but...I know that mostly anyone who reads this blog is a friend. So please, if you have a fast(ish), easy(ish) recipe that you love, please share it!