“Chicken and Rice.” This is currently one of Munchkin’s favorite meals.  If we ask him what he’d like to eat, no matter the time of day, the answer is usually “chicken and rice.”  Now, rice is not generally one of my favorites.  At any Mexican restaurant, I will gladly take double the refried beans over rice and beans.  But, I LOVE fried rice!  Hibachi, anyone?  I’d seen some recipes floating around Pinterest and decided to give it a go. 

I’ve made this recipe several times now and have combined several recipes into this one.  This recipe is perfect for Meatless Monday because it’s quick and easy, but you could also easily add some cooked chicken or any other protein you happen to have on hand.  I made a full recipe of rice last week for my stuffed peppers, but I only used a portion of it, so I had just enough left over for this recipe without having to make any more.  It doesn’t look like much going into the crock pot, but we always have plenty for seconds and leftovers.  😉

Veggie Fried Rice

Veggie Fried Rice

2016-03-14 17:35:20

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Ingredients

1. 2-3 cups cooked brown rice
2. 3 TB butter
3. 1 TB sesame oil
4. 2 TB soy sauce
5. 2 TB Worcestershire sauce
6. 1/4 tsp salt
7. 1/2 tsp pepper
8. 4 garlic cloves, minced
9. 1 TB minced or grated ginger
10. 1 onion, diced
11. 1 red bell pepper, diced
12. 1 frozen bag of peas and carrots
13. 1 cup broccoli (optional - I use if I have on hand)
14. 1 cup corn (option - I use if I have on hand)

Instructions

1. Combine all the ingredients in a crock pot. Cook on high for 2 to 3 hours, just long enough to cook the eggs.

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I am terrible about using up food in our refrigerator, but I am trying to be better.  I menu plan several days at a time, but it never fails that I have left over ingredients that end up in the trash can.  Not only is this wasteful of good food, but it is also unnecessarily expensive.  I’ve been cleaning out our fridge on a weekly basis when I menu plan so that I can see what ingredients I should include in the upcoming week’s meals.  Certain ingredients obviously keep a long time in the fridge, but if I have leftover parsley, I can be sure to use it up in the next couple of days.  I call it the Fridge Challenge.  This is also a good way to see what I’m buying that we are not eating.  For instance, I always seem to have a giant bag of baby carrots in the fridge.  Untouched.  I KNOW carrots make a great snack, but I never seem to CHOOSE carrots for my snack.  So, on my menu this week is homemade hummus.  Maybe then I’ll eat those carrots.  (Or, at least, they’ll make a colorful spoon! 😉 )

Today’s recipe is a great way to use up leftovers.  You could use so many different ingredients to make your own custom recipe.  This is actually one of hubby’s favorite dinners.  He knows they are easy and cheap, so whenever I ask him for ideas to fill in during menu planning, he picks this one often.  Another reason I love this recipe is that it cooks in the crock pot but only for a couple of hours.  This is very easy to throw together at the last minute. 

Last week, I made my fabulous black bean chili.  Now, I’m not kidding when I say that this recipe makes a ton.  We ate it for lunch and dinner for a couple days, and I froze a couple pints for future use, and I STILL had some leftover.  So, I decided to use up those leftovers in some stuffed peppers.  Chili really makes a great leftover; there are so many ways you can use it!  I mixed it with some rice and tomatoes, and voilá! Yummy dinner!  Don’t forget your favorite chili toppings!  We topped ours with Greek yogurt. 🙂

Stuffed Peppers

Stuffed Peppers

2016-03-07 12:23:26

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Ingredients

1. 4 green peppers, tops and seeds removed
2. 1 1/2 cup leftover chili (Use black bean chili for meatless!)
3. 1 cup cooked brown rice
4. 1 can diced tomatoes with green chiles

Instructions

1. Combine the chili, rice, and tomatoes. Scoop into the prepared green peppers. Place in the crockpot, making sure that the peppers stay upright. Cook on high for 2 hours. (If you like your peppers softer, cook for longer.)

Notes

1. Look for green peppers with flat bottoms. This will ensure that the peppers stay level in the crock pot 😉
2. Also, when cutting off the tops of the peppers. I like to insert the knife perpendicular to the top and cut in a circle around the stem. This will also cut off most of the ribs of the pepper inside making clean out very easy!

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