Fast Healthy and Delicious Dinner

Time is always of the essence around here, and dinnertime may just be the most essenceful of times. If you’re like me, you are constantly scouring the internet for “fast and healthy dinner ideas,” “quick weeknight meals for families,” “healthy meals that don’t have 9000 ingredients,” or my personal favorite, “what the heck should I make so that these kids will actually eat???” Use this one on repeat!

Challenge Accepted

My kids are not the pickiest, but they aren’t the most willing to eat everything I make for dinner. I am a pretty good home cook, and I do my best to make things that are healthy, include things I know they like, and on occasion new flavors to expand their flavor horizons. My 7 year old is usually hungry for dinner, but could eat orange chicken every day of his life with no issues. My 4 year old is more of a snacker in the evening, and could get by on a sniff of carrots & ranch, and spite. I am usually exhausted and starving by the time I’m done with work and whichever kid activity/sport we have going on that day, but I still haven’t found a kitchen fairy to magically make dinner appear, so, I need to bust out my magic wand to make it happen.

Like I said, I enjoy cooking, and I am pretty good at it. I also like to make “real food” as much as is practical instead of things out of packages, or from a restaurant all the time. Trust, though, I am an expert pizza orderer, and have a freezer full of convenience meal things. This recipe, as luck would have it, is a fabulous mix of convenience and real food!

The Goods

I use a mix of prepared and fresh foods to make this one. It takes me about 30-40 minutes depending on interruptions (aka, my darling boys trying to eat all the snacks whilst I make dinner as fast as I can). I took a picture of my stove clock so you can see how long it took me today.

What you’ll need:

• The star of the show is Kevin’s Paleo Teriyaki Simmer Sauce. I am not on a paleo diet, but I appreciate the low sugar and fewer ingredients.

• I use hand-pulled rotisserie chicken, but feel free to cook your own, or to shred a whole rotisserie chicken. Or sub in your protein of choice.

• I used pre-cooked sticky rice because that is what I had on hand. Brown rice, quinoa, noodles, or whatever grain or non-grain you’d like is awesome too.

• I used a combo of carrots, red bell pepper, (frozen) broccoli florets, and (frozen) edamame. I cut the carrots into matchstick size, and if I have them, that is what I would use so the carrots cook faster. The bell peppers should be about the same size as the carrot pieces for even cooking.

• Garlic powder, onion powder, olive oil, and sesame oil round things out. I don’t add extra salt because the chicken and the sauce have plenty. I use just about 1/2 a tablespoon of olive oil, and like a 1/2 teaspoon of sesame oil. Sprinkle the garlic powder and onion powder on the veggies before putting them in the pan to your flavor preference. A little ginger is also good if you have it.

• A deep sided sauté pan with a lid.

• A utensil to stir it all together.

Allez Cuisine! (Where are my Iron Chef fans???)

• First, I put the frozen broccoli in the microwave for a few minutes so it is just thawed but not super steamed.

• Then I get into it by slicing and dicing everything so it is ready to go when I need it.

• Season the veggies with the garlic and onion powders.

• Put the pan on medium high heat and add the oils to the pan.

• Put the carrots and peppers only in the hot oil and stir. Put the lid on for a few minutes to get it going faster.

  

• Take the broccoli out of the microwave, and put the edamame in to warm up enough to get it out of the pods. If you are using shelled edamame, skip this step.

• Add the chicken to the pan and give it a stir.

• Take the edamame out of the microwave, and put the rice in.

• While the rice is cooking/warming, add the edamame and broccoli to the pan. Stir it up (little darling), and put the lid on for another couple of minutes.

  

• Once everything in the pan is hot, turn the heat down to low, add the sauce, and mix it up.

  

  
  

• All done! Serve over the rice and enjoy!

  

Leave a note in the comments when you try it, I’d love to hear what you think! Follow me for more ideas like this one.