Cooking With My Man, Edition 1: Vegetable Fried Rice

I love cooking. I like cooking with my man even more. It is something that we can do together, and when we are able to enjoy the finished product, it is even more satisfying. I know not everyone out there can consider themselves a gourmet chef, but I thought I would start sharing some of the recipes that my man and I make that are relatively easy to reproduce, and very yummy!

First up…some yummy fried rice!

Vegetable Fried Rice

Ingredients:

½ red bell pepper, sliced

1 broccoli crown (florets)

asparagus, sliced

handful of shredded carrots

sugar snap peas

1 small can water chestnuts, sliced

3 green onions, sliced

2 eggs

garlic

soy sauce

canola oil

brown rice (or white, if preffered)

Note: you are able to use any vegetables that you enjoy, not just the ones I listed! These are the ones that I used in the dish specifically…other veggie suggestions that I love: bean sprouts, celery, baby corn…

Time saving tip: If you don’t want to spend time slicing up fresh veggies, a bag of frozen stir fry veggies will work fabulously, and cut down on the prep!

Instructions:

1. I make the rice ahead of time so it has time to cool. For rice, follow the cooking instructions on the package. I boil 2 ½ cups of water, add 1 cup of brown rice, cover, and simmer for 45 minutes.

2. Slice all veggies into bite size pieces.

3. In a skillet on medium-high heat, add 2-3 tbsp of canola oil, followed by 1 tbsp garlic, and green onions. Saute until browned, about 1 minute.

4. Add carrots, broccoli, and asparagus. Saute 1-2 minutes.

5. Add remaining vegetables to skillet. If you are using frozen pre-cut vegetables, add these all at once. Add 1-2 tsp soy sauce to taste. Cook until tender.

6. When vegetables are tender, push them to the side of the skillet, and add 2 eggs to the pan (I used Egg Beaters here). Scramble.

7. Incorporate scrambled egg into vegetables.

8. Add cooled rice to skillet (use as much/as little as you would like to achieve the desired vegetable/rice ratio), incorporate into vegetable mixture.

9. Add 4-5 tbsp soy sauce to pan, stir 1-2 min. Add more soy sauce to taste (soy=salt…so add as much/as little as you like).

And here is the finished product! Justin and I marinated some chicken breasts in teriyaki sauce and grilled them to accompany the fried rice, but it is delicious on its own as well!