theodorahcheng

Today at work I ate pita bread with hummus and some grapes on the side. It was really meh. So I vowed to try slightly harder tonight so my lunch would be more enjoyable tomorrow. I decided to make Mock “Fried Rice.”

I grab the vegetables I have on hand–grape tomatoes, mushrooms, mini bell peppers, baby kale. Then I grab frozen chicken tenders, couscous, and chicken broth. It’s important to keep in mind that you can really use any vegetables on hand, you’re not limited to what you see in the pictures. Explore and use your imagination!

First, put a frozen chicken tender (or two) on a pan covered in aluminum foil.

Then put it in the toaster oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes. I really like the pre-frozen chicken tenders because they last a long time and are already separated into the portions I want.

Grab a small pot, it doesn’t have to be that big. Throw in some grape tomatoes. Be generous, they’re not going to hurt you.

Put in a handful of baby kale or whatever greens you have on hand. It’s good to get in some fiber.

Rip off the stem on the mini bell pepper. Mine are old and wrinkly so it was a little harder to do.

Then slice the bell peppers diagonally like the picture below. Obviously always use both hands while cutting anything, I was just taking a picture so this is more for “modeling.”

Add those peppers to the pot! Wow look how colorful and nutritious that looks.

Then add in some sliced mushrooms. This is starting to look like salad in a pot.

Measure out 3/4 cup of water.

And 3/4 cup of chicken broth. I just did it in one measuring cup so the end measurement should be 1 1/2 cups.

Pour it into the pot then and put the lid on. Set the stove to medium heat.

When it starts to simmer, stir it around.

Pour in 1/2 cup of couscous.

Stir it around some more. Take the pot off of the stove and put on the lid.

Set a timer to 5 minutes.

When the timer goes off, take the lid off of the pot and “fluff” that couscous around. WOW! Looks just like fried rice. Okay, not really, but kind of, right?

Take the chicken out of the oven when it’s done. Mmm it doesn’t look too pretty but that’s okay because I didn’t have to wash a pan to fry this chicken.

Cut it in half to make sure it’s cooked.

Then I divvied it up into two containers for lunch and dinner tomorrow. For some of you hungry younguns this could probably serve as one meal.

Of course, I added some sriracha for flavor.

Some of you might argue this isn’t really fried rice, but that’s why I called it Mock “Fried Rice.” Questions? Comments? Feel free to contact me! Lots of you responded with tons of positive feedback and I really appreciate it. Hope this whet your appetite and inspired you to do some easy fast cooking.

P.S. I believe the true ratio of couscous to water is 1:1. What I did was more 1:3 because of the added vegetables. It’s a little soggier (which is the way I like it) so feel free to adjust as needed!

So today I get off of work and I immediately want to make something as easy as possible. I kind of glazed over lunch at work today, and by glazed I mean I ate like 3 of those peanut butter pretzel bites. So I was SUPER hungry.

I go to the fridge and I immediately grab what I have on hand–frozen salmon, mini bell peppers, grape tomatoes, and eggs. Grape tomatoes and mini bell peppers can get kind of pricey sometimes, but I always buy it from Costco where you get more bang for your buck on these items. As a single (ahem), these items stretch for quite a few meals.

The first thing I do is grab some aluminum foil and wrap my toaster oven baking pan. I want to do as little washing as possible, so this is an important step. Make sure that the aluminum foil goes up the edges so nothing spills out.

Lay down the salmon skin side down. You may be wondering, do I need to put oil down? It’s really up to you, but I say nahhhh. I used to put oil down before I baked stuff, but after taste testing without the oil, I realized it wasn’t that necessary. It didn’t really improve the flavor nor were the ingredients sticking to the pan that much. So LESS FAT FOR ME hehe. Also, this is a frozen salmon fillet, I did not defrost it.

Scatter a handful of grape tomatoes around the salmon so it isn’t too lonely. Grape tomatoes are so deliciously juicy.

Remove stems from the mini bell peppers. I used to just awkwardly eat around the stem, but then I realized that I could gently pull it off, making the whole thing edible.