Healthy And Cheap : Chicken Fried Rice

This is what I call a "not for company meal."  Meaning, it's delicious but not exactly pretty.  Keep it for your family meals.  Not the boss and her family.  But this is a cheap and easy and GLUTEN FREE meal that is completely yummy.

But beauty challenged aside, this meal is so yummy and really healthy.  And like everything else coming out of my kitchen, you can use what you have on hand.  For example, I titled this chicken but I actually used leftover turkey from Thanksgiving.  You could also use ham or go meatless and add a can of chickpeas.  I use brown rice in just about everything.  I love it.  But feel free to use whatever you prefer.

This recipe is really all about prep work.  I keep cooked rice and cooked chicken/turkey in bags in my freezer at all times.  I always have a variety of frozen veggies in the freezer too.  If you don't have/want to use the preserves, just add a little oil or water.

Ingredients:
* Cooked rice
* Cooked chicken
* Large bag of frozen veggies
* 1/3 c. Soy sauce
* 1-2 tbls Apricot preserves (optional)
* 2-3 eggs, soft scrambled

Directions:
* Scramble a few eggs.  Don't overcook them as they will be added again to a cooking pan later.  Set aside.

* In large pan (I use the one that I scrambled eggs in to keep this a one pot meal), add a bit of soy sauce and preserves.  If not using preserves, feel free to instead add some brown sugar, EVOO or even just water.  You are making the sauce.  So make something saucy.

* Once you have a sauce going (about 1/4-1/2 cup is all- just to coat), add bag of frozen veggies.  Once defrosted, add chicken.  Once brought to temp, add rice and scrambled eggs.  Toss together to bring to the same temperature and coat in sauce.  Taste.  Add more soy sauce if needed.

* Serve warm.

This meal is full of protein in the brown rice, eggs and meat.  Lots of yummy veggies if you use a big bag.  It's cheap and super simple.  Oh and completely comforting on a chilly night!

Waste Not, Want Not

Instead of a list of excuses why I've been absent from blogville, I'm just jumping back in with an easy little post.  I have missed y'all, though!

Ever have leftover whipped cream after holidays and family gatherings?  I do every year and end up just throwing it away.  Until this year.

Now I know that whipped cream is not a big deal.  Or it's not to me anyway.  But it is really nice to top a hot cup of cocoa or even coffee (If you've never tried it, you must!  So decadent) in the long cold winter months.  So I hate to throw away something that I might really enjoy in the coming weeks.

So after I was done using the vanilla bean whipped cream on apple pie, I re-whipped it to get it nice and stiff again.  Then scooped it into a zip top sandwich baggie and cut off a corner.  I piped little dollops onto a cookie sheet pan and popped it into the freezer for an hour or two.  Once frozen, I tossed the little frozen whipped cream puffs into another zip top baggie and back into the freezer.

I won't use these to top pie or berries as it will lose some of it's umph once defrosted.  But instead, I plan to take out a little whipped cream puff now and then to top cocoa or coffee.  Sounds like a good treat after spending an hour shoveling my car out of the snow!