This Week's Dinner Menu, Plus an Easy Lunch Recipe!

 Ah, springtime!  Our weather is quick to change here year-round, but even moreso this time of year.  We have a warmer start to this week, but it is expected to finish on a cooler note.  While some plants are starting to peek through the snow, we might have a snow day this Thursday.  Time will tell!

All that in mind, we have a menu that gets a little heartier as the week moves on.

T.  tuna salad sandwiches, chips, pickles, raw vegetables, apples

W. taco salad, oranges

R. homemade chicken noodle soup, cheese, crackers, grapes

F. franks and beans over rice, apples

S. chicken stir fry with rice (or maybe mochi), oranges

S. homemade pizza, salad or raw vegetables (will depend on what we have on hand), apples

M. taco-seasoned bean croquettes, Mexican rice, lettuce and tomato, salsa and sour cream, tortilla chips, oranges

A lot of these meals either won't have leftovers, or the leftovers they will have are not ideal to take to work for my lunch.  With that in mind, I wanted to share something I make that is quick, easy, versatile, healthy, and tasty!  It all starts with a prepackaged rice or noodle blend.  My husband gets these with Ibotta rebates and they end up costing us almost nothing...and often times they are free after sales/coupons/rebates.  They tend to be strongly seasoned, so adding vegetables makes them taste better (to me), plus it boosts the nutrition and fiber.  Here is the one I made for this week:

One packaged rice blend, 3c. vegetables, 1 small chicken thigh.  My husband cooked up a package of chicken thighs and we sliced and froze the other two for meals we have later this week.

The first thing I did was start the rice blend in a saucepan, according to the directions.  It calls for water and some olive oil, which I forgot to include in the photo.  Since there is some oil in the rice blend, I cooked the vegetables with just a spritz of oil and then added some water to steam-cook them.  First, in a separate saute pan, I started the onions and peppers:

Once they were soft and starting to brown just a bit, I added the corn and broccoli.  You can choose whatever vegetables you like - I used what I used based on my likes, but also on what was in the vegetable drawer and needed a purpose.  

I added fresh broccoli and frozen corn...

...and stirred it all together to blend and cook.  I also added about 1/4 cup water at this time.

I really dislike it when broccoli is over-cooked, so I stopped cooking when the broccoli was bright, but still fairly firm.  We'll still be adding some hot ingredients, plus I'll be re-heating this for my lunches, so I want to leave the broccoli on the firm side for now.  Once this was all stirred together and beginning to sizzle just a bit, I turned off that flame and added the cubed chicken thigh.

I have not been adding seasoning because the rice blend is well seasoned.

Oh, look!  The rice is ready!  It still has a tiny bit of water in the bottom, but that seems to work well for this - it helps the seasonings 'transfer' to the vegetables and chicken.

Cilantro-lime - this smells amazing!

Everyone in the pan!

Stir it all together, and you're done.

That's it!  It takes very little time and you don't have to be an experienced cook.  This is 5 cups of food.  

I can use it a few different ways - I can eat it as-is, warmed up with a spoonful of salsa and a dollop of sour cream on top.  I also like to warm it up some (but not too hot) and have it over a bed of green salad, with salsa as a 'dressing' and some broken tortilla chips for crunch.  It can be used for lettuce wraps, made into a burrito with some cheese and hot sauce, or scooped up with tortilla chips.  You can even heat up about 3/4 cup of chicken broth with a cup of this for a hot soup!  Even though there is just one chicken thigh in the entire dish, there is added protein from the rice, corn, beans and quinoa.  The flavor is great, and the fiber from all the vegetables keeps me going through the afternoon.  Bonus - this blend freezes well, so I can prepare meals for later in the week, pop those in the freezer, and grab one each day on my way out the door.

I like flavor, I want to eat more vegetables, and I like easy.  This sort of lunch fits all those goals and it's super affordable.  If you need some tasty, easy lunches, you could give this a try!