A delicious last minute meal that I will definitely make again.
I am not a chef. My only training came from watching my mother prepare awesome meals for our family every single night. Seriously, she rocked. One aspect where I excel is that I can be quite creative in the kitchen. What inspires my creativity? Hunger. With the baby pushing back our dinner schedule to a bit later than usual, we can get stuck in the basics –– grilled chicken and veggies have been a staple in the past year. It’s boring. It’s basic. But it gets the job done. Tonight, after an exhausting day of moving furniture, I whipped up a delicious and super healthy dinner that was, in fact, creative and a dish that I'd like to share with you.
The goal of the dinner was to use up two large bunches of bok choy (purchased 3 days ago) and peas. Why peas? Because they are versatile, my baby loves them, and they can be hoarded in the freezer. The other issue was that I also had three ears of grilled corn that needed to be eaten today or else they’d go bad.
So here is what I did:
I cooked 1 package of chicken (tenders) in sesame oil for about 13 minutes. Added 3 chopped carrots and cooked them for another 3 minutes. Then I added a package of frozen peas and a little water to avoid the contents of the dish to stick to the pan. I let that cook for about 5 more minutes and then added 1 package of frozen cauliflower rice. While that was cooking, I added some pepper, dried ginger, and coconut aminos. The coconut aminos mimicked soy sauce. At the very end, I added the bok choy and stirred it up until that wilted. It was savoury, it had crunch, and was super filling. The protein in the chicken + all the colorful veggies meant I had a complete meal. But wait... there’s more. While it was all cooking I used a serrated knife to cut the corn off the cob. To be honest, it wasn’t very much. I took ½ a container of leftover cherry tomatoes and halved each little tomato.. Then I diced cilantro and tossed it all with lime juice and olive oil. It was two very different flavor profiles but it was a wonderfully simple dinner that used only 2 bowls!!! The salad is gone, but the leftover chicken and vegetables will re-heat wonderfully tomorrow for lunch.
Pro tip: Always cook extra. If you struggle with portion control (and the struggle is real!), put the food away before you eat.
