Brown rice is sometimes a tough sell. In fact, it wasn’t until 1998 that I started liking it. It was one of a handful of trainer-approved foods that I was eating, in a mad dash effort to lose weight before my wedding, and I made a ridiculous amount of stir-fries with it.
Because stir-fry is totally where it’s at.
With the somewhat tougher texture that brown rice has, I think it’s better when it’s paired with other items, rather than eating it alone. And with this dish, I went to town.
Minute Rice makes these ready-to-serve cups that makes it really quick and easy to cook the rice, and when you’re pressed for time, it’s a great short cut. No measuring, no adding water, no nothing. Microwave the cup for one minute. Done. Boom.
Roasted asparagus.
Sauteed mushrooms and garlic.
Mrs. Dash salt-free seasoning.
A dash of soy sauce.
And then the fun began. The plating.
I mixed my vegetables with the cooked rice, and that went down on the plate first. Topped by two deliciously runny eggs (protein!). A drizzle of hot sauce. A few crumbles of goat cheese. A side of avocado and a slice of wheat toast.
And, oh man, it was soooo good. Healthy. Satisfying. Filling. Deliciousness to the nth degree.
Zero guilt here.
I shared some of my leftovers with my Mom, and after she had a chance to try it, she came back to report in.
“I hate brown rice,” she said. “But I LOVED that. I did everything but lick my plate.”
And if that isn’t a ringing endorsement, I don’t know what is.
When I posted the pictures of this dish on Instagram last night, someone asked how I get my kids to eat this type of food. And this type of food, really, is the simplest. Because it can be easily deconstructed to account for individual likes and dislikes.
For example, Madeline doesn’t like eggs yet (except deviled) or avocado. So her plate is the vegetable rice mix and toast. Nick will eat all of this, but isn’t a fan of mushrooms, so I just include less on his plate.
A layered dish like this makes it easy to plate each dish accordingly, without feeling like a short order cook.
Which, on a busy weeknight, is pretty awesome.
Total start to finish? Less than thirty minutes.
Ready.
Set.
Go!
PS Visit Minute Rice for recipes, including Minute Ready to Serve Stir It Up recipes ideas and more information about the Minute Rice family of products.
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