Vegetable Fried Rice

I made this recipe a few weeks ago and posted a photo of it on Instagram. Wow. The response was overwhelming! Which is a good thing, because I post a lot of photos of my son and dogs. 

Food clearly gets your attention. :) 

Mine too. 

I'll be honest and tell you that I am a Pei Wei fiend. Hardcore. I love me some Pan-Asian fare. BUT we do have to drive 20 minutes for the closest one. Making this on a Wednesday night is SO MUCH easier and faster. 

This is vegetarian friendly, and if you leave out the egg, its vegan friendly. Get creative and throw in whatever veggies you have on hand. Squash, zucchini, green onions, clean out your freezer drawer packed full of half opened veggies. (Oh wait, is that just me?)

Wild Rice with Sautéed Carrots

Ready to jazz up your boring wild rice? Jackpot. 

Here's the deal, we eat some sort of brown or wild rice or quinoa every night. I know how boring whole grains can be. I also know how sodium packed the flavored boxed versions are. Gross. 

If you can cook rice, you have half of this recipe down. The other half is-you guessed it-sauteeing carrots. Its a great way to get an extra veggie into your meals and spice up that bland rice! This recipe can be made with any whole grain! 

Crock Pot Mac and Cheese

Comfort food + Crock Pot = yes.

I really enjoyed this side dish (to a few meals-it makes a lot) because of how simple it was to make and again, I was able to confess my love to my crock pot.

I have a problem. I know.

Other than waiting for the noodles to boil, this came together quite quickly and made the house smell wonderful and cheesy. Feel free to add MORE cheese or even throw this into a baking dish with butter, cheese, and breadcrumbs on top and place it under the broiler for a few minutes. Yum.

Mac & Cheese Bites

My husband has 5 food groups: Mexican, pizza, chicken finger baskets, cereal, and mac and cheese. Non of which are too hard to make or mess up...nor will they let the average 34 7 year old down. Love you husband! :)

Mac and cheese in a bite size portion sounded great to me! It didn't come out of a blue box, but it was served on a blue plate. Take that Kraft. 

Grilled Sweet Potatoes

Just call me the grill master. I have used the grill more times in the past 3 months that I have in my entire life. Mainly because my dad is a killer grill king and I didn't want to mess that up. 

I will throw just about anything on the hot grates. I honestly whipped these up quickly because I was low on squash for the grill. What a wonderful discovery I made. Enjoy!