Recipe: Shrimp Fried Rice

Continuing on my journey of sharing a new recipe with you gals each week, here's a new one for you:

Shrimp Fried Rice!

Best part? Besides tasting awesome, it's pretty healthy, too.

Unlike traditional fried rice, this gal didn't "fry" hers and used a heartier brown rice instead of white. I also upped the veggie quota, loading in the broccoli so we're eating less starch and more greens. The dish is my favorite kind: a one-stop-shop. No need for a bread plate, a soup bowl, or space for other items. It's all right here in this perfect little dish. Enjoy!


Ingredients:
2 cups dry, brown rice (you can use white), uncooked
1 cup chicken broth
2 tbsp. vegetable oil

2 eggs, lightly beaten
3 tbsp. soy sauce (I used the low sodium variety)
Shrimp, lots and lots of shrimp!
Frozen peas, carrots and corn, thawed
I bag of broccoli

Directions
Heat 1 tbsp. oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
Add in broccoli, saute until cooked through (about four minutes). Set aside. (You can also steam or blanch if you prefer). Just look for that bright green color.
Heat 1 tbsp. oil.
Add in rice, brown slightly (about three minutes). Add in eggs, scramble until cooked thoroughly.
Add broth, peas, carrots and corn, and soy sauce; bring to a boil.
Remove from heat. Let stand five minutes so rice absorbs the liquid.
Add in shrimp and warm through with fried rice.
Serves 4-5.
Enjoy!

xo
Alyson

Mmm: Oven-baked fries

I don't know about you, but at our house it as soon as it hits 7 p.m. the hubs and I start the same banter (with one of us at the fridge and one by the pantry). "What do you want for dinner?" "I don't know, what do you want??" We don't do take-out too often -- except for the occasional sushi or Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza -- and we don't do frozen meals, so we're often left wondering what to make with what we have at that very moment. Sometimes it's breakfast for dinner -- yum! -- and sometimes it's just a random pasta, protein, veggies concoction that tastes pretty good and gives us leftovers for the next night.

If you're already making chicken, burgers or steaks, here's one of our newest favorite sides: oven-baked fries. It's a different take on a traditional baked potato and healthier than some other carb options. Nice that you can buy some potatoes or sweet potatoes and make when the mood strike... they last for ages. I'm sure some of you reading this -- if you even got this far -- make much more complicated dishes. This is crazy simple, I know. My bro is a great cook, for example, who is constantly glued to the Food Network yet he's never made these so I'm hoping I can add something to your dinner repertoire as well.

Ingredients:

- potatoes or sweet potatoes (look for round, long ones; weird shapes are hard to cut); estimate one per person.

- olive oil

- salt

- pepper

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Put potatoes in microwave for two minutes to soften. Slice in half long-wise and then cut half in the shape of long fries. Put on a coated baking sheet and coat with olive oil, salt and pepper. Put in oven for 40 minutes, flipping half way. Done... and yum!

Once you make these once, play around with different seasonings, such as paprika, garlic powder (or salt) and/or chili powder, and cinnamon for sweet potato fries. All delish.