How do you feel about Szechuan? Yes, that crazily named Asian spice that is almost as hard to say as it to spell (seriously, I had to look it up like 3 times before typing it). However, as much as I don’t like typing the word necessarily, I do really enjoy eating it. Especially a spicy Asian Szechuan stir fry with yummy brown rice and tasty veggies. Each bite gets coated in sweet spicy yumminess. Sounds good, no?

Workout

Before I share today’s recipe with you, let me tell you about my workout! I woke up extra early again this morning to squeeze in a workout before work. Imagine my delight when I saw the sun was finally shining! Woo!!! It has been cloudy and/or raining for entirely too long. I was beginning to think it was never going to get nice out. However, when I stepped outside with Jack for our run, I had to huddle up in my jacket because it was cold! Ah! I am so ready for sunny, hot, weather already. Is that too much to ask for the middle of May? Oh well,sun is better than rain and our jog felt great!

After running with Jack I came inside to complete another Insanity workout. Again, I only had time for about half of the workout in the morning (month 2 DVDs are an hour long) and I was planning to do the other half after work, however I didn’t get home until 7:30 and was pooped. I am so glad I worked out early today! It makes my evenings so much more enjoyable! If you haven’t tried this schedule yet you totally should!

Recipe

Ok so enough about my workout; let’s talk about that Szechuan! As I mentioned, I got home from work late and was too tired to put together a whole dinner. I decided that what I really needed was an easy-to-assemble big warm bowl of Asian food. Oooh yeah. I love me some Asian food!

Now, as you’ve seen from my Thai Turkey Burgers, I normally like to make Asian sauces myself using any combination of soy sauce, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, siracha sauce, ketchup (yes, I said ketchup), orange juice, ginger, and brown sugar. Any combination of these whisked together with some cornstarch will make a pretty tasty Asian sauce, but tonight I was lazy and got some help from some store-bought sauce from Harris Teeter. I’m all for making shortcuts when you’re tired. Plus the sauce is extra spicy and I just had to add it to my rice and veggies as they cooked. It couldn’t be easier! Here’s how it all came together.

First I dumped rice and water in a pot and brought it to a boil. Then I added some curry powder to flavor the rice and give it a nice color.

When the rice started boiling I turned the heat down to low and covered the rice, as usual. While the rice came together, I quickly chopped some veggies for the stir fry. You can use any veggies you like, but I only had carrots, broccoli, and onions on hand (guess I need to go grocery shopping huh?)

Once the veggies were chopped I added them to a large skillet coated with a tiny bit of vegetable oil. Normally I would have sprayed the skillet with nonstick spray, but since it was a stir fry I figured it needed a bit of oil. I put the carrots in first, since they take the longest to cook, then added in the broccoli and onions. I let it all cook until the veggies were tender.

Once the veggies were done, I added the curried rice to the pan and mixed everything together. At this point it was time for the Szechuan!

This particular brand of stir fry sauce is pretty thick, so I didn’t need to add too much to flavor this dish. These sauces are available in most grocery stores and I’ve always had good luck with them. They add so much flavor on those nights when you just don’t want to make your own sauce.

Then I poured my rice and veggies into a bowl and dug in!

Nom nom nom nom….oh excuse me Winking smile

If that’s not comfort in a bowl then I don’t know what is!

Curried Rice & Veggie Bowl

Serves 1

Ingredients

1/3 cup dry brown rice
2/3 cup water
1 tsp. curry powder
6 baby carrots (or 1 large carrot), chopped
1/2 head broccoli florets
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 tbsp. spicy Szechuan sauce (store-bought or homemade)

Instructions

Add brown rice, water, and curry to a pot and bring to a boil. Lower heat and cover, cooking about 25 minutes.
Chop veggies into bite-size pieces and set aside.
Heat a large skillet on medium-high heat and coat the pan with 1 tbsp. vegetable oil.
Add veggies and cook until tender, about 6-7 minutes.
Add curried rice to skillet and mix in with veggies. Pour in Szechuan sauce and stir to combine.

So what do you guys think? What are you’re thoughts on Asian food? I personally would much rather enjoy the flavors at home where I can control the portion size and seasonings. I also really like making sauces myself, but sometimes I am too lazy! Does this ever happen to you? Where you know how to make something from scratch but choose not to? I know I’m guilty!

Hello everyone! Happy Tuesday I hope your day is going well…mine has been very busy and productive! Even though I’m busy at work, I promised I would share my recipe from last night’s dinner and a promise is a promise! So, without further ado, I give you….Chicken Burrito Bowls!

Recipe

I don’t know about you, but Chipotle is one of my favorite “fast food” restaurants. I love that you can choose exactly which ingredients you want and switch up the flavors each time you go. While I generally try to get the healthiest options available (which is made easier by Chipotle’s recent addition of brown rice! Thank you Chipotle!), I knew I could make an even healthier version of my favorite chicken burrito bowl at home. So, whether it’s the spicy chicken or the sweet corn that tickles your taste buds, try this at-home version of Chipotle’s burrito bowl and get your Mexican fix without all the calories! Yay!

To make this dish I first combined brown rice with water and brought it to a boil over high heat. Once it was boiling, I turned the heat down to low, covered the rice, and let it cook for about 25 minutes.

While the rice cooked I started bringing together all the rest of the ingredients that would go into my burrito bowl. First I chopped a small onion, a medium-sized tomato, and some cilantro and combined it with lemon juice in a small bowl. Lime juice probably would have been better, but I didn’t have any on hand and the lemon tasted fine.

I set this mixture aside and let the flavors come together as I prepared the rest of my ingredients.

Next I opened a can of sweet corn and black beans. I made sure to get the low sodium kind because canned veggies are usually loaded with salt. Bleh. No thank you! I’ll add my own salt thankyouverymuch.

I poured these into separate bowls and gave them a quick nuke in the microwave. Once they were hot, I set them aside with my tomato mixture so they’d be all in one place when I was ready to add them to the rice.

Then I got started on the chicken. I made a quick rub from cumin, paprika, Mexican chili powder, and a little bit of cayenne pepper. I rubbed this on three small boneless, skinless, chicken tenders and cooked them up on the George Foreman.

They cooked up really quickly and once they were done I chopped them up and set them aside. Then I just had to wait for the rice to finish cooking!

As soon as it was done I dumped in the tomatoes, corn, and beans and mixed everything together.

Then I scooped the rice mixture into two bowls and topped it with the chicken! I added some extra cilantro for garnish (mostly because my cilantro plant is growing like crazy and I wanted to use more).

These were so good and really mimicked the flavor of Chipotle! The spicy chicken gave the dish a nice kick and the sweet corn balanced it out. Fabio couldn’t stop raving about how good it was and went back for seconds! He also topped his with shredded cheese but I omitted this to save calories. This really is an easy and tasty dish so you should try it out!

Chicken Burrito Bowls (inspired by Chipotle)

Serves ~~three~~ one hungry boy and his girlfriend

Ingredients

1 cup brown rice
2 cups water
1 small onion, diced
1 medium-sized tomato, diced
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
1 tbsp. lemon/lime juice
1/2 can sweet corn
1/2 can black beans
3 boneless, skinless chicken tenders (or other type of chicken breast)
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. Mexican chili powder
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper

Instructions

Combine brown rice with water in a pot. Bring the water to a boil and then cover the rice and reduce heat to low. Cook for about 25 minutes or until water is absorbed and rice is tender.
Combine chopped onion, tomato, and cilantro in a bowl. Mix well and add in lemon/lime juice. Set aside.
Pour 1/2 can sweet corn into a separate bowl and heat in microwave for 1 minute. Repeat with 1/2 can of black beans. Set bowls aside.
In another small dish, combine cumin, paprika, Mexican chili powder, and cayenne pepper. Rub spice mixture on both sides of chicken breasts and grill until chicken is no longer pink in the middle. Remove chicken from grill and slice into bite-size pieces.
When rice is done, add in tomato mixture, corn, and beans. Stir to combine.
Serve rice in small bowls and top with chicken. Garnish with extra cilantro, if desired.

That’s it! Super easy, huh?

So now let me hear from you. Do you like Chipotle? What’s your favorite fast-food option? Do you ever try recreating your favorites at home?