healthy fried rice with cauliflower.

I love this easy-to-make veggie "fried" rice. It uses absolutely no oil and is loaded with veggies. You can scale down the ingredient amounts if you don't need 15 servings. :)

I paired this side dish with teriyaki steak but it would be super simple to make this a main course by adding cooked chicken, pork, or steak.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups cauliflower
• 1 cup vegetable or chicken broth
• 5 cups cooked brown rice 
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 cup defrosted vegetable blend (peas, corn, green beans, carrots)
• 3 tbsp low sodium soy sauce

Preparation

1. Steam cauliflower
2. Chop cauliflower finely, using a blender or food processor. (Don't puree though, otherwise it'll look like mashed potatoes)
3. In a frying pan, add broth and bring it to a light boil. 
4. Once broth has began to simmer add your cooked rice, cauliflower, and vegetable blend.
5. Once the rice mixture has soaked up the broth add your soy sauce,  pepper, cinnamon, and brown sugar. 
6. Let the rice cook on low. (while egg cooks)
7. While the rice is cooking, scramble up the egg in a separate pan. 
8. Add cooked egg to the rice mixture and stir.
9. It is ready to serve!

Recipe Credit: Undressed Skeleton

slow cooker honey sesame chicken

[adapted from http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2012/01/slow-cooker-honey-sesame-chicken-recipe.html]

I haven't gotten to use my crock pot too much since we got it so I was really excited to try this recipe.  And even better, it was a quick and easy meal to make.  It has some sweetness to it but it's not overkill.  We ate it with leftover brown rice. It was a perfect one course meal!

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts 

Salt and pepper (I didn't put salt on it since the soy sauce adds enough salt!) 

1 cup honey

1/2 cup soy sauce (I used low sodium)

1/2 cup diced onion

1/4 cup ketchup

2 tablespoons vegetable oil (could also use olive oil or canola oil)

2 cloves garlic, minced (I used 3 cloves)

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes 

4 teaspoons cornstarch dissolved in 6 Tablespoons water

Sesame seeds

Directions:

1. Season both sides of chicken with lightly with salt & pepper, put into crock pot.

2. In a small bowl, combine honey, soy sauce, onion, ketchup, oil, garlic and pepper flakes. Pour over chicken. 

3. Cook on low for 3-4 hours or on high 1 1/2 – 2 1/2 hours, or just until chicken is cooked through. 

4. Remove chicken from crock pot, leave sauce. 

5. Dissolve 4 teaspoons of cornstarch in 6 tablespoons of water and pour into crock pot. 

Stir to combine with sauce.

6.  Replace lid and cook sauce on high for ten more minutes or until slightly thickened. 

7. Cut chicken into bite size pieces, then return to pot and toss with sauce before serving. 

8. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve over rice or noodles.