15-Minute Beef & Veggie Fried Rice

While my “office hours” may be winding down in the late afternoon, the hectic job of shuttling kids around to after-school activities, squeezing in a run and preparing a healthy family dinner is ramping up full speed. Often, it seems like something must give – but I always find a way to keep the craziness contained! It was a lightbulb moment when I realized my older kids were fully capable to cook dinner every now and then! If I’m stuck on the road or finishing a workout, I can call ahead for them to get prepping or give them freedom to take total charge, like with this super-easy recipe for 15-minute Beef & Veggie Fried Rice.

The beauty of this quick and easy dinner solution is having a few convenience items on hand in the freezer – particularly, pre-cooked rice and razor-thin cut sirloin. I usually purchase my lean top sirloin steaks from the butcher for grilling, but I recently found an incredible product in the freezer section of the grocery store — HEB brand Thinly Sliced Sirloin Beef (found in the freezer aisle).

Even though the packaging makes you think “Philly Cheese Steak,” the four enclosed patties cook down into ultra-thin strips of beef that are mouth-watering magic for the stir fry cooking method. Although frozen into a steak shape at the start, the beef is actually pre-sliced so no fancy knife skills are needed (a safety consideration with my teens). And, just as the package instructions claim, the meat is cooked in 3 minutes from freezer to finish. Lightning speed!

The recipe also includes a scramble of eggs, an assortment chopped vegetables selected by the chef, a simple sauce and prepared rice (also from the freezer aisle to save time). Focus on vegetables in season and gather up a rainbow-array of colors to optimize nutritional benefits. For this batch, my son chose red bell peppers, matchstick carrots, asparagus and sweet 1015 onions – but get creative and mix it up how you like best!

On your next crazy-busy weeknight, don’t call for Chinese take-out to solve dinner – make your own! You keep control over the ingredients and it takes less time than waiting for a delivery person. Better yet, get the kids in the kitchen, pour yourself a refreshing beverage and get those feet up.