Making life easier, one bite at a time
Hi Busies! This post goes out to my mom, who is most of the inspiration for Busy Girl (and my life in general!) Working full time as a nurse, she also managed to be a full time mom – always around to chauffeur my sister …
Hi Busies! It’s finally cooling off here in Rals, and there’s no better way to celebrate than with some warm, cheesy pasta! I usually bring out this meal around the same time I bring out the sweatpants and slipper socks, and it’s basically a …
Hi Busies!
I’m writing this on Sunday night, after a whirlwind of a weekend visiting Asheville, North Carolina (travel bite post coming soon!). It was so much fun – quality time spent hiking to beautiful views of the mountains, with nights of brewery hopping and some seriously amazing food.
Like all good weekends, it was over too soon, and the Sunday blues were on us from the minute we got in the car to head home. The 2 silver linings were
In the crazy rush of after-work packing on Thursday night, I thought for a moment of Future Me – the one who would be getting home on Sunday, most likely hungry, tired, and not at all in the mood to figure out a dinner situation. I grabbed this Mongolian beef from the freezer to let it thaw while we were gone, and Present Me is SO happy about having the dinner situation handled.
Now the rest of the night is couch cuddling with the pups, watching Sunday Night Football. That, I can handle!
This Mongolian Beef Stir Fry comes out tasting just like takeout, but you control what goes in! I always try to use brown rice, and if broccoli isn’t your thing, any of your favorite stir fry veggies will work! I like to buy prepackaged frozen stir fry veggie mixes and just throw them right in the wok after the steak is done cooking.
Make sure to use good quality steak – ribeye or flank steak are my favorites here. And keep an eye on the cook time, because stir frying steak can make it go from tender to tough really quickly!
I stir the whole sauce together in a measuring cup, to avoid dirtying another bowl during a busy meal prep session!
If you don’t have a big enough pan, you might have to stir fry the steak in 2 batches – it’s very important to keep the oil and the pan super hot to get that nice brown crust, and adding too much steak at a time will take the pan temp down too low.
Who says takeout is better than homemade?!
To Freeze:
If you're freezing this, I recommend freezing the steak separate from veggies, so that the sauce doesn't turn the veggies mushy. I usually make the rice on the day of, but you can also prep it and throw it in with the steak!
Hi Busies! The football season frenzy is in full swing, and that always means all buffalo everything, but these buffalo chicken bowls are something I’ll never be tired of! Close your eyes & imagine a healthy version of buffalo chicken dip, that is totally acceptable …
Hi Busies! I’ve been there more times than I want to remember – getting in the car after a long day of work, dreading: option A – getting home from work & spending 40+ minutes in the kitchen to make dinner *dramatically holding hand to …
Hi Busies!
Sometimes, there are busy days, and then there are busy days. My version of busy-busy is those days when you’re somehow running late before you even leave for work in the morning, spend the day watching your inbox pile up while you’re stuck in meetings, and then somehow, BAM – it’s 7pm, and you know you were working like crazy all day, but somehow your to-do list has gotten longer. These are the days when I’m most thankful for meal prep. There’s nothing better than getting in the car to head home and knowing that I don’t have to spend any time in the kitchen, other than what it takes to microwave and snap some pictures!
An evening on the couch is the best remedy to unplug from a busy day like this, and it works out great when my meal prepped option is a one-bowl, only-a-fork-required, kind of dinner, like this butter chicken. Excuse me while I kick up my feet, curl up under a blanket, and focus on not spilling one drop of this delicious sauce!
? <– that’s me wondering how to describe the scrumptiousness that is butter chicken. As I said in my post about our visit to London, I’m still new to Indian food, and I’m honestly not sure how to describe it in a way that will do it the justice it deserves. What I can say is that I ate this for dinner 2 nights in a row, and then for lunch 3 days in a row after that, and I only wish I had more right now!
The chicken comes out fall apart tender, and the blend of spices is complex in the amazing way that only Indian food can be, with each spice complementing the others perfectly. A touch of butter and cream add richness, AND this recipe makes enough sauce that you can mop it up with piece after piece of pillowy soft naan. This recipe is included in round 2 of my free meal prep guide – check out how to cook once and eat delicious meals like this one for 2 months!
The crock pot does all the heavy lifting here, helping the flavors develop over the slow cooking time. Just dump and set, then stir in the cream before cooling and freezing.
Using my go to trick of adding half the spices before cooking and half after – see the recipe tips section at the bottom!
Hi Busies! There’s nothing like a kale bowl to help you get back on track with healthy eating. I usually try to make healthy choices (except for dessert, which I’m powerless to avoid), but sometimes life gets in the way! Between: a dinner out with …
Hi Busies! It’s officially that time of year – Happy Fall Y’all! And sorry (not sorry) if this is #basic – White Chicken Chili is something I look forward to all year. A warm, comforting bowl of spicy, savory, tender chicken & beans – all …
Hi Busies!
I have my own opinions when it comes to Blue Apron, but there’s no denying that they slay when it comes to flavor. The combination of corn, shishito peppers, shallots, and roasted potatoes in this succotash is truly on another level. Salty, crispy, crunchy, sweet, spicy…it’s literally everything you need. Literally. But then – drizzle over all that amazingness with a brown butter sauce – let me say that again – BROWN BUTTER SAUCE. I mean…
I could eat this as my last meal and die happy.
But then I wouldn’t get to eat it again tomorrow! The flaky, light and crispy cod is the perfect complement to the succotash. Drizzled with more brown butter sauce – obviously.
I make a few of my usual modifications to Blue Apron recipes in my version below – roasting the potatoes in the oven instead of in the pan is a big time saver, and the potatoes just come out crispier. The original recipe calls for purple potatoes – may y’all have better luck finding those than me! Whole Foods maybe?
Shishito peppers are a new favorite around here. Sweet and crunchy with a bit of heat, they’re fun to eat on their own as a snack (just drizzle with olive oil, salt, & pepper and saute until they begin to blister), but also perfect in this succotash. I get mine from ❤️Trader Joe’s ❤️, but I’m guessing Whole Foods would have them too.
Is it possible to have food envy off a picture I took, of a meal I ate? Yep. #takemeback
Finishing off with some sweet corn, fresh off the cob, made this the perfect meal to eat on the last day of summer! Summer, I’m so sad to see you go, but ready for:
Regardless of the season, you need this meal in your life. Have you had shishito peppers before? What was your first impression of them? Let me know in the comments below!
To meal prep, I recommend buying frozen cod fillets and just cooking them the night you want to eat. The cod only takes ~10 minutes to cook and make the sauce. For meal prep, do steps 1-4 to prep the succotash. Place in a meal prep container and freeze, then thaw when you're ready to serve the cod. Reheat the succotash while the cod cooks, and add the brown butter sauce immediately before serving.
Adapted from Blue Apron
Hi Busies! If you’ve read my post on 2 ingredient pesto chicken, you know where this is going. Yes, the 2 ingredients here are cajun seasoning and chicken. Some sort of miracle happens when these 2 ingredients are cooked together. Seriously – while we’re …