15-Minute Beef & Veggie Fried Rice

By: Jennifer Fisher, The Fit Fork

So easy a kid could make it… and did!

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.

HEB Sliced Sirloin in pan uncooked

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).

HEB Sliced Sirloin in pan cooked

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!

Skillet Vegetables for Fried Rice

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.

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