Quick Take

It’s easy to rely on frozen dinners, take out, and restaurants. But what about the lost art of kinda cooking at home, meaning, open a few bags, boxes, and bottles, and voila, have a meal ready for yourself. And the family, if you happen to have one of those.

A fun thing about this “recipe” is that you can make the same thing for everyone, and just let each person pick their sauce!

Full Story

I love fresh homemade meals, but sometimes there just isn’t time for all that. And, as I’ve recently learned, many people have forgotten the lost art of using more than one box to make a meal. People nowadays are so used to convenience that too many think ya gotta start with basic ingredients such as flour, sugar, and eggs, or get the box that has everything already done for you. The other option is to go out or order delivery, assuming there’s a good place near you.

So let’s set this up from the beginning.

All ya need is a bag of chicken nuggets, Asian veggies, a bottle of pre-made sauce, and some rice. Oh, and some soy sauce if you’re like me and would chow down a salt lick.

Seriously. That’s it.

The biggest trick is to always have a ginormous bag of frozen rice. It can be portioned or broken into pieces. This works for a lot of different things, including this recipe, quick snacks, and even dog food. Or you can use instant rice, too. We just happen to go through so much rice around here that we always have it on hand.

The next word of advice is to buy or make ahead all the sauces you might want, so that you can make delicious homemade-ish Chinese food without waiting for delivery, or for the restaurant to open because you have a 2am craving. For these recipes, I use Panda Express Orange sauce, P.F. Chang’s Home Menu Sesame sauce, Soy Vay Veri Veri Teriyaki Marinade, Soy Vay Hoisin sauce, The Ginger People Ginger Sesame sauce, and of course, soy sauce.

I prefer to make the sauces myself, but if there’s no time to make a full recipe, there probably isn’t time to make these, either. That said, it sure is nice to know what all is actually in there, ya know?

Oh, and we also keep chicken nuggets and/or canned chicken on hand. Or as recently happened, two family-size packages of chicken thighs cooked to perfection. First softened up in pressure cooker, then shredded and crisped in olive oil with a smidgen of butter on the stove.

Ok, so now that we have all that out of the way. The rest is easy!

For a single serving, I put about half cup of the rice in a bowl. Add a half cup of chicken nuggets or a quarter to a third cup of canned chicken, and a cup of veggies. Add a few tablespoons of the desired sauce. Stick it in the microwave until warm. Enjoy!

Recipe

Single Serving

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup rice (leftover or frozen, or follow instructions for instant)
  • 1/2 cup chicken nuggets, or 1/3 cup canned chicken
  • 1 cup frozen Asian veggie blend or 1/2 cup canned veggies
  • 2-3 tablespoons desired sauce

Steps

  1. Layer everything in the serving bowl
  1. Microwave 4-7 minutes depending on microwave strength and how cold the food is to start with
  1. Mix it around a bit in the middle of cooking time
  2. Enjoy!

Family Serving

Ingredients

  • 2 cups rice (leftover or frozen, or follow instructions for instant)
  • 2 cups chicken nuggets, or one can chicken
  • 1 bag frozen Asian veggie blend, or one large can
  • 1/4 cup desired sauce, or have bottles or all desired sauces handy

Steps

  1. Layer everything in a large serving bowl
  1. Cover and microwave 10-17 minutes depending on microwave strength and how cold the food is to start with
  1. Mix it around a couple of times during the cooking
  1. Enjoy!