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Health & Fitness

Freezer Burned Fried Rice

If the gas tank is stealing from your pantry shelves, don't let it get you down. Have some fun with it. That's what I did and here's what I made!

With most of my weekly allowance being guzzled by the gas pump, my grocery receipts are no longer worth folding. Tonight I scraped ingredients from every nook & cranny in my kitchen and turned them into something Chef Ramsey would probably regurgitate, but it was three Michelin stars to my family.

You'd be surprised at the unassembled culinary concoctions hiding in the four corners of a kitchen if you are desperate enough to not eat Ramen noodles or beenie-weenies a fourth night in a row. After all, that's a lot of gas we don't need. 

I'd like to share with you my “Freezer Burned Fried Rice” recipe. I'm joking about the name. I found a one-pound bag of shrimp behind a freezer burned ice-cream cake. That, along with some forgotten teriyaki marinade and soy sauce in the back of the fridge, a bag of rice I've had since 2009 (I only bought it because I needed a few grains to put in my salt shaker to keep the humidity from clogging the shaker holes), a bag of mixed frozen veggies (ok, they may have been freezer burned) and what every Maryland home must have – Old Bay!!   

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Here goes: 

Rice
3 cups chicken broth (water & bouillon cubes will work too!)
1 ½ cups white rice
2tbs teriyaki marinade
2tbs soy sauce

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Scrambled Eggs
5 eggs

Veggies
2 cups mixed veggies (I used peas, carrots, corn, green beans), thawed if frozen, but not steamed or cooked.

Meat
1 lb shelled shrimp (you can substitute cooked skinless chicken strips or pork)

Stir Fry Sauce
2tbs vegetable oil
1/4 cup chopped onion
2tbs teriyaki marinade
2tbs soy sauce
½ tsp ground ginger
2tbs white distilled vinegar
1tsp white sugar
1/2tsp Old Bay

Step 1. Pre-cook the rice.

Bring to a boil: chicken broth, teriyaki marinade and soy sauce.

Stir in white rice. Cover and turn off the heat, but do not remove from the burner. Let simmer for 20 mins.

Warning – Never remove the lid from a pot of cooking rice. It will ruin it and you will have to start all over or endure crunchy rice.

When rice is finished cooking, spread it out onto a cookie sheet and put it in the fridge to cool. You only have to spread it out on a cookie sheet so that it can cool in about 10 mins. If you have time to let it cool in the pot, that's fine.

Step 2. Scramble the eggs.

If you don't know how to scramble eggs, google it. Ok, I'll be nice. Click here.

Step 3. Prepare the stir fry sauce. Keep heat on HIGH the entire time.

In a wok (or large frying pan), heat oil.

Add onions and let cook for about one minute while stirring.

Add teriyaki marinade, soy sauce, ginger and vinegar. Stir constantly for another minute.

Add scrambled eggs and mixed veggies. Stir just enough for them to be covered in the sauce. They should become hot very quickly.

Add shrimp and Old Bay. Toss quickly just to coat.

Add rice all at once and stir/toss until all ingredients are combined.

Remove from heat!! If you let it stay on the burner too long, the shrimp will shrivel up and become rubbery and the rice will be mushy.

That's it. You're done. If you have young children, pick out all the shrimp and put it on your own plate. Now you can eat! :D

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