This easy Ground Beef Stir Fry recipe is perfect for a weeknight!

With grocery prices going up and up, steak isn’t something that we buy very often. Ground beef is more affordable, but what can you do with it besides tacos, spaghetti and burgers?

Turns out, ground beef stir fry with rice is a delicious way to prepare this standby weeknight protein.

While stir fry is usually made with sliced steak or chicken, I actually kind of prefer it with ground meat! The little bits of meat get crispy and delicious, and it makes a really nice bite when served with rice.

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The irony of being a food blogger who makes a VERY small real-life Thanksgiving dinner has always amused me.

But for the holiday, I’m usually cooking for just four adults and one kid. It makes Thanksgiving dinner a very low-stress meal to host, because cooking for five doesn’t require shuffling dozens of pans and casserole dishes into the oven (or multiple ovens, which we don’t have!).

On the the other hand, it also makes it impractical to prepare a HUGE feast – there’d just be way too many leftovers to deal with (even after making my leftover mashed potatoes recipe and cranberry sauce muffins the next day), and food waste bums me out.

So, in real life, I stick to just the basics, which is usually a small Cajun turkey or turkey with maple bourbon glaze, mashed potatoes with homemade gravy, cranberry sauce, my husband’s grandma’s old fashioned dressing, and green beans or maple glazed Brussels sprouts.

But this blog is where I kind of live out my Thanksgiving FEAST fantasies (and test and eat them in the weeks BEFORE the holiday).

In my dreams, I envision a table loaded with a dozen side dishes, like Thanksgiving salad and roasted acorn squash slices and every other vegetable imaginable. Oh, and Thanksgiving Rice! Let’s talk about this Thanksgiving Rice recipe.

“Made this for Thanksgiving this year. Absolutely delicious. So easy to bake in the oven. Was perfect at 50 minutes.”

—Cindy

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I don’t go to Trader Joe’s too often, but when I do stop by, I’m sure to pick up a bag or two of the frozen Mandarin Orange Chicken.

Breaded chicken covered in a sweet orange sauce that’s ready in less than 30 minutes? Sign me up (that’s even faster than my go-to fast meal, salmon with my bourbon glaze recipe for salmon).

But maybe sign me up just once in awhile. Because this won’t come as a surprise, but this dish is not outstanding in the health department.

Healthier Homemade Orange Chicken

So, just like my miso ginger dressing and balsamic glaze recipe, I took an item that is often store-bought and made it better (and healthier) at home with this orange ginger chicken recipe.

And, along with my sweet potato breakfast casserole, this is probably the Foxes Love Lemons recipe that my family makes most often.

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In culinary school, one of the early classes I took was called “Breakfast & Pantry.” Each morning, the class was responsible for putting on a HUGE brunch buffet that was open to the public for a shockingly small fee.

When I say huge, I mean huge. The class was divided into groups.

One group would do eggs, another would do meats, a third group would make pancakes and waffles and french toast, and the fourth group was responsible for fruit, salads, sandwiches and any other miscellaneous items.

On the finished buffet, there would be omelets, vegetarian quiche, scrambled eggs, eggs benedict, deviled eggs and frittatas on one line.

There was waffles AND pancakes AND crepes AND ice cream French toast in another section. Another area would have multiple kinds of sandwiches and a few salads.

There was a huge fruit platter or cups of fruit salad. There was sausage AND bacon (that was how I learned how to cook bacon in the oven), AND ham, AND usually a smoked salmon platter.

As if that wasn’t enough, there was always homemade biscuits with sausage gravy, homemade pastries and breads, and probably a bunch of other things I’m forgetting. Oh, and breakfast fried rice.

The best part was that I believe this buffet was $10 or less. I mean, this was back in 2010, but still – what a deal. Seriously, if you have a culinary school locally, see if they have a student-run restaurant that you can go to!

I’ve already shared many culinary school techniques and recipes with you, and today we’ll be chatting about breakfast rice!

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We’re firmly in the “I do it myself!” stage of toddlerhood. Including at the dinner table, where my daughter insists on serving herself.

This is great, because this is how little humans learn table manners! So I definitely want to encourage it as much as I can. One of the best ways I’ve found to do this is by serving platter meals.

Things like a breakfast charcuterie board (my daughter LOVES prosciutto so so much) and an elote bar aren’t just fun for toddlers. They’re truly a great way to eat for all ages.

One of my favorite dinners lately is one of my unique food board ideas – a fajita bar. Whether you have multiple proteins and allllll the fajita toppings, or choose just a few that you love best, it’s a great way for everybody to customize their plate.

Instead of filling up your counter space, you can create a large board of all your favorite fajita staples and place it in the center of the table, and have everyone gather around.

Your taco Tuesday and fiestas will be forever changed after creating this fajita platter. It’s perfect for a weeknight, or a game watching party (maybe with a football charcuterie board or a crostini pizza bar too!).

The post The Best Fajita Bar Ideas and Toppings appeared first on Foxes Love Lemons.

If you’ve been reading awhile, you probably know: I don’t LOVE boneless, skinless chicken breast in the way that most Americans seem to.

I think unless you have time to marinate it, like my orange ginger chicken, it often turns out dry and tough, and lacks flavor.

That’s why I’m always using chicken thighs for things like orange glazed chicken and almond crusted chicken.

I remember chicken breast being particularly dry the last time I tried to make sweet and sour chicken on the stove with it.

But, I’m never one to back down from a challenge, and I’m always looking for ways to make one of America’s favorite proteins actually . . . delicious.

The way to do it is the Instant Pot, friend. We’ve already established that Instant Pot short ribs are delicious. But let’s be honest, short ribs are always delicious, just about any way that you cook them.

But chicken breast needs more love, and the Instant Pot pressure cooks it until tender while infusing flavor into the meat. This Instant Pot Sweet and Sour Chicken is currently my favorite way to eat chicken breast.

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A quick and easy Mediterranean Rice Recipe

While I don’t officially follow the Mediterranean diet, those flavors always appeal to me, and I could enjoy them for pretty much every meal, without issue.

Either I’m snacking on olives and feta cheese, taking Greek layer dip to a party, or making Greek lasagna or gyro pizza for dinner.

Today, I’m taking some of my favorite Mediterranean flavors and turning them into a fried rice-inspired Greek rice recipe that is a complete dinner in one bowl.

The post How to Make Greek Rice appeared first on Foxes Love Lemons.

The culinary school I went to focused on very classical French techniques (something like a lentil pasta sauce would be unheard of in the classical textbooks). Before dawn, the Baking students would get started on all-butter croissants.

At the same time, the students running the school’s restaurant would be roasting veal bones for stock. An hour later, the Breakfast & Pantry class would come in and begin making veggie quiche and bacon in the oven.

The Pastry students came in later and would go to the storeroom refrigerator to retrieve an ungodly amount of butter for their tasks that day. The rhythm of the school was the same, day after day, year after year.

And in the middle of all of the beef bones, sockeye salmon and eggshells, was a chef instructor who ate a vegan, raw food diet. Well, he ate that diet at home.

His job made it impossible to eat that way while he was instructing, as he had to taste all of his student’s work. But yeah, in his free time, he was a vegan.

Because of him, the students learned at least one vegan dish in those school kitchens that were usually full of roasted chicken and poached eggs.

He taught some classes how to make savory oatmeal for dinner. On my rotation, the assignment was a vegetable lasagna recipe and vegan lentil curry.

The post Vegan Lentil Curry (Lentil Vegetable Curry) appeared first on Foxes Love Lemons.

Do any kids like coconut? I know I sure didn’t when I was young. Any coconut-related Halloween candy went directly to my parents as soon as I got home from trick-or treating.

But, I now understand coconut’s charm and adore it. Coconut shrimp with creamy sauce is on our menu at least once a month, and frozen chocolate bananas covered with coconut flakes and coconut creme brulee are some of my favorite sweet treats. Shredded coconut is essential in my carrot cake smoothie.

As an adult, I now take advantage of children’s distaste for coconut. Every year at Halloween, I buy a big bag of Almond Joys or Mounds bars “for the trick-or-treaters,” (wink wink nudge nudge) as well as other candy.

In the “before times,” we always passed out candy by holding out the bowl and letting the kids pick which piece they want. Shockingly – at the end of the night, we’re left with a big bowl of Almond Joys. Then I’m forced to eat them. It’s a curse, I tell ya.

This coconut risotto with lime shrimp is my way of making up for those childhood years where I didn’t like coconut. Just like my mushroom and kale risotto and goat cheese risotto, it’s a fun little kitchen project that works well for Sunday dinner.

And it satisfies my coconut craving all year around!

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Why you’ll love this Slow Cooker Burrito Chicken Bowl

• You can control the ingredients, making it a bit healthier than takeout if you want.
• Perfect for meal prep lunches, or a make-ahead dinner for a busy weeknight.
• Customize with whatever toppings your family likes best.

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