I'll admit it. I keep boxed dinner mixes around the house.
I do it for a few reasons.
First, as you know, my husband is a very picky eater. And while this is changing slowly, I cannot in good conscience force him to always eat what I like and never what he likes. That's a sure-fire way to send your husband through the fast-food lines to binge. So I do prepare these meals for him intermittently.
Second, I can find these boxes on deep discount, and they help my food budget stretch.
Third, there are days when Mr.W needs to cook; he is not someone who wants to follow a recipe. This kind of meal is easy for him to put together.
I recently doctored this dirty rice dinner and thought it turned out pretty tasty and a teeny bit healthier, to rave reviews from Mr.W. Here's what I did:
- Instead of preparing the dinner with 1-pound of ground beef mince (as stated on the packaging), I used 1/2 pound of spicy chorizo sausage, browned/rendered in heart-healthy olive oil.
- I added 1 cup of cooked lentils. Yummy, yummy added fiber! Then I followed the directions on the package (mix meat & lentils with water, boil, stir in mix, simmer 25 minutes).
- For my plate, I served this as a side dish with a piece of baked chicken. Mr.W likes this stuff so much that he'll eat only this--but I prefer to keep box mixes as a side dish on my plate, since I need to portion the rice for my blood sugar control.
- As a garnish for my plate (Mr.W requested I not include this in the entire pot), I soaked about 1/4 cup raisins in hot water.
Though I've probably lost some respect with this admission, I want to be honest with y'all about how we eat, the ways I feed my husband.
