I consider myself a very lucky wife in so many ways. One of which is that my husband doesn’t mind, in fact he prefers me to cook really boring, bland healthy meals every day instead of making gourmet meals every night. He really doesn’t mind eating chicken and vegetables pretty much any day. It is funny because I really enjoy trying new recipes and making gourmet meals and probably would do it often but at the same time I am thankful he doesn’t prefer I do that all the time. Simple is good.

One week, however, I really upped my game. My husband has been under the most stress at work ever and I wanted to at least make his dinner meals something he could look forward to after a long day. And all the these meals I made were so easy peasy!

Night 1: Trader Joe’s Mandarin Chicken and Vegetable Fried Rice

This one is just complete cheating and I can’t even say I cooked because it is just chicken you pop in the oven for 20 minutes and then cover in the mandarin orange sauce. And the rice you just pull out of the freezer and cook it on the stove with a tablespoon of oil for about 5 minutes. So I’d say this meal is about 6 minutes of actual cooking time and the taste and flavors are out of this world! I know a lot of you don't have Trader Joe’s in your area and if you don’t, I have seen other brands like P.F. Chang’s and others sell mandarin orange chicken in the freezer aisle and you could do the same thing.

Night 1 was a success! This chicken is crispy and tastes better than the Mandarin Orange chicken from Panda Express in my opinion. And it is ready faster than if you were to drive over and pick up some take out. So stay in your ugly sweat pants and make it at home!

Night 2: Mongolian Beef Ramen

My husband had actually texted me this recipe he came across for Mongolian beef ramen a couple weeks earlier so I knew he’d be really excited about this one and boy was he right! This is so delicious and tastes so incredibly fresh with fresh garlic, ginger and green onions. You basically just brown up some chunks of steak, cook a couple packages of Ramen noodles and make a delicious broth with chicken broth, ginger and garlic. You combine all of these with some broccoli and you are good to go! It absolutely tasted like takeout from a restaurant but I made it! Wahoo! I couldn’t believe it. I love it when that happens! :)

And let me tell you, the leftovers were just as good, if not even better than the first night! All those flavors blended together so beautifully and made the broth taste even better. I’m going to share this recipe at the end of the article.

Night 3: Carne Asada Tacos

We are huge suckers for authentic tacos from taco trucks. Taco Tuesday is a big part of our lives :) But now, I’ve just started making these tacos at home and it is so beyond easy! My local grocery store Aldi sells packages of already seasoned carne asada meat for $2.99 a pound! One pound easily feeds us and gives us probably 12-14 tacos. It is such a cheap and delicious meal! I buy a huge package of small corn tortillas from Costco with 120 tortillas for $4. Obviously you can see that that package of tortillas lasts forever too! Then the only other ingredients you need are some finely chopped white onions, cilantro and some lime slices. Then you can also buy and nice salsa verde or red salsa from the store (or your favorite Mexican restaurant if they will sell it to you).

That’s all there is to it! You can enjoy the taste of the taco truck from your very own kitchen!

Night 4 & 5: Leftovers

Then we had our leftover ramen and I made tacos again for Friday because we can never get sick of those :) This was just a week of weeknight meals that will go down in history for our family because it was such delicious, flavorful food that we all LOVED and it was all so easy for me to make so it was just a win-win for everyone!

Mongolian Beef Ramen

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. sirloin streak, sliced against the grain

• 2 tbsp. corn starch

• 2 tbsp. vegetable oil

• 1 tbsp. sesame oil

• 3 garlic cloves, minced

• 1 tsp. minced ginger

• 1/2 c. soy sauce

• 1/4 c. brown sugar

• 1 c. chicken broth

• pinch red pepper flakes

• 1 large head broccoli, cut into florets

• 1 carrot, peeled and cut into matchsticks

• 3 package instant ramen, flavor pack discarded

• 3 green onions, thinly sliced

• Toasted sesame seeds

Directions

1. Cook ramen noodles according to package instructions. Drain and set aside.

2. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat vegetable oil. Toss beef with corn starch. Cook until crispy, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate.

3. Reduce heat to medium-low. Add sesame oil to skillet and stir in garlic and ginger. Cook until fragrant, 1 minute then add soy sauce, brown sugar and chicken broth. Bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until the sauce is thickened, 3 to 5 minutes.

4. Add broccoli and carrots then cover the skillet with a tight-fitting lid and cook until the vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes.

5. Return beef to skillet and stir until completely coated in sauce. Stir in cooked ramen noodles and green onions. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds.

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