I am deathly afraid of the kitchen. While most people have some sort of chef intuition about when something is ready or what extra spices can be added to give a dish a little flavor, I’m over here trying to figure out how to turn on the burner. As my wedding is approaching quickly (aka this weekend!), I’ve had some fears about living up to the wife title. Every hard working husband deserves to come home to some grub occasionally, right? Especially when mine works insane hours at the hospital, I feel like it’s the least I can do (I’m saying this after not having cooked for one year).

When I was perusing the frozen section of Trader Joe’s this week, I came across the coveted organic cauliflower rice that I had been seeing all over Instagram—mostly captioned with disappointment that TJ’s was out of stock yet again. I knew this was a sign so I grabbed a bag right away. One of my favorite dishes in the world is fried rice at Benihana and I already had in my mind that I needed to come up with a healthier version.

Upon coming home, I decided to look into various fried rice recipes. Being the picky eater that I am, I settled for some of my preferred veggies (but feel free to include whatever makes your rice and tummy happy!). Although I’m not promising that this dish is anything groundbreaking, here’s what I came up with.

Cauliflower Fried Rice

1 bag of Trader Joe’s frozen cauliflower rice
1 zucchini
1 small box of mushrooms
½ an onion
4 tablespoons of soy sauce
Olive oil to coat the pan

1. Cut onion into small pieces. Cut zucchini into circles then fourths. Cut mushrooms into reasonable sized pieces.
2. Heat pan with drizzle of olive oil and add vegetables.
3. Cook over medium heat for 3-5 minutes.
4. Add bag of frozen cauliflower (make sure the pan is big) and stir.
5. Add soy sauce and mix in.
6. Let sit for about five minutes to cook. Check to make sure cauliflower is cooked through and hot before serving.
7. Salt and pepper to taste.

I will add, I had every intention of including 2 eggs into the mix as well but my kitchen anxiety got the best of me. There was also a decent amount of liquid in the pan when it was finished (perhaps from the thawing of the cauliflower?). I dumped some of it in the sink and left a bit to prevent it from getting dry.

I won’t lie to you and say that this dish replaces my Benihana fried rice obsession, but let’s be real people, no one should eat that much butter on a regular basis and this is an awesome, easy, healthy alternative. Trust me, if I can do it without starting a fire and in less than 20 minutes, you can too. (Yes, I have started a kitchen fire while cooking salmon and my first reaction was to call 911. When the firemen arrived they said they felt bad for my boyfriend…).

Bon appetite!!

Disclaimer: I decided this was bloggable after I was done which explains the poorly taken pictures. Next time I need to have a little more faith in my abilities!