I’ve been spending all my free moments pintrest-ing and etsy-ing up my life for inspiration for baby girl’s nursery! Which is beyond fun let me tell you. But it also means I haven’t spent a single moment looking up anything food related.

But we still gotta eat.

I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to become creative. Or at least try.

I was just gonna make a super basic meal tonight – grilled chicken, plain white rice and a random veggie. I kept the chicken and veggie part pretty simple, but I knew I could spruce up the rice.

I looked in my fridge and panty and found pesto, kale, red onion and slivered almonds. I cooked the rice in my rice cooker. Meanwhile, I sautéed some onions in olive oil. I added the onions to the cooked rice with a couple spoonfuls of pesto, a huge handful of kale and  sprinkled almonds on top. It was so good!!! And just all around way better than just basic white rice. Unless you’re going Asian and can pour a butt ton of soy sauce on those little pellets. Because there is nothing like white rice and soy sauce.

For the chicken I cooked it in olive oil and this new seasoning I’m OBSESSED with. I got it during my last trip to Monterey, CA while visiting my family. It’s called Zaatar and it’s made by the Monterey Bay Salt Company. It’s a combo of Sea Salt, Sumak, Thyme, and Sesame Seeds. I want to straight up lick this seasoning off food.

For the Brussel Sprouts, I sautéed some onion in olive oil and then added the halved sprouts. I seasoned it with some Old Bay and Garlic Powder. Cooper was trying to claw his way into the garage at this point to watch Mark work on his motorcycle, so needless to say this portion of the meal got a tad burnt. What are you gonna do man.

The whole meal came together really quick, and tasted even better. And it made the perfect leftover lunch for tomorrow for Mark. And no recipes were used. Success.