eve11 | 10 minute dinner

Neither D nor I wanted to put much time into dinner tonight, but I managed to make something pretty good anyhow, using vegetables and leftovers and some minute wild rice:

1 cup pre-cooked or 1-minute minute rice (I used microwaveable mix of brown and wild rice). you can use more if you want more rice. I am carb-counting and D didn't want a lot of rice so we were good splitting 1 cup cooked.

~1/2 to 2/3 pound leftover protein (We had some leftover grilled pork loin, already cooked, but chicken or shrimp or steak would work fine), chopped into chunks

~4 cups coarsely chopped aromatic veggies. Mine included:
1/2 carrot, sliced into ovals
Mix of red/yellow/orange/green bell peppers
Sweet onion, about 1/3 of a big sweet onion
1 med-sized slice of red cabbage, chopped up

add 2 tbsp olive oil to a med-hot pan and add all veggies. Cook for ~5-7 minutes until they are softened but not mushy. Turn heat down and add the pre-cooked protein to heat it up.

meanwhile, while that is cooking, make a quick Cheese sauce. All of these were eyeballed:
~2 tbsp butter
~2 tbsp flour
~2/3 cup milk (add more milk or water to add as necessary for the right consistency)
~1 tbsp horseradish sandwich spread (optional)
~1 tbsp tahini (optional)
~1 tsp adobo seasoning
~1 to 1.5 cup shredded cheese (about a handful. From my hand. I used mexican blend it was what was in the fridge)

Melt butter in a saucepan, add flour to make a dark roux. When the roux is set up and bubbly, reduce heat, add milk a bit at a time to combine. It should be thick but still liquidy. Add adobo seasoning. If you are adding the horseradish and tahini, add it now, and it might thicken the sauce considerably. Add in some more water or milk to thin it down before you add the cheese. When you get a consistency that is liquid enough (not pasty) add the cheese in and melt it all together. If the mixture is too stringy, add more liquid.

Pour cheese sauce over veggies and protein in the pan. Mix to combine. Heat rice in the microwave and serve veggie/protein mix over rice, immediately.

Honestly this came out surprisingly good. I had a giant jar of tahini leftover from making watermelon poke bowls the other day and have been trying to figure out how to use it. Apparently, sneak it into cheese sauce is a good option! It gives it a hint of that rich sesame flavor. Anyhow I thought it came out quite well for a "winging it" recipe that literally took 10 minutes to make. The longest part was chopping the veggies and pre-cooked protein, and even that didn't take too long.