Quinoa(Veggie, Chicken, or Beef)"Fried Rice"

Well, I don't know about you, but May is a C-R-A-Z-Y month for us! Hence my first post this month being in the middle of the month. I have a ton of stuff waiting to be blogged about, but alas, I can only do one at a time. So I picked a really yummy dinner for this post. 

Ok, so this isn't rice, and it's definitely not fried. But it is delicious!

This dinner is an all-in-one meal that is fairly easy to make and you can make it according to whatever you have on hand. Well, at least that's what I did.

I found the original recipe on the internet and I followed it as best as I could the first time I made it. But since then I have adapted the theory behind my Vegetable Dump Soup: Use what you got. Unless it's celery. I really don't recommend celery for this dish...we found that out the hard way.

This recipe does take up all of your stove. You'll have one pan for eggs, one for your quinoa and then one for the veggies/meat. But it's all pretty easy stuff so you can have it going all at once and set it aside until you are ready for it. It might look like this:

Quinoa is even easier to make than pasta. You don't have to boil the water first, you just throw it all in the pot, bring to a boil, and simmer for about 15 minutes. Easy Peasy!

The original recipe was just a veggie recipe, which is how we made it. But you can easily add meat to this if you want to. Cut up some chicken breast or do beef strips and just brown them in the large pot with the onions. Or leave it out for a cheaper veggie version! With the eggs and quinoa, you don't have to worry about protein with this meal so the meat would be added just for taste. 

I'm going to shock you with this one.....step one is to cook onion and green pepper in your pot with some olive oil. Never done that one before! I actually added the green pepper to the recipe this time because,well, I felt like it. I've come to find that it is super convenient to have pre-chopped onion and green pepper in my fridge for such a time as this. It makes the prep so much easier! I just grab a handful and throw it in the pot.

Next I added mushrooms. You can do fresh or canned; in my opinion fresh was better, but this time all I had was canned so I went with it. 

Now here is where I really improvised. The original recipe called for fresh zucchini, mushrooms, carrots, and broccoli and then frozen corn and peas. I, however, had a bag of frozen mixed vegetables...so I went for it. I did have some carrots, so I grated some but then realized it wasn't really necessary when using mixed veggies because there are carrots already in there. Oh well, good thing we love carrots!

So once you get your veggies cooking and warming up then you want to mix in your quinoa. Stir it really well and keep the heat on medium for a couple minutes.

Next you want to throw in some fresh, grated ginger and low-sodium soy sauce. I DO recommend the fresh ginger. I tried using ground ginger one time, and it just didn't produce the flavor of the fresh stuff. I had never bought ginger root before, so it was fun to try something new. We all really loved the fresh flavor it added! But if you don't have the ginger or you don't want to bother with it, then don't let that stop you. Either skip it or use the ground version, but add a little extra.

Add in your eggs and green onions (I didn't have the green onions in this picture, but I do usually put them in.) and you are finished!! Serve in a bowl with some chopsticks and dig in!

Now, I'm not posting this because I'm saying the original wasn't good. It was VERY good! But, as most moms know, you don't always have all the ingredients on hand when you want to make something. Or you may have a tight budget and can't buy as many of the fresh items. That is why I'm posting this. This is a great dish that is super good for you and can be made in more than one way. Make it work for YOU. I did! The fun part of cooking is trial and error. I put in celery last time I made this just because it was in the fridge, and by doing that we learned that celery is actually pretty gross in this dish! You'll never know unless you try! 

I hope you enjoy this one, it's a staple here at our house now. Remember to make it work for you! Please feel free to leave any comments below if you tried a version of this and found something that either works great or maybe should NEVER be added again! And remember to have FUN!

Quinoa(Veggie, Chicken, or Beef)"Fried Rice"

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cloves of minced garlic
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1/2 green pepper, chopped
• fresh mushrooms or 1 small can
• 1 bag frozen mixed vegetables
• 2 chicken breasts cubed or 1 sirloin sliced into strips (if desired)
• 3 cups COOKED quinoa
• 1 Tbps fresh grated ginger
• 5 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
• 2 green onions, sliced

(The first thing is to start your quinoa. Cook it according to the directions on the box, but for most that I've seen, you measure out your water and quinoa, put them in a pot, bring it to a boil and then let it simmer for about 15 minutes. Let this simmer while you are starting to cook the rest of the dish and it should work out pretty nicely.)

First cook eggs in a small skillet. Scramble them and then set aside. 

Heat olive oil in large pot on medium high heat and then add in garlic, onion and green pepper. Cook for about 4-5 minutes stirring often.

Add mushrooms and cook for another 3-4 minutes (less if using canned mushrooms). Then add in the frozen mixed vegetables and continue to stir. 

Add in quinoa, cook and stir for 1-2 more minutes. 

Add in ginger and soy sauce and toss carefully. Cook for 2 more minutes to heat through.

Once heated through, add in your eggs and green onions.

Serve and enjoy!