Quinoa + Brown 'pan fried rice'

Saturday, November 15, 2014

No Rocket Science here. A very easy and quick recipe [& pretty skinny I would say!] to add to a fun weekend meal or any weekday meal prepped menu as the grain/carb portion side like I did recently. YUM!

What is quinoa? A seed. A SEED? Yep. It's "known" as a grain or a legume but it's actually a seed that belongs to a plant native to South America. It recently gained huge popularity in the healthy eating world and I am very happy that it did because I enjoy it. It's so light fluffy and tasty to my tastebuds. It is gluten free & high in protein, fiber and iron...all things that I need more of lol. Brown rice is still not a bad choice over white or dirty rice so I decided to mix a little bit of both in this recipe because my husband for some reason doesn't "love" the texture of quinoa...but then again he doesn't really like rice all that much either sooo...lol. I on the other hand basically grew up on eating rice ALL.THE.TIME...so this recipe is a real treat for me! Here is a great breakdown of Quinoa vs. Brown Rice

This was very quick for me to make because I already had a batch of cooked brown rice and a batch of cooked white & black mixed quinoa already ready. At the very bottom of this post, I will add directions for cooking quinoa and brown rice. 

What ya need:
-Half of a large onion...chopped. (white or red)
-1 tablespoon of minced garlic 
-Olive Oil Cooking Spray
-1/2cup of brown rice
-1 (or a little but more if you like) cup of quinoa (I had mixed a little bit of black quinoa w/my regular white when I cooked it)
-chopped carrots (I ended up throwing in some leftover matchstick carrots that I had in the fridge)
-2 tablespoonful of green onions...chopped. 
-Black pepper & salt

*You can also add other veggies such as peas or corn but I didn't because my husband doesn't really like peas in his rice and I don't care for it all that much either. 

Step 1: Spray some Olive Oil Cooking Spray in a wok or a non-stick pan. Throw in minced garlic & onions. Saute. 

Step 2: Add in the cooked brown rice. Saute for a few seconds.

Step 3: Add in the cooked quinoa. Mix & saute on medium heat.

Step 4: Mix in your veggies (whatever you decide to use)
Then, push away everything to the corners, creating space in the center. Crack two eggs (or just egg whites if you want) in the middle, mix a bit and then once its pretty much cooked, break up the egg and mix everything up. Sprinkle some black pepper and salt.

Step 5: Top off with chopped green onions & siracha. 

How to cook quinoa:
I use the Simply Balanced bags from Target: Red Quinoa & Regular Quinoa

 Step 1:  Rinse quinoa using a sieve by running it under tap water for a minute or so stirring the seeds around with your fingers.

Step 2: Take 2 cups of water or broth (I usually use vegetable broth or water) and pour in a saucepan. Pour in the washed quinoa and bring everything to a boil. 
Step 3: Lower the heat, cover and let simmer and cook slowly until all water is absorbed. Turn off heat and fluff with fork. This entire process should take you about 20 minutes or so. 

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