healthy recipe- quinoa chicken “fried rice”

Fried rice is one of my favorite meals of all time. For me, it’s an ultimate comfort food.

You see, on friday nights at our house growing up, we had the tradition of ordering take out to start the weekend. While growing up, I thought that it was just our mom’s way of being super nice (which she is, and it was) but now that I am a mom I realize it must have been also that mama just wanted a break.  On the list of restaurants we would frequent on this special night of the week was a little gem at our grocery store: Smith’s Chinese Takeout Counter. Nothing better than cheap, delicious MSG laden fried rice to start a weekend right. 🙂

I have since learned to make a pretty delicious fried rice of my own but in the effort to (finally) shed that remaining baby weight, I have come up with healthier versions of a lot of my favorites and this one has all the comfort of my beloved fried rice, but with a fraction of the oil, no butter and quinoa in place of white rice.

To make your own you will need:

4 Cups cooked quinoa*

4-5 small mushrooms

1 small onion

1 medium carrot

1 cup frozen peas

2-3 cloves garlic

1 cooked chicken breast

2 TBS low sodium soy sauce, divided

1 TBS teriyaki sauce

2 large eggs

Olive oil

* I cooked my quinoa in chicken broth, it absorbs the flavor and makes your dish that much tastier. Also- make sure you don’t over cook the quinoa if it is too soft  it will be hard to incorporate into the dish without liberal use of oil and you’ll end up with a sticky glob for dinner.

Directions:

Dice all of the vegetables and chicken to pea-size.

Heat a skillet or wok over medium heat and add a drizzle of olive oil (enough to coat the bottom of the skillet). Saute the onions, carrots, garlic and mushrooms until tender, but not mushy (2-3 minutes).

Add the chicken, peas, and half of the soy sauce, stir to coat and cook 1-2 more minutes.

Add the quinoa to the pan, one cup at a time.

Once the quinoa is completely incorporated, push the mixture to the sides of the pan to create a little hole in the middle of the wok or skillet.

Add more olive oil into the hole, and crack eggs directly into the center. Immediately start to scramble the egg. When the eggs are still runny, but already have some cooked pieces, start to mix the egg into the quinoa.

Add the remaining TBS of soy sauce and mix completely.

Serve warm.

Comfort food, but a little bit better for you, equals my favorite kind of recipe!