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    $5 Dinners | Budget Recipes, Meal Plans, Freezer Meals

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    Veggie “Fried Quinoa”

    September 11, 2013 by Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom 10 Comments

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    veggie fried quinoa

    Stovetop Confession.

    The other night I was making chicken and potatoes in the Dutch oven. (Similar to this.) I got it all started, set the lid on top and walked away to help Ryan finish up his math homework. But before I walked away, I forgot to turn the dial down to medium-low. And won’t ya know….10 minutes later my nose caught wind of a smell that should never come from the kitchen…burning potatoes.

    Sigh.

    I knew right away that it wouldn’t be salvageable, as that burned smell had permeated everything in the pot. So I needed an alternative & fast. I had already pulled out the mixed veggies to serve along side the chicken and potatoes…so I had to use those up. I knew a “fried rice” with some eggs would be perfect way to use up the veggies, but brown rice would take too long to cook. So I turned to quinoa instead and ended up whipping together a quinoa version of veggie fried rice. I happened to have a $.50 red pepper from Sprouts, the soy sauce and, of course, the eggs to round it out.

    Love that the eggs provide the protein for this filling and healthy meal…and that can be on the table, even after a big mishap, in about 20 minutes. It’s just what I needed on one of “those afternoons.” I trust you know what kind of afternoon I’m talking about. 🙂

    Had any kitchen mishaps lately? Or one of “those afternoons”? What’s your 20 minute fix when you find yourself with a burnt meal or dud dinner?!? Or hectic witching hour???

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    Veggie "Fried Quinoa"

    A filling, yet healthy meal that is quick to cook!
    Prep Time5 minutes
    Cook Time20 minutes
    Servings - 4 servings

    Ingredients 

    • 2 cups quinoa
    • 2 eggs
    • 16 oz mixed veggies (I picked out the green beans and served them separately. Cuz I'm weird like that.)
    • 1 red pepper seeded and diced
    • 1/4 cup soy sauce
    • 1 tsp ground ginger
    • Salt and pepper

    Instructions

    • Cook the quinoa in a medium saucepan.
    • Meanwhile, cook the eggs, sorta omelet style/sorta scrambled style, so they are thin and flat, and then slice them up. (I used my pizza cutter.)
    • Cook the veggies as directed and drain off any liquid from cooking.
    • Once the quinoa is fluffy, usually after 15 minutes, toss in the veggies, egg pieces, soy sauce, ginger and salt and pepper to taste. Optional: toss in any leftover chicken or pork, finely chopped.
    • Serve Veggie "Fried Quinoa" as a one dish dinner, or with veggies or fruit on the side.

    Veggie Fried Quinoa

    Disclosure: This post is part of a sponsored series from Safest Choice Eggs. As always, opinions are my own…and the burnt dinner was real. Sigh.

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    Filed Under: Budget Friendly Recipes, Feature, Gluten Free Recipes, One Dish Dinners Recipes, Pantry Staple Recipe Ideas, Quinoa Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes

    Comments

    1. Hope :) says

      September 11, 2013 at 8:31 pm

      Oh, nice! I love fried rice, and substituting quinoa is a perfect way to make the meal quicker-cooking and I dare say healthier too. I’ll have to give this a try in the next few weeks!

      As far as my go-to Kitchen Savior meal, it’s always black beans and rice. Sometimes, when I’m really pressed for time (or things have gone so poorly in the kitchen that I’m not even in the mood to use the rice cooker), I use one of those bags of 90-second rice. I keep a couple in the pantry for just such an occasion. 🙂

      Reply
      • Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom says

        September 11, 2013 at 8:42 pm

        That’s a great fast meal Hope!!! And cheap too!

        Erin

        Reply
    2. another sue says

      September 12, 2013 at 7:58 am

      You youngsters do cook a lot healthier than most of my generation back in the day. One of the quickest things I used to throw together involved a tube of crescent rolls spread flat to form a crust in a pie pan, brown a pound of ground meat, add a cup of salsa, mix together and dump it into the pie pan. Top w/shredded cheese and bake for the time required by the crescent rolls. While it was baking I would throw together a quick salad out of whatever was in the fridge. We also did a lot of fried rice, because that was good for using up many interesting combinations of leftovers! I cook a lot of quinoa now, but when my family was growing, we hadn’t heard of it.

      Reply
    3. Nathan says

      September 14, 2013 at 2:18 am

      Throw in a bit of sugar to round out the flavor… family recipe secret is out of the bag!

      Reply
    4. chopped vegetables pizza says

      February 7, 2014 at 8:15 pm

      I’m impressed, I have to admit. Seldom do I come across a blog
      that’s equally educative and entertaining, and without a doubt, you’ve hit
      the nail on the head. The issue is an issue that too few folks are speaking intelligently about.
      Now i’m very happy that I came across this in my search for something relating to this.

      Reply
    5. holly b says

      May 22, 2014 at 7:11 am

      Soy sauce has gluten unless you specifically but the gluten free soy sauce product than this technically isn’t gluten free. A, lesson someone with gluten intolerance may not know.

      Reply
    6. Veggiegirl says

      September 12, 2014 at 8:21 pm

      This recipe certainly doesn’t need eggs to provide protein. In fact the quinoa itself in this recipe provides four times as much protein as the eggs do. Add the eggs if you like them, but research has proven that eggs are not at all healthy or add nutrition in any way (check the latest statements by the USDA). I’d suggest replacing them with some tofu – much more nutritious.

      Reply

    Trackbacks

    1. {Back to School} Feeding Yourself! : A Life Less Awkward says:
      September 19, 2013 at 9:05 am

      […] Dinners (check out the Veggie ‘Fried Quinoa’ – it’s […]

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    2. Veggie “Fried Quinoa”.. | Healthy Living 4 Him says:
      September 30, 2013 at 8:51 pm

      […] 1/4 cup soy sauce […]

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    3. Easy Wheat Free Meal Ideas | From This Kitchen Table says:
      May 6, 2014 at 7:47 am

      […] Veggie Fried Quinoa – $5 Dinners […]

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    I’m Erin Chase…

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