Veggie Fried Rice (aka how to cook up everything you’ve got in your fridge)

If you were to come over to our house, and take a look in our fridge, I can all but guarantee you would find the following items:

Garlic

Ginger

Diced Onions (I always seem to cut too many)

Homemade Yogurt

Tomatoes

Parmesan Cheese

Brown Rice (again, I always cook too much)

Wheat Bread

Eggs (usually at least 2 dozen worth)

Frozen Veggies (peas, green beans, broccoli, soy beans, spinach…you take your pick, we’ve probably got it)

Of course, we buy other things for particular dishes, but I think it’s important to always have a few staple items on the grocery list. These are the kind of things that you can rely on when your leptin levels start to rise (aka you’re hungry) and you don’t have any leftovers sitting around. Now I’m sure we can all come up with a few things to do with onions, tomatoes and eggs (for example vietnamese omelets…one of my all time favorite dinners), but it can sometimes be a little harder to use up something like old brown rice. Well have no fear! I’ve got the perfect recipe for you! I actually came up with this recipe about a week ago when I was getting desperate for something relatively nutritious, but quick to make (you can only survive on peanut butter and honey sandwiches and ramen for so many weeks). I took a look in my fridge and started throwing stuff together in a large frying pan. Lucky for me, it turned out quite tasty, and now I get to share it with you.

What you need:

• 4 cups cooked brown rice (the longer it’s been sitting in your fridge the better)
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1 cup chopped frozen pineapple
• 1 cup frozen spinach
• 1 1/2 cup chopped frozen green beans
• 3/4 cup diced onions
• 1/4 cup minced ginger
• 3-4 cloves minced garlic
• 1/4 cup oil (peanut, veggie or olive work great)
• 1 1/2 tbs soy sauce
• Garlic salt (to taste)
• Crushed red pepper (optional)
• Whatever else you have lying around and want to get rid of…here are a few other suggestions from friends: mushrooms, chicken, ham, etc.

What you need to do:

1. Heat the oil in the frying pan (make sure you’re using an extra-large pan), and throw in the garlic, ginger and onions. Let them heat up until the onions start to get soft.
2. Toss in the green beans, spinach, peas and pinapple. Let them heat up until they are mostly defrosted (no need to defrost ahead of time).
3. Add the rice and mix everything together.
4. Create a well in the center of the mixture (see picture) and add your 4 eggs. You can either beat them before adding or once they’re in the pan. Try to keep them separate from the other ingredients and let them cook until until they’re the consistency of cottage cheese (that’s kinda a weird comparison) and then mix everything together.
5. Add the soy sauce and let cook for 4-5 additional minutes.
6. Be sure to taste test and add garlic salt or crushed red pepper if you want a little additional salt or spice.
7. Enjoy!

(As a separate note, please send us good thoughts this week! Anita’s boards are on Thursday and mine are on Friday!)

Print This BA Recipe