Thursday, July 12, 2012

A twist on takeout

Happy Thursday!  Are you all having an amazing day?  I hope you are!  So, today I'm giving you a recipe.  Shay, you probably won't like it, there's no candy involved.  I'm sorry. 

So, I've said it before, and I'll say it again.  Ammon hates leftovers.  I have to work hard to figure out ways to make food quickly and easily, and ways to use leftovers in a new way that in no way, shape, or form resembles the original dinner.  It's kind of a pain, but I'm becoming increasingly more creative as a result.

We had pork chops for dinner Monday night.  I had purchase a family pack, so that I could keep some of them in the freezer for future use, but I kept out 5.  We ate 2 Monday, and I have 3 left.  Those 3 went into...

Pork "fried" Quinoa.  It's basically home made pork fried rice, but with quinoa instead of rice.  Recipe following.  If you can't find quinoa, you can make it with rice.  I just wanted to make it healthier, and give it some extra protein and fiber.

You will need:
16 oz cooked pork chops (3 medium-large boneless chops)
2.5 - 3 cups cooked quinoa
4 eggs
2 T sesame or peanut oil
4T low sodium soy sauce
1 cup frozen peas and carrots
1 cup frozen corn

What you do:
1)  Scramble your eggs.  I put mine in a mason jar and shake them up until they're scrambly goodness.  You can whisk, but it's less fun.
2) Put the oil in a frying pan over medium.  Cook your eggs until they're hard scrambled.  You want to do this in a large pan, so that they spread thinly and evenly.  Once they're cooked, you can cut up the egg with your spatula into small pieces.
3) Add your veggies and soy sauce, and give everything some time to get hot.  Stir occasionally.
4) Add the pork.  It should be cooked already, but this gives it some of the soy sauce flavor.
5) Add quinoa and stir constantly.  Also, raise the heat at this time from medium to medium-high.  By finishing it at a higher heat, it will get that texture you're used to with fried rice.

Spoon into your bowl and dig in, knowing that its full of protein and fiber!  This recipe serves 4 as a main dish, 6-8 as a side dish.

What do you do to sneak your recipes into leftovers?  Or are you the queen of making "just enough" food for your family?

7 comments:

  1. Yum! Definitely going to have to try this recipe! Also wanted to let you that I nominated you for the Liebster Award!

    http://jvkom.blogspot.com/2012/07/i-was-nominated-for-liebster-award-by.html

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  2. Sounds divine.. looks scrumptious! Congrats on your award too mate!

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  3. Looks wonderful! =) I've got a box of quinoa that I've yet to try...I need to test this recipe, though :)

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  4. This looks delicious. I've actually never tried quinoa, but I've been wanting to!

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  5. Good idea!! I love finding new uses for Quinoa my husband will like and THIS is it! THANKS!

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  6. Hunter's not a huge fan of leftovers either. My newest trick? Make a crap ton and serve it one night....then put the rest in a ziplock and freeze it. Do this for 3 or 4 weeks, then start thawing baby! Then repeat. They've forgotten about ALL those delicious meals the second go-round. It's like tricking them into eating leftovers.

    And it saves us SO MUCH TIME!

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  7. I would totally eat this. But there are 5 steps! FIVE Kristen. Not to mention "spooning into the bowl" which really makes 6.

    I'm more of a 1-2 step girl.

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