What in the world...

...is this a picture of? Colorful, if not creepy. Food? Sludge?














Oh, I shouldn't make references to sludge when I'm presenting you with a recipe...? :) My bad.

We've been having some major quinoa cravings around here lately. Last time we ran out I made an emergency Trader Joe's run...only to find out that it was out of stock. Luckily, I found some bins of loose quinoa much closer to home a few days later. I love walking around those health food stores, with all their bins of loose nuts, grains, CHOCOLATE, trail mix, etc. I have enjoyed more than an afternoon or two staring in all those beautiful containers...exciting life around here...

Oh, right, you wanted to know what's in that picture up there.

So in those bins I found not only plain old quinoa, but red quinoa! Imagine my excitement...! One night I was in the mood for some veggie fried rice, but decided that making it with quinoa instead of rice might be an interesting twist. Not to mention I happened to have some leftover red quinoa in the fridge, & it would look awfully pretty mixed in with all those veggies.

Usually when I make veggie fried rice, I use egg whites because I don't have regular eggs in the fridge. Hence the white liquid-y pond in the center of the upper pic. The egg whites don't have the same flavor (of course) but they do give the dish nice texture. If I happen to have eggs around, I mix egg whites with just one egg.

The first time I made veggie fried rice I used this delicious recipe: Love at First Slice
but now I kind of wing it. I usually use tofu & brown rice, then vary the veggies. For this batch I used red, yellow & green pepper slices (frozen, thawed), edamame, peas, corn, carrots & red quinoa, along with sesame oil & egg whites. I never measure, otherwise I'd have a bit more of a recipe for you today. :) But if you're new to making fried rice, the recipe above is a great start. Although I'm probably the only person in the world who didn't know how to make fried rice until recently!

This was really good. A bit mushier than fried rice, but that was a good contrast to the crunchier veggies. I guess I should mention I just subbed in cooked quinoa in place of the cooked rice, 1:1 ratio. Definitely similar to the original, but, imho, much much much prettier!