a rice dinner in the dark

Yesterday (day 13 of no school) all I wanted to do was make quinoa "fried rice", but when my mom and I got home from our errands it was to close to the time we were going to the gym to make it for lunch, so I ate a yogurt and settled on making the quinoa with dinner.

....And then on the way home from the gym, it felt like the middle of December with the snow blizzard going on around us, and all the street lights were off again. No power. So we got home and I was hungry and so determined to make this quinoa, and the darkness did not stop us.

This is a great side dish with dinner, or a lunch on its own. Quinoa is a really great source of protein, and it has iron and calcium too. Plus half of this is just vegetables so it couldn't get better! Also, the curry is great for cancer prevention.

*I apologize for the strange lighting of the pictures, but don't be fooled by the quality of my flash - I promise I didn't have power when I made this dinner.  There are also a few things I would do differently with this next time, so I'll let you know when it comes up. (My mom and I didn't use a recipe for this one, we couldn't use a computer to find one, so we winged it.)

Here's what you'll need:
a 10 oz package of frozen vegetables
1 carrot
1 red pepper
2 eggs
1/2 tsp of curry
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 cups quinoa
1 1/2 cups water
sesame oil
olive oil
soy sauce

1. Pour the quinoa and water into a pot and bring to a boil. Stir the quinoa initially, then put a lid on the pan and let it simmer on a medium heat for 10-20 minutes. Check for the right texture.

  















2. Scramble the eggs!

3. Chop up the eggs when they've cooled. 

 4. Cut up the pepper and carrot. Drizzle a little olive oil on the bottom of a pan, and add the vegetables.  Stir it around, then add the mixed vegetables. (I added edamame also, but thanks to the darkness I didn't know the beans were still in the pods.. I would leave out the edamame next time though).

 5. Once defrosted, drizzle the vegetables with sesame oil and soy sauce (We added about a tbsp each, but next time I would use less soy sauce). Then add the ginger and curry to the mix.

 6. Once the vegetables are done, mix the quinoa, eggs, and vegetables all together!! Enjoy!

Reference: http://www.livestrong.com/article/4695-need-health-benefits-quinoa/