Chicken Fried Brown Rice

Here's one of the healthier fried rice recipes I've ever read or tasted.  I love recipes that cut down calories without sacrificing flavor- genious!  Based on this Brown Fried Rice with Chicken and Vegetables recipe by Liz DellaCroce of The Lemon Bowl, one of my favorite healthy food blogs I've recently discovered.  In the post, she encourages you to use whatever vegetables you have on hand, which is exactly what I did.  In fact, by using frozen vegetables, I was able to make this dish without buying a single ingredient.  Versatile, simple, quick, and tasty... sounds like a workin' mama meal to me!  Here's how this Mama makes it:

Chicken Fried Brown Rice

Ingredients:

- 8 oz. chicken breast, diced (I used 2 out of a 3 pack, so probably closer to 12-16 oz.)

- 1 medium onion, diced

- 1.5 c. frozen broccoli, cooked and chopped

- 1 c. frozen mixed veggies, cooked and chopped

- 3/4 c. edamame, shelled and cooked

- 1 egg

- 2 c. leftover brown rice (preferably cold - making it the night before allows you to greatly reduce the cooktime, too.  I put it on the stove after work and by the time we went to bed it was done!)

- 1 T. sesame oil

- 2-3 T. soy sauce

- 1 T. rice vinegar

- 1 c. scallions, minced (I didn't have these, but I think it'd be delicious!)

Directions:

1.  Heat a large pan over medium-high heat and spray with non-stick spray.  Saute chicken breasts about 4 minutes per side.  No need to move the chicken constantly - letting it brown will only add more flavor.  If using frozen veggies, cook those now.

steam-in-the-bag veggies have to be

the best thing since sliced bread

2.  Once cooked, remove chicken from pan and set aside.  Toss the chopped onion into the pan, cook for 3-4 minutes.

3.  Add remaining veggies, stir fry for 3 minutes to heat.

4.  Move the veggies to the perimeter of the pan and add the egg in the middle.  Using a wooden spoon, quickly stir the egg to scramble.

5.  Add the cold brown rice, cooked chicken, and sesame oil.  Stir well to distribute oil and mix all the ingredients.

6.  Walk away from the pan and let the ingredients brown a bit.  After about 2 minutes, stir and let sit another 2 minutes.

 Walk away from the pan just long enough to, oh, I don't know:  set the table, switch the laundry, take this picture, urge the baby to not climb on the vent, and kiss the "ouchie" when she stumbles on the way down...

7.  Add soy sauce, rice vinegar, and scallions.  Stir well and serve.

printable recipe

Peanut was a big fan...

a REALLY big fan!