easy quinoa fried rice

Okay, total moment of honesty here. I broke down from my clean eating this past Sunday and ordered Chinese food takeout. Why? It sounded damn delicious, that's why. It tasted damn delicious too, not even going to try to skirt around that. The only part that wasn't awesome was how full & lethargic I felt after. It's amazing how much more "bad" food effects you when you've been on a health kick! Anyway, one of my favorite things to do in the kitchen is create healthier alternatives to some of my favorite foods. I'm a total junk food lover at heart, clean eating decisions don't always come easy so I feel a lot of inspiration to find ways to eat what I love without feeling all the guilt... because I love food, but I also love feeling good about myself. Ya feel me? This quinoa fried rice was absolutely delicious and left me feeling a whole lot better after eating it. Score! I hope y'all enjoy! 

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup quinoa, dry
• 1 tbsp olive or sesame oil
• 1 egg
• 1/4-1/2 16oz. bag frozen veggie blend
• 4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce

*Note, pictured is a double recipe. 
1 cup dry quinoa prepares 3 cups cooked. You can easily double this recipe to get the 6 cups as pictured. 

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cook quinoa per package instructions and set aside to cool for 30 minutes. (We don't want to move on to frying the quinoa until it has cooled a little bit as it tends to get mushy)! 
2. Add olive oil to a medium / large skillet and turn up to medium heat. Add in frozen vegetable mix and saute a couple minutes until defrosted. 
3. Scoot veggies to one side of skillet and crack your egg in the other side, stirring up into a scramble. 
4. Stir scrambled egg and veggies together and add your quinoa to the skillet. 
5. Evenly sprinkle your soy sauce over the quinoa and stir up. 
6. Turn skillet to medium high, stirring quinoa constantly to fry just a minute or two- we don't want it to burn, but just get that slightly fried taste. 
7. Remove from heat, serve up, and enjoy!