Chicken fried quinoa

Oh, hello there! How are you doing on this fine Monday morning? I'm just trying to stop shivering and thinking about the 90 degree swing my body just took from the Bahamas on Friday to Iowa on Monday...from upper 80's to about 3 below zero (16 below if you count the windchill).  I'm in a little bit of shock going from swimsuits to winter coats, but I'm sure I'll live. Our 8 day vacation was the perfect length. We had just enough relaxing, napping, adventure, partying, excitement, and fun and were actually happy to start heading home when we did instead of wishing for another day or two. Something about your own bed, ya know...

 

I will post pics and honeymoon stories when I get a chance but I've had this recipe queued up for you since before I left and think you deserve to finally have it in your life since I've been keeping it from you for so long. Main Man and I devoured this meal, and I killed off the leftovers at lunch afterwards....Sam the man (our pup) didn't have a chance at getting any scraps! I have made quite a few quinoa recipes in my day, and have started to sub quinoa for pasta, rice, or anything of the sort so to healthify things up a bit. I figured chicken fried rice would be a super simple substitution...and I was right! Here's what you need:

 

3 chicken breasts, seasoned, baked, and diced. I seasoned mine with Lawry's, cracked black pepper, and garlic powder

 

 

Szechuan spicy stir fry sauce (the brand I use for alot of my asian cooking is pictured below)

 

2 T soy sauce (I use low sodium soy sauce all the time, there's no taste difference)
1 bag frozen stir fry veggies (mine had water chestnuts, carrots, snow peas, yellow peppers, etc. but you could use any veggies like broccoli, peas, onions, mushrooms, etc.)
1.5 cups rinsed quinoa
1.5 cups chicken broth (you can use water but I think the broth adds some flava flav)

Add the chicken broth to the skillet, along with the soy sauce. Bring to a boil and add rinsed quinoa. Stir continuously while it boils and absorbs all the liquid. Add your veggies and continue to stir until warmed throughout. Add your chicken breast chunks and as much of the szechuan sauce as you prefer...its got a little kick so I obviously like a good amount of it, but to each their own flavor punch.

Serve! I didn't eat off these chop sticks, don't kid yourself. I can do huge chunks, like sushi, but when it comes to small pieces like rice or quinoa that I want to shove in my mouth, I can't even come close to working those things correctly. Do you think there's a Groupon for some chopsticks lessons somewhere? Let me know if you stumble upon something of that nature...

Anyway, I am finally pleased to announce that my holidays/honeymoon hiatus has been lifted and we will be back to our regularly scheduled programming this week. Stay tuned for the phenomenal food posting from our trip...I'm not about to step on the scale this week and solidify my fear that I gained 10 lbs in a week from all the lovely seafood and buffets I devoured on the trip! I still have some great recipes to share with you from before we left, but I also have some dishes I'm super excited about replicating and healthifying from our trip...get excited (and STAY WARM)!