Healthy Chicken Fried Rice

I've been cooking a lot more lately, and since I get home so late, I want the things to be quick, easy, delicious, and healthy. And this dish is super easy, so yummy, and quicker than calling for delivery. This fried rice has protein and tons of veggies to keep you full and no MSG or other icky stuff in it.

I keep this super easy by using a veggie mix. I love this one (Eat Smart Vegetable Stir Fry) that I find in the produce section. It has tons of my favorite veggies, broccoli, snow peas, shredded carrots and broccoli slaw. The broccoli slaw kinda has the look of bean sprouts in the finished dish, which is great, cause I never seem to finish a package of bean sprouts when I buy them. You can also use any fresh or frozen veggie mix that you like. All the veggies really make this filling without being so heavy on the rice. Plus you get in more veggies, and that's always a good thing!

This is also a great recipe to use up leftovers. I almost always use leftover rice for this recipe. It makes it all come together so quickly And feel free to mix it up and use any protein you have on hand, beef, pork, ham or even tofu. You can also use leftover veggies.

Healthy Chicken Fried Rice
Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts or tenders
1 package stir fry veggies (fresh or frozen)
2 cups cooked rice (white or brown)
2 eggs
Green onions (optional), greens and whites, cut on the diagonal
1 tsp. garlic powder
1-2 tablespoons soy sauce or liquid aminos
Olive Oil

1. Slice the chicken breasts into bite size pieces.
2. Heat a drizzle of oil in a large saute pan over medium high heat.
3. When the oil is hot, throw the chicken in the pan and season with garlic powder (I don't measure, but I think it's about 1 tsp.).
4. Cook the chicken, stirring occasionally until fully cooked and no longer pink.
5. While the chicken cooks, whisk the two eggs.
6. In a small frying pan, heat 1/2 tsp of oil, and cook the eggs into an omelette (or scrambled eggs, if you can't make an omelette). When done, remove from pan and set aside.
7. Once the chicken is cooked, add the veggies and about 1/2-3/4 cup of water to the pan.
8. Stir the chicken and veggies around scraping up any brown bits from the bottom of the pan.
9. Let the veggies steam in the water to cook uncovered. Let the water evaporate.
10. Once the veggies are done and the water is almost all gone, add the rice and stir into the chicken and veggies.
11. Chop up the egg into small bite size pieces and toss into the pan as well.
12. Add the soy sauce and stir everything together.
NOTE: Here's the part where it's by taste. You wanna add enough soy sauce to make the rice that brown "fried rice" color, but not so much that's its too watery. Start with 1 tablespoon and then see if you think you need more. Taste it to make sure you like the flavor. If you add too much soy sauce and it's watery, just cook and stir a little longer to let the liquid evaporate.
13. Garnish with green onions (I like a lot!) and serve!

This is also totally 21 day fix approved! Each serving is equal to 1 red, 1 green, and 1 yellow.

My guinea pig for my recipes, as always, is Grandma, and she loved this so much, she went back for more.

Have you ever made a take out recipe at home?

My trip to New Orleans

Last week I went to New Orleans with my best friend Kris. I had gotten a great deal on a hotel on Living Social, and we decided to make a girls weekend of it.

We drove from Orlando to New Orleans. It was about 9 hours, we started out in the early morning, but thanks to the time change from Eastern to Central, we arrived in the afternoon. We checked in to the hotel and went to explore the French Quarter. We even got to hear some local musicians jamming in the street as we walked around. We got our bearings pretty quick, and then came back to the hotel to freshen up for the night.

Now, I really go on vacation to eat, and eat good we did. One of Kris's coworkers lived in New Orleans for a while, so she gave us her recommendations for all of the good places to eat and drink in the French Quarter.
 
Our first night in New Orleans, we headed to Pat O'Brien's to try one of the original hurricanes.

We each only had one, but it was more than enough! Those sure packed a punch.

On our way back to the hotel, we saw a pizza place and stopped in for a slice. It was so yummy, but that could have been the lack of pizza or the hurricane talking.

On our way back to the hotel we stopped in this little voodoo shop. They had some cool things, but asked for no pictures inside. I followed the rules! We walked back to the hotel and called it a night after a very long day. Luckily though, even with being in the car for 9 hours, we managed to get our 10,000 steps in for the day (thanks FitBit!).

The next morning, after sleeping in (well sleeping in for us!), we headed out to get breakfast. We went to The Camelia Grill. This little diner was in the corner of an old building.

We walked into this little pink gem and were greeted so warmly. The place is just a big double u-shaped counter. The waiters were amazing and even recommended a Cajun restaurant owned by a New Orleans native in Orlando for us.

We ordered omelettes and they were HUGE! The omelettes and hash browns hit the spot.

Kris also got a side of grits, which I tried. They were so creamy and delicious.

After a filling breakfast, we walked down to Jackson Square. I loved this part of the French Quarter. We checked out the cathedral, St. Louis Cathedral, one of the oldest churches in the U.S.

As I went to buy Mom a card of the parton Virgin of New Orleans, the lady at the counter in the gift shop told us the story of Our Lady of Prompt Succor.

She mentioned to us that there was a historic convent a little down the street, so we headed that way looking for it and checking out all of the gorgeous French Quarter homes. They really do have that European feel to them.

We then made our way to Cafe Du Monde for beignets! We couldn't pass this place up. All you can order is drinks and beignets, so just be ready to get just that.

We had one order and some cold drinks. It was really, really hot.

Kris's dad told us we had to go to the grave of the voodoo queen, Marie Leveau. So we headed to St. Louis Cementary #1.

The cementary was so awesome. It was so old that you couldn't even read some of the grave markers. The place was really breathtaking, especially knowing it had been there since the 1700s.

We finally found the grave of Marie Leveau, but alas, it was under refurbishment. We did take some pics though. After we left I had to look up what the three Xs meant, and it is to make a wish to the voodoo queen. We didn't bring an offering for her, so we couldn't have made a wish anyways.

After checking out the market and walking around the streets in Jackson Square, we headed back to the hotel for lunch. We ate at one of the restaurants in the hotel Desire Oyster House. We had traditional cajun food, gumbo, red beans and rice and jambalaya. It was all so good. We split this plate and it was plenty for both of us.

Since we were on vacation, we also split bread pudding with whiskey sauce. It was sooo good!

We chilled at the hotel pool for a bit, then got ready for the night.

We headed around the corner to the Royal House Oyster Bar. (I had no idea oysters were such a New Orleans thing until I got there. And I'm not an oyster fan.) This restaurant totally reminded me of some of the places in Paris. It had a little downstairs are with some seating, and a bigger dining room on the second floor. We started off with a strawberry gin cocktail.

I ordered fried fresh gulf shrimp, which came with some delicious hush puppies.

Kris couldn't get enough jambalaya, and ordered that. The food was delicious.

After dinner, we went down Bourbon Street to have some more drinks. Since it was a Monday night, it was a little empty, but we stumbled into a bar with a good band. They were playing some Jackson 5 that brought us in. We listened to them jam for a while. They were playing some good music, old 70s funk and really had the crowd going.

A friend of ours insisted that we needed to get hand grenades, so we did. These drinks were neon green, and I have no idea what was in them, but they were so strong. We got our grenades and walked around with them.

Cause while in New Orleans, we had to walk in the streets with our drinks.

We were gonna head into the jazz club in our hotel, but felt weird walking in with our huge neon drinks. We listened to the jazz in the lobby and finally when we were done, it seemed so was the band. We called it a night (being the lightweights we are the grenades had taken affect).

The next morning we lazily walked to the downstairs coffee bar to have some cafe au laits made with local New Orleans chicory coffee.

We knew we wanted to get a po' boy and a muffaletta before we headed home, so we wanted to save room for lunch. We headed back to Jackson Square and checked out all of the shops we didn't see the day before.

It was much hotter that day (the day before was overcast, so the sun didn't have such an effect), so we grabbed a muffaletta for Kris at the Central Grocery and then went off to find my shrimp po' boy. We sat in the hotel courtyard and enjoyed our last bit of New Orleans food before we left.

Then it was in the car for a long ride back to Orlando, and the next day I drove back from Orlando to Miami.

The food was amazing and the people were great, but did all I think I could in New Orleans. Bourbon Street was kinda seedy, and the streets and things were really unkempt. It was a great place to spend a few days eating delicious food, and now I can say I've been to Louisiana!

Did you go anywhere this summer?

Epcot International Food & Wine Festival

I have wanted to go to the Epcot Food & Wine Festival for a while. I had a trip planned last year, but never quite made it. With my annual Disney World pass this year I knew I had to go. And my tummy thanked me for doing it!

Kris, Eddie and I headed out to Epcot at about 5ish. We were glad we did, cause we avoided having the sun beat down on us on that hot day. Our first stop was the craft beers booth. Eddie and Kris both got a beer sample, I'm not really a beer girl, so I passed. But I did have a taste of their beers and they were good.

We got our passports and checked out what we wanted to get next. I had heard great things about Brazil, so we went there. I had the crispy pork belly with black beans. The pork belly was my favorite dish I had. I can't wait to go back and get it again.

They also had a sparkling Moscato. I love me some Moscato, and adding bubbles to something only makes it better.

Then we were off to Argentina. I got the grilled beef skewer with chimichurri and boniato puree. The beef was good (though it wasn't churrasco), but the boniato puree was great. It was so yummy, kinda like mashed potatoes, but different in the best way.

The sun began to set, and we kept walking around checking out all the countries. Eddie had a Kefta pocket (which was really good, the spices were amazing), but I don't have a picture of that. Luckily, I do have a picture in Morocco for some ambiance.

We also stopped in Japan for a california roll. I know not really, really Japanese, but it was fresh and so yummy.

We kept walking around, and finally got to my favorite country. You guessed it, France!

I got the Boeuf Bourguignon. It was so tender and the sauce was delicious and had a taste of red wine. I also got the Eiffel Sour Cosmo Slush. Unfortunately it wasn't too sour. It was very sweet and I would have been better off with some wine. But it was frozen, so it was refreshing on that hot night.

We kept heading around the world and stopped in Canada. Kris got the "Le Cellier" Wild Mushroon Filet with Truffle Butter Sauce. I had a taste and it was delicious, so tender, and the mushrooms were amazing.

At this point we were stuffed and really hot, so we headed back to the house. It was a delicious time to spend at food and wine, and I can't wait to try even more things when I head back.

Next time I'll be at Epcot Food & Wine Festival will be after the half marathon. It's so crazy to think that! But I know all that delicious food and wine will be a great reward after all that running.

Puerto Rico: the food

I loved the vibe and sights of Puerto Rico, but the food was just amazing.

The first day we got to Puerto Rico, we headed to a little mom and pop restaurant, Mi Casita, right by our hotel. This place was small, but packed at lunch time when we arrived, always a good sign. Being in Puerto Rico, I had to order a piña colada.

We, of course, ordered mofongo (thankfully we split the order, it was huge!). Mofongo is a typical Puerto Rican dish made of fried green plantains, that are then mashed with garlic, seasonings and pork rinds. We got a mofongo relleno de pollo, which means on the inside of this mofongo mound is even more chicken. This mofongo was the one that tasted most like homemade to me. The sauce that the chicken was cooked in was delicious and moistened the mofongo just right.

That evening for dinner, we found a place in Condado called Casa Lola. This was a fancier Puerto Rican place, but it still had some dished we wanted to have while in Puerto Rico. We ordered some arañitas (literally meaning spiders). They are fritters made of shredded green plantains that are then fried. They were crispy and delicious.

After our day of adventure hiking in El Yunque and kayaking, we headed to La Estación, which had been recommended to us by some coworkers.  It was an old gas station revamped into a really cool restaurant. It had outdoor seating, which was perfect since we were soaked after our kayak trip. I don't know if it was the fact that we were exhausted after a day of so much activity, but this food was delicious. I ordered the mofongo with churrasco (skirt steak). The mofongo was delicious and the steak was super tender. Plus, I just love when they serve the mofongo in a pilón (mortar, which is where they make a mofongo).

Our last day in Puerto Rico, we went to Raíces, which is a much frequented and much recommended restaurant right in Old San Juan. The atmosphere was amazing and the food did not disappoint. We started out with drinks, that were served to us in metal cups, so cute.

I got off the mofongo boat and ordered carne frita con arroz y habichuelas (fried pork chunks with rice and beans). The carne frita was delicious and so tender. And the rice and beans tasted homemde.

It was our last day, so we had to double up on desserts. We ordered a dulzura típica (ice cream with dulce de leche, queso blanco and nuts). This is the dessert I had. I never would have thought that queso blanco and ice cream would go together so well. Everyone else enjoyed the cascos de guayaba (I'm not a guava fan). They said it tasted home made and that they were delicious.

My trip to Puerto Rico was a fun and delicious one. Everywhere we went the food was fresh and delicious. Those Puerto Ricans sure do know how to cook.