Recipe of the Week: 'Everything-but-the-Kitchen-Sink' Fried Rice

It's a random weekday night. You've made dinner the past few nights in a row, so you don't have much left in the fridge except a few sticks of celery, a cooked chicken breast from the night before, some carrots, half an onion and a bit of salad. You're hungry, the children are hungry, and you just don't want to make the trek to .

What do you do?

Take those leftovers, toss in some rice and bam! You've got dinner.

OK, it's not quite that instant, but it's pretty easy to take your leftovers and turn them into a tasty, healthful rice dish the whole family will love.

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Serves: 4-6 people

Ingredients

• 3 c. long-grain brown or white rice
• 2 eggs, stirred
• 1/3 c. soy sauce, to taste
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 5-6 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 Tbsp. vegetable oil, divided
• 2-3 c. chopped vegetables of your choice
• precooked meat of your choice, diced

Directions

First, cook the rice (unless you already have some plain rice cooked and ready). I use a Kitchen Gourmet rice cooker and long-grain brown rice.

In a large pan, heat 1 Tbsp. oil over medium high heat and add the garlic. Once the garlic is brown, add the meat (I use Seitan, a wheat gluten meat substitute) and cook until heated through. Remove from pan and set aside.

Add 2 Tbsp. oil to the pan, then add the cooked rice. If the rice sticks together, break it up so there are no large clumps. Pour the soy sauce on the rice and mix thoroughly. (Note: I recommend taste-testing to make sure you don't add too much or too little soy sauce).

Once mixed, form a pit in the rice so a few square inches of the pan are showing and add the two eggs to it. Let it cook for a few seconds, then stir the egg into the rice. Continue to stir occasionally until all the egg is cooked (the rice will go from looking shiny to having more of a matte finish, and some chunks of cooked egg will be visible).

Add the meat, chopped onion and veggies (I usually use iceberg lettuce, snow peas, celery, carrots and broccoli) to the rice and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables reach the desired tenderness.

Serve warm and enjoy!

Do you have a recipe you want to share? Email editor Jen Anesi at jen.anesi@patch.com to have your recipe featured as Recipe of the Week.