QUINOA "FRIED RICE"

Herro! 

Have been trying to adopt a healthy lifestyle and healthy living routine by adjusting my diet and getting back into running/jogging. And in my attempt to do that, I have been eating home cooked food for the past few days or so, for every meal, just cos I see a lot of people that are really into fitness and healthy living, emphasising non stop about how abs comes from the kitchen, or effective weight loss results from changing your diet and exercising etc. With that, I decided to go ahead and take the trouble to cook my meals rather than eating out and to try to influence my family into adopting a clean eating diet as well, just so that it'll be easier for us to prepare meals at home and it benefits not only me but my entire family so why not. :)

Quinoa, is a grain that has been more "recognized" in recent years especially to people that are into clean eating. It is a highly nutritive grain that I use to replace white rice that I have been eating for the longest period of time. I did a very rough research on the nutrition value of quinoa and it has been said that quinoa is relatively high in protein, calcium, iron, a source of vitamin E, and several B vitamins and it is an excellent alternative to rice for people that want a gluten free diet. Quinoa is classified under complex carbohydrates that are really high in fiber and it provides you with the energy and keeps you satisfied after meals and I believe this is really important because you tend to want to eat lesser when you feel satisfied and are not hungry all the time. Of course, there are tons of other different kinds of grains that are really beneficial as well, such as brown rice, buckwheat etc but I honestly could not accept the taste of brown rice so I gave up trying that and i'm really really glad that I found quinoa because it not only taste surprisingly good, it is highly beneficial as well. 

I am currently using organic quinoa from Origins Healthfood that I got from Fairprice finest and it costs slightly more than $7 for this pack. I didn't really mean to get organic quinoa but I seem to only find it in the organic section. But then again maybe I didn't check thoroughly that day. It is pretty pricey as compared to normal white rice what we purchase in a really huge sack but honestly that pack can last me for quite a substantial number of meals because I only use slightly less than 1/2 cup of it each time. So actually it still costs lesser than what we pay for outside and is far far more beneficial.

Okay so getting into my quinoa "fried rice", it is a super easy kind of home cooked food that you don't really need to spend a lot of time into preparing it.

Ingredients:

- 1/2 cup qunioa

- 2 small cloves of garlic, chopped

- 2 chilli padies, chopped

- a handful of bean sprouts

- 1 egg

First, cook the quinoa with approximately twice the amount of water and set it aside to cool.

Boil the bean sprouts till its cooked and set aside to cool. (best if its still nice and crunchy)

Make an egg omelette and cut it into bite size and set it aside to cool.

Add a little oil and put in the chopped garlic, chilli, bean sprouts and egg slices into the pan and stir fry.

Lastly, add in the cooked quinoa and mix it all up. 

Add a little soy sauce for flavor if you'd like and you're done!

Honestly its that easy. And it tastes pretty much like ordinary fried rice. I used no salt and no sugar for this dish and it still taste as good! Okay maybe slightly more bland, to be very honest, but I am used to food that are not too flavourful so i'm perfectly okay with that. You just have to get used to it. And for stuff like this, its really about creativity and what you like to eat. Switch up the ingredients for other healthy and beneficial stuff to suit your taste buds so that you really enjoy eating it! 

I am happy that I started this change in my life even though I just started out like really not long ago and i've been into it on-off, but I think it is still feasible to make this a permanent change in my lifestyle. It just takes time. Hehe. I keep reminding myself to keep it going even though I may fail to stick to it time and again, giving in to temptations along the way but it'll be too cruel to forbid myself from eating the good stuff every now and then. Hehe. Even though I eat to live, its always fine to live to eat once in a while! 

Quinoa is probably my biggest step that i've taken so far and I wouldn't say that I eat entirely clean at the moment but I am already looking forward to trying and experimenting with other beneficial food and recipes in the future. I really want to try avocados the next time round. I thought it looks so creamy and nice but I haven't really got a chance to try how it taste like yet! 

Anyway, healthy eating really doesn't have to be a chore or a burden. It just takes s little time and effort just like everything else. In life, school, relationships, family, everything including living requires that extra time and effort to see promising results. I look forward to a healthier me in the future~ :)