Ingredients:

• 1 cup uncooked quinoa (close to 4 cups cooked)
• 1 ½ cups low-sodium chicken stock (or water)
• ½ yellow onion, diced (1 cup)
• 3 carrots, peeled and small diced (1 cup)
• ½ red bell pepper, diced (1 cup)
• 3 green onions, chopped (the green part)
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• ¾ teaspoon fresh ginger, peeled and minced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 eggs, lightly scrambled
• 1 cup frozen shelled edamame, thawed

For the sauce:
• 1 ½ tablespoons low-sodium teriyaki sauce
• 2 ½ tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
• ¾ teaspoon sesame oi

Directions:

Bring quinoa and chicken stock (or water) to a boil in a medium saucepan, reduce to a simmer and cover with lid. Simmer for about 15 minutes, until quinoa is fluffy and cooked through. Remove from heat, and let it sit for 5 minutes or so. Fluff with a fork. Cool and store in the refrigerator, preferably overnight.

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Sauté thawed chicken breasts until fully cooked, and set aside.

In the leftover oil, add carrots and cook about 1 to 2 minutes, add onions and cook 1 to 2 minutes, then add peppers and edamame and cook 1 to 2 minutes. Add 2 scallions, garlic and ginger to the pan. Cook another 2 minutes.

Add cooked quinoa and teriyaki, soy sauce and stir-fry until incorporated, about 2 minutes. Make a well in the center of the quinoa, pour eggs in and scramble. Top with diced chicken and remaining chopped scallion, and serve.

Nutrition Facts:

Kelsie’s Chicken Fried Quinoa vs. P.F. Chang’s China Bistro Chicken Fried Rice

Serving size: 1 ½ cups

Calories
KFQ: 458 PF: 620

Total fat
KFQ: 13g PF: 20g

Sodium
KFQ: 609mg PF: 1355mg

Potassium
KFQ: 16.6mg PF: 21.2mg

Total carbohydrates
KFQ: 54g PF: 77g

Dietary fiber
KFQ: 11g PF: 2.0g

Protein
KFQ: 31g PF: 25g

Meet Kelsie

Kelsie Knerr, R.D., L.D., is a Columbia native who has always loved the way food brings people together, so much so that she’s turned the intersection of food as fuel, food as love and food as science into a career. She is a dietitian at Boone Hospital’s Diabetes and Weight Management Center and provides medical nutrition therapy involving weight loss, bariatric surgery and diabetes. She also helps with WELLAWARE, which involves health fairs, the mobile health unit and nutritional presentations. Kelsie earned two degrees from the University of Missouri, in exercise physiology and
dietetics. Before working at Boone Hospital, she lived in Fayetteville, Arkansas, where she worked with the public school system to provid healthier options for school lunches as well as nutritional education for children.