Breakfast Fried Rice

Do you ever wonder what to do with leftover brown rice, especially when you don't have much of it anyway?  I like to use it the next morning to make breakfast fried rice!  I love this so much, that I intentionally will set aside some brown rice from our dinner to use the next morning because this is so good.  And what's great is that you don't need very much rice.  If you are just making a single serving, you need anywhere from a 1/4 to 1/2 cup - that's it.  This is another one of my favorite, flexible, and quick recipes that leaves you smiling and happy you are processed free!

Single Serving:
1 egg
leftover brown rice
baby spinach (a handful, torn)
1 clove garlic, minced (or a few dashes of garlic powder)
onion powder
any leftover veggies, diced
Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste

In a skillet on medium heat, saute your baby spinach leaves, garlic clove (or garlic powder,) onion powder, and leftover veggies for a couple of minutes until they are soft and the spinach is wilted.  I use coconut oil for sauteing and your veggies could include: bell peppers, carrots, peas, potatoes, sweet potatoes, zucchini, diced tomatoes, olives, etc. - anything really!  Next, add your leftover brown rice and stir for a minute to warm through and combine with the veggies.  Then push everything in the skillet to the outside edges, forming a donut shape with the veggies and rice.  In the center that is now clear, crack your egg and begin to swirl it around with a heat-resistant spatula to form a scrambled egg effect, but as you are swirling, slowly start to draw in the contents from the outer circle of food.  This creates those small bits of egg throughout the dish that are just like fried rice.  Once everything is stirred together, add as much or as little freshly grated Parmesan cheese as you like.  This cheese is a little salty in taste, so you may want to use less salt when you season it while it's cooking.  That's all there is to it.

 This takes me only minutes to make because it's almost entirely made of leftovers, but so healthy and delicious.  Even if I only have leftover rice, I always have baby spinach in my freezer that I have previously frozen by putting handfuls of baby spinach in a gallon freezer zip-top bag, then squeezed the air out.  I have this on hand when I make green smoothies or I'm going to cook some fresh spinach for something.  I want to explain that this spinach would not make a nice salad after being frozen, but it's perfect for smoothies and cooking!  This way, I always have it on hand, and my fresh baby spinach is never thrown away because I didn't use it in time.  The breakfast fried rice tastes just as good even without the other veggies.