Steph here –
So last night you took the plunge and tried out Rebecca’s Crockpot Beans & Rice; or maybe you tried Susie Bee’s Cuban Beans & Rice. The family loved it – except for that one person who has an extreme aversion to beans. Maybe they just ate toast. Anyway, it’s around dinner time the next day, and after polishing off the leftover beans and vegetables for lunch, you realize that your family didn’t eat as much of the rice as you expected them too.
Rice is cheap and biodegradable, so no one except an extreme cheapskate will pitch a fit if you just trash the extra rice and move on. Besides, two nights in a row of beans and rice might be pushing it. Especially if that one family member has to eat toast again. Nevertheless, you’ll still feel a twinge of guilt as you scrape that rice into the trash can.
I mean, come on, if we’re trying out beans and rice to save a few bucks, we’re probably acutely aware of the 42 cents we’ll be dumping.
But what if you could use that 42 cents to make an entirely different meal? I’ve mentioned one way to use up leftover rice, but today Sarah’s bringing us another idea.
I love Chinese food, but it is one of the few ethnic foods that is very hard to get right at home-although there are some kits on the grocery shelves to make it a bit better. This summer we’ve come to enjoy fried rice. I make as big of a batch of rice as I can in my kettle and freeze portions to pull out and use for this recipe later. This is a great time saver as the rice usually takes the longest amount of time to cook!
It’s a quick one pan meal (if you have a wok or a really big skillet) that is a great way to re-purpose bits of other meals that are hanging around. You can modify the vegetables and seasonings to fit what is coming in from your garden or your personal tastes (I’d have a nifty picture – but we were too busy getting dinner on the table – next time!).
Fried Rice
INGREDIENTS
- 3 C. Cooked rice
- 2 Eggs
- 2 C. Shredded carrots
- 2 C. Finely chopped vegetables (water chestnuts, peppers, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, peas, corn – you name it!)
- 2 T. Sesame oil
- 2 T. Grated ginger
- 1 T. Minced garlic
- 1/3 C. Soy sauce
- 1/2 lb. Meat (pork, chicken, beef – leftover bits from other meals work great!)
DIRECTIONS
- Heat oil in large skillet
- Add ginger and garlic and sauté for about two minutes
- Add soy sauce and cook until mixture is simmering
- Add meat to skillet and cook until meat is done all the way through
- Add carrots and broccoli and cook until almost tender
- Push meat and veggies to the edge of the pan and crack the egg into the center of the pan and scramble it
- Once the egg is cooked mix it in with the meat and vegetables
- Add rice, mix thoroughly and cover until rice is heated
- Serve alone or with your favorite egg rolls!
Sara Tyler is the owner of Charity Candles & Crafts and is a cancer survivor who has learned what it means to not only survive, but to thrive. Besides loving on her husband and daughter and running her business, Sarah also blogs about frugality and homemaking at Thriving Mama.
QUESTION OF THE DAY:
Do you ever end up with a pot of extra rice sitting in the fridge? What do you usually do with it?
Honestly, I usually leftover myself to death until I can hardly stand the sight of rice. If I have a huge amount of leftovers, I might cook up a batch of Peanut Butter Chicken – a daring concoction of ethnic flavors that I learned about in West Africa. But I usually eat more chicken and peanut butter than rice 
.
Cheers,
P.S. I hope you don’t mind all of the guest posting that’s been going on around here. While preparing for this series, I thought it was really important to pull from the knowledge of multiple cooks.
I never want to give the impression that my way is the only way to provide frugal, healthy, whole foods for you and your family. In fact, I have this dream of seeing The Cheapskate Cook become a strong community of cooks who are both health and budget-conscious, teaching and challenging each other and anyone else who needs to save money but refuses to sacrifice their family’s health.
So I hope you enjoyed the recipes and inspiration from these cooks around the country. And don’t forget to actually try them out so you can enjoy the food itself!
“Without advice plans go wrong, but with many advisers they succeed.” – Proverbs 15:22
8 comments
1 ping
Susan
10/15/2010 at 10:33 AM (UTC -6)
What a great recipe to have on hand. I use a rice cooker so always seem to have left over rice. I usually stick in the fridge but rarely use it, so it generally ends up in the trash. It will be nice to have this recipe to go to!
nancy
10/15/2010 at 1:34 PM (UTC -6)
we love fried rice. serving it with eggrolls is a real treat at our house.
Steph
10/15/2010 at 5:37 PM (UTC -6)
Nancy – Sounds delicious! What kind of egg rolls do you eat it with?
Melissa
10/15/2010 at 4:36 PM (UTC -6)
Always be sure you dry your rice first. If it isn’t dry, the texture of the fried rice won’t be good. I know; I’ve tried.
I have some great friends who live in China, and they tried to teach me to make it.
nancy
10/16/2010 at 6:44 AM (UTC -6)
wish i could say that they’re homemade but they’re not. we’ve found some great frozen ones, chicken or pork usually, that we like. it’s a treat for us.
Rebecca Burgener
10/16/2010 at 11:27 AM (UTC -6)
Leftover rice is so versatile! You could add some raisins and a little sweetener for breakfast or add vegetables as a side dish or maybe even add some tuna with the veggies and some side rolls to make a whole other dinner. Plus, if you’ve had your fill of rice this week, you could freeze it for another day.
Steph
10/16/2010 at 1:05 PM (UTC -6)
Rebecca – Did you see my little informal rice-for-breakfast recipe? It’s kinda the same deal. Good in a pinch, but I like the freezing idea!
http://thecheapskatecook.com/2010/05/28/leftover-rescue-what-to-do-with-extra-cooked-rice/
Erin
11/19/2010 at 11:19 AM (UTC -6)
I made Fried Rice last night, but since my husband and I eat mostly vegetarian instead of meat I added edamame and bean sprouts. It was super delicious. Even though I can only seem to cook rice right about 50 percent of the time.
Feeding a Crowd on a Dime (Part 2) » The Cheapskate Cook
05/08/2012 at 10:01 PM (UTC -6)
[...] Rice – Use it as a warm breakfast cereal or make easy fried rice [...]