Quick and easy lunch: chicken fried rice

Now, I am a fan of Chinese takeout as much as the next person, but lately, I've been preferring to make my own, as it is cheaper and healthier. Stir-fry is a good, quick meal for me for dinners, especially when I'm just cooking for me as I have been the past two weeks. But since it is just me, I end up with TONS of leftovers and I can only reheat the same dish so many times. Plus, rice tends to get rather dry and (in my opinion, gross) when it sits in the refrigerator for too long. So what's a girl to do? Well, in my case, I make fried rice, which is good for lunch when I've got a busy afternoon of classes or meetings, which is where I will be spending this afternoon.

I start with one egg, beating it with a teaspoon of soy sauce (you can use more or less, depending on your preference), then scrambling it in a saucepan that has been heated with just a few drops of oil (I don't really measure, but I'd guesstimate that it's about half a teaspoon):

When the egg is scrambled, remove all those lovely little bits onto a plate and keep warm (on a side note, aren't our dishes lovely?):

In that same saucepan, put half a cup of leftover vegetables (this particular batch of stir fry was from a kit, so the noodles were in the original. Also, I added chicken when I made the stir fry the first time--you can add it or leave it out because it's yummy either way) and saute them until they are hot:

Add half a cup of rice (more or less as you desire) on top of the vegetables:

And pour in about 3-4 more teaspoons of soy sauce. I like a lot of soy sauce, so I used 4 (and I use low-sodium, so it's not quite as bad for me!). Stir these ingredients until everything is nice and hot; it makes a great crackling sound once you add the soy sauce and the kitchen smells lovely!

Once it's all nice and hot, put the eggs back in and stir to mix:

Then dish it out onto a pretty serving dish and top with some Chinese noodles (at least, that's what I like to do).

The nice thing about this is that it can be customized to whatever I have on hand--no chicken? No problem! If you like beef or shrimp, that can be added instead of the chicken. Any particular vegetable you can't stand (mine would be mushrooms) can be left out. And since I make it myself, I know there's nothing yucky like MSG added.

Having a kitchen is bliss :)