AND it's edible.

   I actually cooked myself a meal last night. The best part about it was that I enjoyed eating it which never happens.

   Inspired by Paigeity's post Living on the Cheap: Food, I high tailed it to the grocery store over the weekend to get some supplies. I was feeling bad about the fact that I can’t even feed myself an adequate meal on accounta’ my diagnosis of ESL (Extreme Summer Laziness). Once there, I suffered from “can’t decide what to make”itis and ended up buying an assortment of random foodstuffs. You can never go wrong with chicken breasts though! Unless you’re a vegetarian. Or the word “breast” freaks you out.

   So yesterday I was determined to make myself dinner with the following ingredients: raw quinoa, chicken breasts, assorted raw veggies, and cheese. Believe me when I tell you it turned out AMAZING. And it’s so easy! And relatively affordable! And makes multiple meals worth of deliciousness. So basically, you just have to give this one a try.

   For starters, I recommend buying thinly sliced pieces of chicken breast from the meat department. Frozen chicken is a) nasty and b) easily freezer burnt which makes it even nastier. Take the raw chicken and portion it out into little baggies, write the date on the bags, and stick them in the freezer for easy meal-sized amounts.

   So yesterday morning, I pulled one of my baggies of chicken out of the freezer (three strips about the size of a small banana) and dumped some Newman’s Own Light Balsamic vinaigrette into it to marinade during the day. The baggy went back into the fridge and sat for about 9 hours until I got off work.

   The first thing I did to start cooking was chop up my veggies. I used about 2/3 of a green bell pepper, ½ a yellow onion, one garlic clove, and about fifteen mini carrots. Pour in about 2 tbsp olive or canola oil into a fry pan and toss in your onions and minced garlic on medium heat.

   Meanwhile, rinse 1 cup of quinoa. I learned that quinoa is really fatty and can easily spoil so grocery stores buy the kind that has been coated with some special preservative to keep it from going bad. It’s not necessarily bad for you to consume but alters how it cooks and tastes. To rinse it, just put the quinoa in a bowl and cover with water, allowing to sit for about five minutes. The quinoa will absorb most of the water but that’s ok.

   Drain the remaining water from the quinoa and put into a medium saucepan along with 2 cups of chicken broth. Bring to a boil then back down to a simmer, letting sit for about 12 minutes. You should be using a tightly fitting lid.

   Your onions should be clear by now (signaling they’re done). Time for the chicken! Place the strips (you can make them whatever size you want now that they’re thawed – I cut mine all in half hotdog-wise) evenly in the pan with the garlic and onions. Since mine were fairly thin they didn’t take too long to cook through, probably about 8 minutes.

   Remember to keep stirring your quinoa! Make sure it’s not sticking to the bottom of the pan.

   Take the chicken out of the fry pan and throw in your carrot and pepper morsels. Salt, pepper, and BAM! it for flavor and let sit for a bit until the veggies are to your desired softness. Throw the chicken back in to absorb the flavor and to guarantee there’s no pink in the middle.

   The quinoa should be done now so take it off the heat and give it a good stir. You’ll want it hot for your meal, though, so keep the lid on.

   Once your veggies and meat are done, scoop some quinoa into a bowl and top it with your delicious chicken mixture. Sprinkle some cheese (I used Mexican blend because it’s all I had, but I’m sure any cheese would work just fine) on top, give it a stir, and voila! A delicious and healthy meal!

Proof:

Ingredients:

3 medium sized strips of chicken breast

Some sort of balsamic vinaigrette for the marinade

2/3 green bell pepper

½ onion

1 garlic clove

15 mini carrots

Olive or canola oil

1 cup raw quinoa (can find at most grocery stores in the bulk bins)

2 cups chicken broth

Some sort of shredded cheese

Sources:

 Chicken with Quinoa and Veggies