I thought fried rice would be really, really good for dinner.  The best part about it is that you can clean out the fridge and throw in whatever veggies you find in there.  The bad part is that “fried” and “rice” are two things that I’m avoiding at the moment in order to shed some poundage.  So, I came up with an alternative that actually worked out pretty well.  In place of no fiber, high calorie white rice, I substituted wheat berries.  Wheat berries are yummy; I love their chewiness– like brown rice but so, so much better.  To cook wheat berries, all you have to do is boil them in a big pot of water for about an hour.  Drain off the excess water after they’re done cooking.  I used 1 1/2 cups dry wheat berries and ended up with about 3 1/2 cups cooked.

My fried “rice” consisted of a red onion, 2 carrots, 2 parsnips, some Napa cabbage, 2 zucchini, 3 cremini mushrooms, some red and green bell pepper remnants, frozen peas and corn, and, of course, garlic and ginger.  I used a gigantic nonstick skillet to cook it all in and only about a teaspoon of canola oil.  Put in the veggies that take the longest to cook first (onion, carrots, parsnips), then add the garlic and ginger and the veggies with the next longest cooking time.  When all of the veggies had been stir fried, I added in 2 cups of cooked wheat berries and drizzled some soy sauce and toasted sesame oil over top.  Yummy!  I served it with some pan fried tofu.

Be forewarned that fried rice is a long prep time.  If I were a working person, I probably wouldn’t make this on a weeknight, unless all of the veggies were already chopped.

With my leftover wheat berries, I made some hot cereal for breakfast tomorrow.  Stay tuned for that…