Quick Vegetable Brown Rice

Normally I make an extra serving of dinner and pack that for my husband to take to work for lunch. We ate all the vegetable wraps last night for dinner so I needed to whip together a little something for lunch. At 10 pm last night I was not feeling very creative and made something similar to dinner, but just different enough that it wasn't the same. Here is what I made.

Quick Vegetable Brown Rice
Makes 3 small servings (or 1 large husband serving and 1 small wife serving)

Ingredients:

2/3 cup long grain brown rice
1 1/3 cups water
1 pinch salt
½ red onion, finely diced
1 red bell pepper, finely diced
1 cup crimini mushrooms, finely diced
1 clove garlic, peeled and sliced
1 tablespoon liquid aminos
2 tablespoons mirin
1 cup mung bean sprouts
4 tablespoons cilantro

Directions:

Cook the rice, water and salt according to the package directions and allow to cool.

Combine the onion, bell pepper, mushrooms, garlic, liquid aminos and mirin in a large skillet. Cook over medium heat until the vegetables are mostly soft. Combine the cooked rice with the vegetables. If you are serving right away add the bean sprouts and cilantro now. If you are packing this for lunch, as I was, add the bean sprouts and cilantro once the rice has cooled so the cilantro and sprouts don't immediately wilt.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 194.68
Calories From Fat (6%) - 11.61

Total Fat - 1.49g
Saturated Fat - 0.28g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 431.57mg
Potassium - 445.8mg
Total Carbohydrates - 44g
Fiber - 3.66g
Sugar - 4.24g
Protein - 5.74g

Comments:

I make variations of this dish that change depending on the vegetables that I have on hand. It is a quick dish (especially if you have leftover rice, which I do often). I used the mirin in the dish to add flavor without additional sodium. The vegetables are lightly cooked to maintain more of their nutrition. Cilantro is added for fresh flavor. Bean sprouts add a little crunch. If you like nuts this dish would be good with a few peanuts as a garnish.

This dish is not a nutritional powerhouse compared to my vegetable intense recipes. However, it does contain 1700IU of vitamin A, 68mg of vitamin C, 57mcg of folate, 200mg of phosphorus, and 16mcg of selenium. This is another example of how reducing the total amount of vegetables and increasing the grains reduced the overall nutrition of the dish. Comparing these numbers to the vegetable wraps from yesterday shows me how eating more vegetables and fruit, and fewer grains, could contribute to a reduction in breast cancer.

In addition to this vegetable brown rice we are also having hummus with raw vegetables and an apple with walnut butter today for lunch. Hummus adds protein while the vegetables and apple add additional antioxidants. Walnut butter provides healthy fat. A mug of green tea with ginger and vitamin C and we have a filling and healthy lunch.