Veggie fried rice

My husband swears he doesn't like rice.  Just doesn't.  Weird, right?  What's not to like about rice?  But the man LOVES it when I make fried rice.  (This is also the man who doesn't eat onions but eats onion rings, so go figure!)  It's a simple dish to make and has a short ingredient list that most of us probably already have in the house. 

Vegetable Fried Rice

For 4 servings, you will need:
3 cups of cold/leftover rice *please see note below
4 T butter
1 cup diced carrot
1 cup diced celery
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1 cup frozen peas
1/4 cup soy sauce or Tamari

Melt 2 T butter in a non-stick skillet and add carrots and celery.  Cook until slightly softened, about 5 minutes.

Add frozen corn and peas, continue to cook for a minute or two. 

Add rice and gently mix all ingredients together until well-blended, keeping over medium-low heat.  Add soy sauce and continue to gently toss the rice to allow the soy sauce to color all of the rice. 

Add 2 T butter and stir until melted. 

Tonight I served this with some sauteed salmon, simply seasoned with salt and pepper.  (How's that for alliteration?)

Here's our dinner:

And how about a cost analysis for the fried rice?

Rice - $ .56
4 carrots - $ . 20
3 stalks celery - $ .25
1 cup corn - $ .33
1 cup peas - $ .33
4 T butter - $ .24
1/4 cup tamari - $ .48

$2.39 for the whole recipe, or $ .60 per serving! 

I purchased 4 frozen salmon fillets for $3.99, so each is only a dollar, bringing the cost per serving to $1.60.  You can't beat a price like that! 

*About the rice-- 3 cups is typically the yield if you start with one cup of dry rice.  You can use any type of rice you like--long grain, brown, etc.  I use Jasmine rice when I make this meal because I love the taste and texture of it.  In fact, it's the only white rice I like to use.  Cold rice is important for this recipe because if you use freshly made/warm rice, it is still pretty glutinous and can lead to sticky/gummy fried rice (yuck!) so this recipe is a great way to use leftover rice.

Enjoy!