Quinoa Breakfast Skillet

I can't remember where I got this recipe...So I'll type it up at the end.  I decided I'd put the bacon in this recipe. I keep my bacon frozen. 

I had 12 slices and needed 8 so I just cut off 3/4 of the slab.  Then I just sliced the rest up and dumped it in a pan.

As the bacon heats up and cooks it all starts to fall apart and cooks up really nicely.

While the bacon cooked I started prepping the veggies.

Sweet potato

Red Pepper

Green Pepper

Red Onion & garlic

And mushrooms

Unfortunately, I got too distracted and ended up buring the bacon!

I picked out the worst of the burnt and used the rest.  I should have just pulled it off when it was close but I was trying to get it perfectly crisp but it went from under cooked to burnt in minutes!

I loaded up all the veggies I'd used to cook the bacon and stirred them well to coat them in the bacon grease. 

As you can see my pan is a bit small for all the ingredients, but I thought it wouldn't be a problem.  Until I realized I had to add two cups of broth with the quinoa to cook it with the rest of the veggies. 

Once the veggies were all cooked I switched it into a bigger skillet.

I've made dishes with quinoa before but I've never bothered to rinse the quinoa. Initially it was because the recipe didn't tell me to and I didn't know any better. In later recipes when I saw that it required rinsing I figured it was just an unnecessary step. But this time I decided to follow the directions to rinse the quinoa. I'll always rinse it before cooking it in the future. When I didn't rinse it the flavor was okay. There was something that was a little off but it was still edible. Well, when you take the time to rinse it the flavor is very mild, nothing off, that would interfere with the over all flavor of the dish. So if you decide to make anything with quinoa make sure you rinse it first!

After the veggies were cooked I added in the quinoa and toasted it for a minute.

Then I added in the broth and let that all cook for 15 minutes, until the quinoa was done.

I decided to cook my eggs over soft.  Since I was making this ahead for breakfast for the rest of the week I divided the veggies and quinoa out into 8 dishes and topped them all with one fried egg and a what little of the bacon that wasn't burnt.

I'm really enjoying this dish for breakfast.  The egg and bacon give it a bit of a breakfast flair but the quinoa and veggies make for a very well rounded dish with a lot of filling protein and fiber. 

The recipe:

8 slices thick-cut bacon, chopped
2 small sweet potatoes, chopped
1 red onion, chopped
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
12 oz sliced mushrooms
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed
2 cup chicken broth
8 eggs, cooked your desired way
salt and pepper to taste

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add bacon.  Cook until fat is rendered and bacon is crispy, then remove bacon with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel to drain.  Reduce heat to medium-low and add sweet potato, onion, pepper, mushrooms and garlic to skillet, tossing to coat.  Cover and cook 5 - 6 minutes, stirring once or twice, until soft.

Add uncooked quinoa to vegetables and stir for 1 -2 minutes, allowing it to lightly toast.  Pour in stock or water and bring the mixture to a boil.  Immediately reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for 15-ish minutes until quinoa is cooked through.  While quinoa is cooking, prepare eggs as you desire.  Once cooked, tast and season to your liking.  Serve quinoa in bowls topped with eggs and cooked eggs.