Something from nothing

The other day I needed lunch and there was "nothing to eat." Or so it would seem, to the untrained (read: non-cheapskate) eye.

I knew I had about a cup of brown rice to use, and after that I was winging it. Pulling random things out of the fridge suddenly gave me an idea...

I sauteed a clove of garlic with green onions, then added some thawed shrimp and crushed red pepper flakes.

Then I added 1/2 of a summer squash and a giant handful of Napa cabbage. When all that was wilty, I removed it from the skillet and tossed in my cup of brown rice, which I seasoned with wheat-free tamari.

When it was warm, I stirred in a whisked egg until it was cooked through, then added back the rest of my goodies, plus some Microplaned ginger.

And shrimp fried rice was born.

I was too heavy-handed with the tamari; next time I'd err on the side of not enough, and add more to taste later. The chopsticks are for decoration only--this stuff got shoveled in faster than the 'sticks could handle, so a fork was my weapon of choice. Nice mental pic, huh? What I meant was "It was very good."