Spanish Rice Mix

Similar in concept (but not in taste) to the Mexican Lentils and Rice mix, this is a great option to make 3-4 ziplock bags-worth at a time to have for future quick meals.

• 1 C long grain brown rice or white rice
• 2 t chili powder
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/4 t each oregano & cumin & garlic powder
• 2 T dry onion
o or 2 t onion powder
• Dash red pepper flakes

1. In a quart-sized ziplock bag combine the above ingredients.
2. Seal & label the bag.
3. Store on the pantry shelf.

To Prepare:
• 1 pkg of Taco Rice Mix
• 1 or 2 T oil
• 8 oz can reduced sodium tomato sauce
o or 1 C chopped fresh tomatoes
o or 1 can chopped tomatoes, including liquid
• 1 can whole kernel corn (optional)
• 2 C water
o reduce to 1 1/2 C, if using brown rice

1. Heat oil in a 2-quart saucepan over medium heat.
2. Add contents of the Taco Rice Mix and sauté until rice is toasty and slightly opaque.
3. Add tomato sauce and water.
4. Stir and bring to a boil.
5. Cover pan and reduce heat to very low.
a. Brown rice will cook in 45 minutes.
b. White rice will cook in 20 minutes.
6. Serve topped with cheese for a main dish, or just like it is as a side dish.

Makes 4 servings.

Variations

To make Taco Style Beans & Rice add a 15 oz can of kidney or pinto or black beans (1-1/2 cups cooked beans) well drained and rinsed, along with the tomato sauce and water.

To make Taco TVP & Rice Mix add 1 cup of plain TVP and 2 bouillon cubes to the rice mixture. Use the flavor of bouillon that you prefer. When you prepare the dish, increase the water to 2 3/4 C. Otherwise, proceed as directed.

Note: I keep the bag of Taco Rice Mix in a small brown paper bag along with the canned tomato sauce, and sometimes a can of kidney beans too. This keeps the items together in one spot so I don't have to hunt all over the kitchen for that "can of tomato sauce that I know is around here somewhere". You may be more organized than me and always know where that extra can of tomato sauce is, but in case you're not this tip will save some work. Be sure to label and date the paper bag so you know what it is when you see it sitting there on the shelf.


I double this for our family, so we have leftovers.

This also makes a nice gift for an ill friend or neighbor or new mother, especially along with a prepared meal (as a bonus :-). It would also make a nice care package/basket for a college student/newly married couple. I include the following instructions (modified depending on whether I'm including kidney beans and/or corn).

Spanish Rice Mix Instructions

1. Heat 1-2 T oil in a 2-quart saucepan over medium heat.
2. Add contents of the Spanish Rice Mix and sauté until rice is toasty and slightly opaque.
3. Add tomatoes (undrained), kidney beans and corn (drained), and 1 1/2 C water.
4. Stir and bring to a boil.
5. Cover pan and reduce heat to very low.
a. Brown rice will cook in 45 minutes.
b. White rice will cook in 20 minutes.
6. Serve topped with cheese for a main dish, or just like it is as a side dish.

Stuffed Mexican Cornbread

My mother used to make Stuffed Mexican Cornbread when I was growing up. Our first year overseas was rather unadventurous culinarily speaking. Lots of scrambled egg sandwiches for the adults and mashed bananas for MS. At some point, though, I managed to recreate this recipe from memory with what was available. It was one of my first cooking successes (and if you doubt that, ask ML about some of the failures).

It is still one of ML's favorite meals and usually what he wants to break his fasts with. I know. But he has an iron stomach.

serves 4-5

• 1 lbs. ground meat
• 1 med. onion, chopped
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced (optional)
• 1 pkg. taco seasoning (approx. 2 t)
o plus water according to directions
• 3 med. tomatoes, chopped
o or one can tomatoes, partially drained & chopped
• 1 can diced Rotel, partially drained
o or 1/2 – 1 C salsa
• 1 can kidney beans
o or 1 can/1 1/2 C refried beans
• 1 can whole kernel corn
o or 1 1/2 C frozen corn, thawed
• 1 C shredded carrots (optional)
• 1 recipe cornbread batter (see recipe below or mix 2 Jiffy mixes according to package directions)
• sour cream, for topping
• extra salsa, for topping

1. Brown meat and onions (and garlic).
2. Drain (if you live somewhere where animals are fatty enough to require this step).
3. Add taco seasoning and water and simmer according to directions.
4. Transfer meat, onions & garlic (if using) to 9x12 baking dish.
5. Add tomatoes, Rotel or salsa, kidney beans, corn and carrots (if using). (If using refried beans, stir other ingredients first, and spread beans in a layer before topping with cornbread batter.)
6. Stir to mix.
7. Top with cornbread batter.
8. Bake at 425* for 20 - 25 mins. or until cornbread is golden brown.
9. Top with sour cream and salsa when serving.

This recipe is very flexible. Add, substitute, leave out as you please or as you have available.

For instance, when we had this last week, I had ground beef and onions already cooked in the freezer, so I stirred the taco seasoning in with the other ingredients. We had fresh tomatoes, jarred salsa, and canned corn, so that's what I use. We really prefer the taste of refried beans to kidney beans, so I made sure we had some UnRefried Beans from the freezer to use. MA and ZL are allergic to carrots, so we don't use those these days, although I like what it adds nutritionally, so I'd use them again someday, if I can. And JW is allergic to garlic, so we're not using any of that these days, either. Oh, and, of course, I used the flax seed egg substitute and whole wheat flour. Even with all of the changes/substitutions, it's still one of our favorite meals.

Cornbread

• 1 1/2 C flour
• 1 1/2 C cornmeal
• 3 T sugar
• 1 1/2 T baking powder
• 3/4 t salt
• 3 eggs
o or 3 T flax seed, ground whisked with 9 T water,
• 1 1/2 C milk or water
• 1/3 C oil

1. Stir together flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, & salt.
2. In separate bowl beat eggs, milk & oil together.
3. Add to flour mixture.
4. Stir just until smooth.

(What I use for cornmeal is actually labeled “Turkish Semolina.” We have wheat semolina here, too, and the Turkish not labeled as corn, but it tastes like it in cornbread, so you might find some variation of that elsewhere.)

UnRefried Beans (CP)

Bethany's awesome, restaurant-quality, much-better-than-canned, actually-doable-where-we-live UnRefried Beans:

INGREDIENTS
- 1 onion, peeled and halved
- 3 C dry pinto beans, rinsed or a mixture of pinto beans and black beans
- 1/2 fresh jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
- 2 t minced garlic
- 5 ts salt
- 1 3/4 t fresh ground black pepper
- 1/8 t ground cumin, optional
- 9 C water (or chicken broth plus water to equal 9 C)

DIRECTIONS
1. Place the onion, rinsed beans, jalapeno, garlic, salt, pepper, and cumin into a slow cooker. Pour in the water and stir to combine. Cook on High for 8 hours, adding more water as needed. Note: if more than 1 cup of water has evaporated during cooking, then the temperature is too high.
2. Once the beans have cooked, strain them, and reserve the liquid. Mash the beans with a potato masher, adding the reserved water as needed to attain desired consistency (the beans absorb the liquid very quickly as they sit, so make it soupier than you will want the end consistency).

Modifications and Tips:
- I soaked the beans overnight in water with baking soda to, um, decrease the impact on our digestive systems. I kept the cooking time the same.
- I used a stick blender to mash the beans after draining them.
- The first time I cooked these, I used the broth I made from the fried turkey bones and skins we had at Thanksgiving. I had this in the freezer and had made half of it as soup, but it was too spicy for the kids. In the beans, though, with the added water it took to made the 9 cups (I had about 5 cups of broth), it was perfect. Not that everyone has fried turkey broth in their freezer, but if you make a soup too spicy, this might be an option, plus I thought people might find it interesting.
- Now that I've found dried black beans (read: Rob & Steph found them and pointed them out to me), I make these with 1/2 pinto and 1/2 black beans. I soak the black beans for less time than the pintos, and the black beans add to the creaminess of the final product.
- This makes enough for two meals for our family. We have it on a tortilla-type bread that we can get here with cheese, sour cream, salsa and anything else that sounds good. :-)
- If you do not mash or blend the beans, they are very similar to the El Charro beans served at many Mexican food restaurants (at least in Texas).
- I will often cook 1-2 chickens in the crockpot to use the meat in recipes. When I cook them, I add onion and maybe seasoning salt and fill the crockpot to the top with water. After they are cooked, I will use the broth to make the UnRefried Beans. It adds to the flavor.

Alternate spices:
2 t seasoned salt
2 t salt
1/2 t crushed red peppers
1/2 t cumin
1 t onion powder

Mexican Lentils and Rice

I first found this recipe in one of the Tightwad Gazette books when we were early married. It seems like it's enough places out on the 'net that it's not unique (and, therefore, not copyrighted, and okay to post). Most recently, I was re-introduced to it by my friend LatteMom from Sonlight, and I've included her comments, as well as my own.

3 c broth (chicken, beef or veggie)
or 3 t powdered bullion + 3 C boiling water
3/4 c uncooked lentils
1/2 c uncooked brown rice
3/4 c chopped onion
or 2 T dried minced onion
or 1 t onion powder
1/2 tsp basil
1/4 tsp each thyme, oregano and garlic powder

Blend all together in a casserole dish. Bake, covered, for 1.5 hrs at 300 degrees (or 1 hour at 350). Top with shredded cheese last 5 mins. or serve with shredded cheese.

LatteMom: This is one of our very favorites. In fact, I make two of them at the same time. One we eat with homemade flour tortillas topped with lettuce, salsa, sour cream, etc. Then my dh uses the second one to make what our family affectionately calls "Daddy's Yee Haw Cowboy Dip Dinner" (which is the lentils & rice stirred up with salsa and sour cream to make a dip to serve with tortilla chips)...sometimes we'll do that for a dinner, but more than not, it's a great snack. I've also used the leftovers in a salad...a scoop on a bed of lettuce with tomatoes and Italian dressing.

Mideastmom: This can be made up as a dry mix ahead of time and stored in ziplock bags. You then just dump the contents into a dish, add boiling water, stir and bake. To do this, you would use powdered bullion or cubes and dried minced onion or onion powder. Our family can squeak by on one of these at this point, but any larger family/family with older kids would need two, probably. We most commonly eat this in a bowl, topped with grated cheese, sour cream and salsa, dipped with tortilla chips