Beans and Rice

Ah, the frugal Beans-and-rice dinner. A favorite that we used to eat weekly. It's been awhile. I have a really good spanish rice recipe from a cooking class. It's quick and easy, but it uses white rice. I don't actually have any white rice. It works for brown rice too, but that, of course, takes longer (about an hour).

I have made some "working mom" adjustments...making the same flavors but turning it into a "fried" rice style Spanish rice. It's a pretty flexible recipe. Generally I don't use bell pepper or carrot, but today I had them.

"Fried" Spanish rice
1/2 small onion, diced (0.05)
1 green bell pepper, diced (0.66)
1 small carrot, diced (0.10)
2 cloves garlic, crushed (0.10)
1 cup brown rice (0.31)
1 3/4 cup water
1 T canola oil (0.02)
3/4 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp black pepper
3/4 tsp parsley flakes
3/4 tsp salt
1 14-oz can diced tomatoes, drained (save the juice!) (0.60)
Total: $1.84, about 0.46 per cup.

For the busy woman: cook brown rice ahead of time. I throw it in the rice cooker the night before. Leave in fridge.

Saute onion, carrots, green bells in oil until soft. Add rice, spices, garlic, drained tomatoes, salt and pepper. Stir fry a few minutes until warm.

I served this with:
Cooked black beans (in crockpot): 0.10 per half cup, 0.20 per cup
Sauteed bok choy (from the farm)
Shredded cheddar cheese (about 0.09 per half ounce)
Salsa (0.25 per 1/4 cup)
Sour cream (0.11 per 2 T)

My meal was then:
0.46 (rice) + 0.15 (beans) + 0.25 (salsa) + 0.11 (sour cream) + 0.09 (cheese) plus bok choy.
Or $1.06 plus bok choy.

Plus the cost of the 1.5 glasses of wine :)