Spanish-style Rice and Beans

I love rice and beans. I have this great spanish rice recipe...but if you use brown rice, it takes an hour. So I've changed it up and now I make my Spanish rice like fried rice. I toss the rice in the rice cooker the night before and put it in the fridge.

Then the next day I heat it all up.

This week I decided to mix it up and use up some of my other grains. So I added bulgur and quinoa, and it was very delicious - nutty, chewy, better then plain old brown rice.

I also decided to make black beans at the last minute. Which you can do in a pressure cooker. The beans pretty much fall apart if you don't presoak, but they taste great.

Spanish style rice
1 c. uncooked brown rice: 0.38
1/4 c. quinoa: 0.28
1/4 c. bulgur: 0.14
2.75 c. water
1/2 14-oz can fire roasted tomatoes and green chiles: 0.65
3/4 cup leftover diced chicken: 0.75
1 tsp cumin: 0.05
1/2 diced onion: 0.16
3 small carrots, diced: 0.30
1 bunch green garlic, diced: 1.00 (or two cloves garlic)
1 T canola oil: 0.03
1/2 c. frozen peas: 0.15
salt and pepper to taste
Total: $3.89 for about 6 cups or $0.65 per cup.

Cook the brown rice, quinoa, and bulgur in a rice cooker with the water. Refrigerate when done.

Saute the onion, carrots, and garlic in the oil until soft and browning. Wait to add the garlic if you are using regular, not green, garlic (so it doesn't burn).

Add the tomatoes, rice, cumin, salt and pepper and cook until warmed through. Add peas and cook until no longer frozen.

I served with cooked black beans, salsa, cheese, sour cream. All in all a delicious cheap dinner.

Our camera is officially dead. No photos, sorry!