Main Dish Beefy Spanish Rice

Main Dish Beefy Spanish Rice

• 2 pounds of extra lean ground beef
• One green bell pepper
• One onion
• 2 cups of rice
• 3 T. vegetable oil
• 1 cube of chicken bullion
• 1 t. salt
• 1/2 t. garlic powder
• 4 t. chili powder
• 4 cups of water
• 2 1/2 cups of your favorite salsa
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro packed and stems removed (don’t add until the end)

Brown ground beef and set aside.  In a medium stock pot, lightly brown rice, chopped onion, and chopped green pepper in vegetable oil.

Add the chicken bullion, salt, garlic powder, chili powder, salsa and water (no cilantro yet-we add that at the end.) Stir, cover and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes. 

Once the rice has absorbed the liquid, remove from heat, add ground beef, cilantro and stir in.  Cilantro seems to cook very fast, so the heat from the cooked rice does the trick, without making it mushy or the color of canned peas.  Sorry, I just do not like that color in my food!

I like to top with guacamole, sour cream and some shredded cheese.  To add a bit more fiber you can throw in a can or two of rinsed, drained black beans.  This reheats very well in the microwave and is one of my favorite “leftover lunches” or dinner’s the second day too 🙂 Since this recipe can be easily doubled, I sometimes like to make a huge batch and freeze it in flattened gallon-size freezer bags.