Healthy recipe: Company Rice With Beans

We’ve been cooking a LOT in our new house (it’s way too expensive to go out to eat as often as we would sometimes like, and believe it or not, I do like to cook!) This is something we just made and we make it as often as we can because it’s pretty easy. I’m not sure where the recipe came from (I got it from my mom, and she got it somewhere…) The recipe title is “Company rice with beans” which sounds sort of blah, but I promise it’s not.

1 cup rice
2 cups water
1 tablespoon oil
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped (2/3 cup)
2 cloves garlic, crushed or finely minced
2 medium tomatoes, finely diced
1 medium zucchini, sliced
1 medium yellow squash, sliced
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1 16-ounce can beans (kindey, pink, blank or garbanzo), drained
Salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
shredded cheese

1. In a medium saucepan, combine the rice and water, bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat, cover the pan and simmer the mixture for 20 minutes (35 minutes for brown rice.) Keep the pan covered until the vegetable mixture is done.

2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet, add the onion and garlic, saute them until they are soft.

3. Add the tomatoes, zucchini, squash and oregano. Cover the skillet, and simmer the mixture for about 5 minutes or until the vegetables are tender-crisp.

4. Add the beans, and simmer the mixture, stirring it occasionally, until it’s heated through. Season with salt if desired, and pepper.

5. To serve, spoon the vegetable-bean mixture over the hot rice and sprinkle the cheese on top.

Makes 4 servings.

Hope you enjoy it!