Yellow rice aka Jello rice

My plan for this year is to post at least once a month so for January I'm sharing my Yellow Rice recipe also known at my house as Jello Rice.  About 15 years ago my friend who speaks Spanish gave me the basic recipe, since her Y's sounded more like J's my young daughters started calling it Jello rice which stuck and became family favorite. This is such a easy and versatile recipe plus freezes beautifully.  I probably make it once a month or every other month.   It's evolved over the years, I used to use just canned beans and not much other vegetables but as with all my recipes it's now full of fresh vegetables from the farmer's market.  The beauty of this recipe it's so versatile, by adding different combination of vegetables (canned, frozen or fresh), whatever you like or have on hand (leftovers work great too, especially salsa or beans). It can be made a total vegetarian option or add meat such as chicken, ham or smoked sausage.  I've tried it with ground beef but we didn't like it so mostly I make it with smoked sausage or chicken.  I made it this last weekend and added 1/2 cups of quinoa to the 2 cups of instant rice to make it a little healthier along with 9 fresh vegetables (onion, kale, eggplant,carrots, sweet peppers, tomatoes, corn, broccoli, and sugar snap peas) 2 kinds of canned beans and smoked sausage topped with shredded cheese.  It turned out very yummy.  It can be eaten by itself or added to flour tortillas to make burritos adding sour cream, fresh spinach, guacamole, salsa, extra cheese or whatever toppings you like.  Here's the recipe:

 Jello rice



2 to 3 c instant rice
2 to 3 c water (equal amount of rice and liquid)

1 chopped onion

1 to 2 cloves minced garlic or 1 t garlic powder

1/2 c chopped sweet peppers

1/2 to 1 c chopped carrots

1 c fresh or frozen corn

1/2 c chopped eggplant

1 c chopped squash or zucchini (or any fresh or frozen vegetable)

1 can black beans, drained

1 can great northern beans, drained

1 can kidney or garbanzo beans (or both), drained

cooked chicken or smoked sausage

1 to 2 chopped tomatoes

1 c fresh spinach or kale, chopped

2 pkgs Sazon seasoning

1 T each seasoned salt and pepper, parsley, turmeric, cumin

2 to 3 T sofrito

1 to 2 c shredded cheese (cheddar or Mexican blend)

cooked chicken or smoked sausage, cut up

optional 1/4 to 1/2 t chili flakes

Add sofrito and fresh vegetables (any vegetables would work), except beans and tomatoes, in pot and cook with a little olive oil and water (less than 1/2 c) until tender (about 20 minutes).  Add beans, tomatoes, seasonings, meat and water until heated through then add rice and cover on low for about 20 minutes, stir after about 10 minutes so it doesn't stick.  Check to see if rice is cooked and take off heat, add cheese and cover until melted. Serve as is or as filling for burrito with desired added toppings such as sour cream, salsa or guacamole. Freezes beautifully.

Enjoy

Bamah

yellow rice with chicken

yellow rice with smoked sausage