Another Winner Dinner

Feeding the Kraus Kids is not always easy. There are times that it will completely slip my mind that I have to make dinner. But, a lot of the time, one of them doesn’t like something I plan on making. I refuse to make anyone something else. This is what’s for dinner, if you don’t like it you can have some bread (or a spoonful of peanut butter). The offender will usually eat the meal and the Kraus House is a much happier place.

Last week I decided to make rice and beans (I even made the beans, not from a can). Ted wanted the yellow rice like you get at Carolina’s on Broad Street. Here’s how I did it.

It makes A LOT

This is what you need:

All the necessary ingerdients

1 ½ cup rice (not instant)

1 ½ cup beans, any kind (I used pink beans)

1 can diced tomato

1 can Rotel

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup chopped pepper (any color)

1 clove garlic, minced

2 cup chicken broth or water

1 teaspoon cumin

1 ½ teaspoon turmeric

Salt and Pepper to taste

Saute onion, celery, carrot, pepper and garlic until slightly softened. 

Step 1

Add rice and toast a little. 

Step 2

Add beans, tomatoes, Rotel, broth (or water), cumin, turmeric, salt and pepper. 

Step 3

Stir together, cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Step 4

Feel free to add cooked chicken to snazz it up. If you’re feeling particularly lazy, you can skip the chopped vegetables (which took longer than the actual cooking time) and just use rice, canned beans and Rotel with water. I was feeling ambitious, so decided to shoot the moon.

Since I’m supposed to have a low sodium diet, when I use something that is higher in sodium than I should have, I put in more vegetables to lower the total sodium content of the entire dish. It may not make complete sense, but in my head it does.

Stella “didn’t like” beans until I told her that they make you pretty and that Katy Perry eats them all the time. Now she picks them out and will eat just them sometimes and will ask if she’s pretty yet.

Maizie surprised me by eating all of it, well most of it (she didn’t like the jalapenos).

Teddy, he eats everything.

Enjoy!!