One Pot Rice and Beans with Veggies

I grew up familiar with rice and beans, it is a food I really enjoy.  I have discovered my new favorite way to prepare it.  It’s quick, healthy with added veggies, and has great flavor.   I got the idea for this while watching an episode of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives on the food network.  Instead of cooking plain rice, you cook it with the beans and veggies right in the pot!  It makes the rice very flavorful with the richness of the beans.  I also enjoy the freshness of the added veggies.  You can add whatever vegetables you want, fresh or frozen.  My favorites are yellow squash, bell peppers, and sometime zucchini, but add whatever sounds good to you!  I also added canned green chilies.  The chilies I get are New Mexican chilies, so they are not very hot, but I realize that sometimes canned green chilies are very hot, so you may want to cut down the amount depending on the heat. 

Rice and beans with vegetables

4 oz canned green chilies

about 2 lbs vegetables chopped (I like just yellow squash but use what looks good)

2 cans black beans

1 ½ cup rice  long or medium grain

2 cups water

1 tb cumin

Heat pan at medium high with 1 tb oil or butter, add rice and cook for 1-2 minutes, add veggies and cumin and stir.  Add beans and top with the 2 cups water.  Cover and cook for 20 minutes on low.  Because of the water in the veggies, cooking the rice will not be an exact science with the proportions, but it my experience, this dish is hard to ruin, so don’t worry if it seems to wet, stir and cook it a little longer, if too dry and not cooked, add a little liquid and cook 5-10 minutes more.

This is a go to dish at our house, because the prep work is easy and fast with very little hands on time.  We always have rice and beans in our pantry, so it works as a way to use up veggies, and it is a pretty cheap meal to make.  And it tastes great!

This recipe makes a lot for leftovers.  You can cut it in half, or just enjoy the leftovers, they reheat well.  Check back Tuesday, and I will have a list of things you can do with these leftovers to make new meals out of it!