Kidney Beans and Rice

I got this recipe from Laura Padro (the next door neighbor I used to babysit for) when I was 11. It's one of my favorite meals. It works really well for vegetarians as a full meal. Whenever I eat it I'm filled up, but you can also use it as a side dish with Chicken or Beef.

Cooked Brown Rice
1 large can kidney beans (drained)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
1 large pepper finely chopped (green, red, yellow, or orange)
1/2 onion finely chopped
1 garlic clove minced
1 tbsp fresh cilantro finely chopped
1/2 tsp cumin
Salt and Pepper to taste (1/4 tsp of each to start with - that's for you Mackenzi)


Prepare Brown Rice. Saute onions, peppers, and garlic in oil until onions start looking transparent. Add tomato sauce, cilantro, cumin, salt, and pepper. Bring to slight boil. Add kidney beans. Heat thoroughly (about 5 min on medium). Serve over brown rice.

Tips:

Brown Rice - I love Trader Joe's Frozen Brown Rice, but they are usually out of it when I go pick it up, so I make my own. I double the rice I usually make in the rice cooker and then measure out 1/2 cup servings of rice in baggies and freeze them.

Peppers - Yellow and orange peppers are sweeter than red and green ones. I prefer them in this recipe. When I feel like it needs more spice, I add tapatio hot sauce

Frozen - This one works really well for frozen dinners/lunches. I measure out 1 cup of the kidney beans and put it in a Ziploc container and keep the frozen rice on hand for a quick lunch/dinner.