What's Cooking. . . . Old Favorites - Spanish Rice (5 ingredients)

Old Favorites

I love Spanish rice. Today I often have boxes of  Rice-A-Roni Spanish rice on hand. I try to buy them at a good sale price. Of all the Spanish rice mixes out there, that is probably my favorite, maybe because of the small pieces of pasta in with the rice? I don't know. When I make it I usually make it into a full meal dish by adding some kind of cooked meat. I do like to use coin sliced Polish sausages or kielbasa, but will use hot dogs, bologna, leftover cooked chicken, and then a vegetable - usually corn 'cuz I just love it - but could be anything you like. Here is the original recipe that we liked ~

SPANISH RICE

1 pound hamburger

1 diced onion

3/4 cup dry rice

1 can tomatoes

1 cup chopped celery

Brown hamburger and onion. At the same time boil rice in double boiler. Combine and add tomatoes and celery. Bake in covered casserole until heated and blended, about 3/4 hour, at 350 degrees. Or simmer at low heat in electric frying pan, stirring occasionally.

** I no longer have an electric frying pan, but it can also be done on top of the stove in a heavy pan with a lid.

** Today I would probably just add some water to the pan with the rest of the ingredients and use dry instant rice instead of cooking it first. Or you can cook a large batch of rice at one time and freeze in portions. So this would be a quick dish using a bag of frozen browned hamburger and frozen rice. I haven't tried it yet, but I think this whole dish would freeze well.