Our dinner tonight

Another delicious meal was enjoyed in the Hansen house tonight and I had to write about it.

I get daily emails from allrecipes. I usually ignore them because all they do is make me wish I had the money to go buy the ingredients and cook new and interesting meals. However, when today's came across and I read that first two ingredients and new I had them on hand, I decided to read on.

I was missing a couple of ingredients but after reading reviews from others on the site I decided to give it a go, add what I had, and substitute for what I didn't.

It was a hit. Warm. Delicious. Hearty. And affordable.

Brown Rice and Black Bean Casserole
My ingredients:
1 cup of brown rice
1 can of chicken soup broth
1 Tbs olive oil
1/3 cup diced onion
1 medium zucchini thinly sliced (garden produce!)
1 green pepper (garden)
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp chopped garlic
1 tsp chili powder (I would add more next time to kick it up a notch!)
salt to taste
1 can black beans, drained
1 can of diced tomatoes, drained
1 cup of shredded carrots
2 cups of shredded mozzarella and cheddar cheese

1. Mix the rice and broth in a pot, bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 45 minutes.
2. Preheat the oven to 350°. Lightly grease a large casserole dish.
3. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat and cook the onion until tender. Mix in the chopped garlic, zucchini and green pepper. Season with cumin, salt, and chili powder. Cook until the zucchini is lightly browned.
4. In a large bowl mix the cooked rice, onion and zucchini mixture, beans, tomatoes, carrots and 1/2 of the cheese mixture. Transfer to the prepared casserole dish and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
5. Cover the dish loosely with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and continue baking 10 minutes or until bubble and lightly browned.
6. Serve with a delicious bread!

P.S. I had no idea how much I loved cooking. It's becoming a huge passion of mine. Finding good recipes, creating my own, and making meals that my whole family enjoys. Sorry if you thought you'd get more knitting patterns or projects on this blog. The title is quite misleading!