One of our favorite things to eat in this house is tacos. A favorite of the young, and a favorite of the old. Something that is guaranteed to be eaten when I make it, which as a mom, that makes for an easy dinner decision.

I’m all for getting our kids to branch out and try new things, but sometimes you just need a meal that is guaranteed to be eaten.

Another thing that I seem to need assistance with from time to time is side dishes. It can be easy to pick out the main portion of the meal, and while the kids are eager to eat tacos, I needed ways to sneak in a couple other food groups.

There’s always the veggies that you put on top of your tacos, those count for something of course, but I wanted to find a go to recipe for Mexican inspired brown rice.

A way to sneak in some whole grains, a little bit of protein and a just a little bit more of the vegetables.

Now some way or other I ended up with kids who are willing to eat just about every fruit and every vegetable that they encounter, which is awesome.

It’s getting them to eat the more standard items like whole grain rice as opposed to the kid-popular white rice that they know and love.

This led me to try making my own recipe, since most mixes you buy from the store have some unknown ingredients, and why not complicate things if I can?

Does anyone else have this struggling perfectionist inside of them?

Sure, I have all these reasons why I make things myself, but let’s be real for a minute and say that there is almost definitely a quicker option out there that doesn’t require quite as much effort on my part.

It’s good to make fun of yourself and your antics sometimes, right?

However, they are the very antics that brought me to a recipe, that while it is a bit more complicated than something from a box, it is still decently easy for, ‘homemade,’ rice, and it incorporates some more food groups that are suggested to be in your daily diet.

As always, thanks for reading, and happy cooking from hbk!

Mexican Inspired Rice

INGREDIENTS

3 C. Instant brown rice

1 ¢ C. water

1 ¢ C. chicken broth

2 Tbsp. taco seasoning

Splash hot sauce, optional

1 Tbsp. olive oil

¢ C. yellow onion, diced and cooked

1 ¢ C. salsa

DIRECTIONS

1. Cook rice according to package directions, using the half water, half chicken broth mixture. This will give your rice a flavor and small protein boost.

2. Dice an onion and cook in olive oil in a small skillet until translucent. Let sit until rice is ready.

3. After rice is cooked, fluff rice with fork, and stir in seasoning. Incorporate as well as possible before adding in onion, then hot sauce, if using, and salsa.

Depending on preference, more hot sauce and salsa can be added. You will definitely not be able to taste just a small amount of hot sauce, but it adds something extra to the overall flavor, and will not be too much for someone who doesn’t care for spicy foods.

4. Serve warm! Yields 6-8 generous servings.

Katy Wise is a Fredonia resident.