Rice and Beans, Italian Style

This recipe was inspiried from a recipe by Bush's Beans that I found HERE.

This is the picture from Bush's Website...my dish had a lot more color ;)

Here is what I did to make it taste even better (I was feeding extra people, and this really made a lot). Feel free to cut it in half if you want:

Ingredients:

olive oil for sauteing

1 small onion, diced onion

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 t. salt

3 C. brown rice

6 cups water, or vegetable broth or half and half

1 zucchini, chopped

1 yellow squash, chopped

2 Cans white beans, drained and rinsed well

2 Cans Italian style diced tomatoes

1-2 T. Italian seasoning
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. In a big pot, saute onion and garlic in a little olive oil. Add salt and once onion is translucent, add rice and stir for a few minutes.

2. Add water, cover pot and bring to a boil

3. Once boiling, reduce heat so rice will continue cooking at a high simmer

4. After ten minutes of cooking, add in zucchini and yellow squash, beans, tomatoes, and Italian seasoning.

5. Once rice is pretty much done, turn off heat and let sit for 5 minutes.

6. My kids like Parmesan cheese on theirs and we added extra salt and pepper. Much more flavor the second day. Serve with a BIG green salad with lots of veggies!