Red Beans & Rice

Since Simran has her 9-month checkup this afternoon, I want to make something quick and easy for dinner tonight.  If I do all the chopping in advance, I can throw red beans and rice together in under 30 minutes.

This is an easy, healthy, tasty, inexpensive recipe that provides plenty of leftovers for lunches (it keeps well in the fridge for several days).  I make it regularly.  The original recipe is from Robert Irvine of FoodNetwork.  My version has a couple of minor changes, like omitting the onion powder (made it gritty) and replacing the chopped garlic and salt with garlic salt (faster and less effort).  Also, the first time I made this I didn't have hot sauce, so I ended up using several tablespoons of mild La Victoria brand taco sauce.  I've also made it with just plain hot sauce.  Sameer's and my favorite version includes a healthy dose of both the mild and "brava" versions of La Victoria's taco sauce.  It adds more flavor without too much heat.  (Note:  You can make this dish vegan by replacing the butter with olive oil.)

Ingredients

• 1 large red onion, diced
• 1 stalk celery, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, stem and seeds removed and small diced (or use half green and half red, like I do -- it just looks more festive that way)
• 2 (1-pound) cans red kidney beans
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon hot sauce (I like La Victoria's "brava" taco sauce best.)
• 2 tablespoons mild taco sauce
• 2 1/2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
• 1 cup white rice
• 1 tablespoon butter (replace with olive oil to make this dish vegan)
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh cilantro leaves (optional)

Directions
Heat butter over medium heat in a large saucepan. Saute onion, celery, and bell pepper until tender. Stir in kidney beans, garlic salt, pepper, and hot and mild sauces. Reduce heat to low and let mixture simmer slowly while you cook the rice.

Bring the broth to a boil and stir in rice. Return to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 20 minutes without removing the lid. Remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes.

Fold rice and beans gently together and transfer to a serving dish. Serve garnished with cilantro.