ORNISH Spicy Mexican Rice

• 1/2 cup canned ground tomatoes, or diced tomatoes diced finer by hand (I used fresh roma tomatoes)
• 1/2 cup diced green bell pepper (I used a combo of orange, red and green from my garden surplus!)
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 1/4 cup diced carrots
• 1/4 cup fresh, homemade tomato salsa or store-bought (I used store-bought since I had a jar open)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup long-grain rice*

In a saucepan, combine tomatoes, bell pepper, onion, carrots, salsa, garlic, salt and 1 cup water. Bring to a simmer over moderate heat.

Add rice, stir once with a fork, cover and reduce heat to lowest setting. Cook 25 minutes.

Let stand, covered, 5 minutes, then uncover, transfer to a serving bowl, and fluff with a fork.

*Hint in the cookbook says you can use long-grain basmati rice, which cooks faster. If so cook for only 18 minutes and let stand five minutes.

Servings: 4
Serving size 1 cup
Calories: 194
Fat: 1.5 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Carbohydrate: 40.9 g
Protein: 4.5 g.
Sodium: 216:0 mg