Rice and Bean Wraps

This recipe is one of the all-time easiest I’ve made.  It’s also inexpensive, fast, meatless and people really like it.  Oh, and it only requires one pan (easy cleanup!).  It’s one of those recipes that prompt people to tell me, years after sharing it, how often their family eats it.

rice and bean wraps

Ingredients:
1 box spanish rice mix 2 tsp. butter or margarine 2 cups water 1 cup salsa 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes 1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained 1 can corn, drained flour tortillas cheese and sour cream for garnish Here we go.  Begin by browning the rice in butter.


Add the diced tomatoes, undrained, as well as the salsa.


Pour in two cups water.


Stir together.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat.  Cover and simmer for 12-15 minutes or until rice is tender.  Then add the kidney beans, corn and the seasoning packet from the rice mix.


Stir together and cook another 2 minutes or so, just to heat the beans and corn.


Remove from heat.  Spoon onto warm flour tortillas and top with cheese, sour cream, or whatever you’d like!


Serve and enjoy.

rice and bean wraps

My experience has been that children eat this meal well.  I’m  a big fan of using beans in recipes simply because they’re so good for us (did you know that red beans have more antioxidants than blueberries?) and because they’re inexpensive and easy to store.  I try to make at least one meatless meal each week (more often in the summer) and those meals almost always use beans as a source of protein, fiber and vitamins.

I’m also a believer in food storage.  We store a lot of things.  This meal is one of them.  I freeze tortillas and cheese, and everything else can sit on the shelf for a long time.  In other words, this recipe is a winner in many categories.   I hope you try it sometime!

Jennifer

Easy Breakfast Cake

Several months ago I needed to bake a breakfast cake, and didn’t have time for a from scratch recipe.  I came up with this little alternate recipe.  It’s simple and easy but I’ve found that people quite like it.

breakfast cake

Take a spice cake mix and mix it up according to the directions on the box.  Pour into a 9 by 13 inch pan.


In a small mixing bowl, combine 6 Tablespoons cold butter, 3/4 cup flour and 3/4 cup sugar.  Use a pastry cutter or a fork to mix until you have fine crumbs.


Simply sprinkle the topping over the cake mix in the baking pan.


Bake according to the directions on the cake mix box.  Allow to cool, and then serve!

easy breakfast cake

Yum!  Have a great day!

Hopeful Homemaker

Peanut Butter Cups


peanut butter cups

I begin this recipe with a disclaimer.  I had no recipe for these peanut butter cups.  I just felt like making some and they happened to turn out.  They were creamy in the middle, and everyone seemed to like them, so hopefully the simple nature of the recipe will work for you, too.

In a bowl, combine 1 1/4 cups creamy peanut butter with 1 cup confectioner sugar and 1/4 cup powdered milk.


If you need to add a bit more of something to get the right consistency, go ahead.  I wanted mine to be thick enough to roll into balls but not hard.

Roll into 24 balls.  You can let your little ones help, if you like, and get some wonky balls.


Melt some dipping chocolate.


I happened to have some candy molds that worked, but you could just stick with the balls and have peanut butter balls instead.

Pour a spoonful of chocolate into the mold…


and push a peanut butter ball into the chocolate.


Repeat until all the peanut butter balls are submerged in chocolate, and refrigerate while the chocolate sets.  Remove from the refrigerator, pop out of the molds, and dip the tops in more chocolate.

Let chocolate harden, and you’re done!


Enjoy!


Have a great day!

Hopeful Homemaker

1 32 33 34 35 36 52