VeganMoFo Day 18 - Spinach Rice

Forgot to mention I tossed some kale in those Mexican potatoes yesterday. The doc reiterated how important it is to get more dark leafy greens into my husband to get his blood count up when we saw him yesterday for my appointment, so I did a "Jeff" and just poured some frozen kale in with the potatoes as they cooked.

No worries about leafies today, because the dish is loaded with spinach, my husband's favorite green veggie.

Spinach Rice
Servings: 4
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 50 minutes

1 small onion, chopped
1 small green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup chopped green onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1/3 cup water
1 cup uncooked long-grain brown rice
2 cups vegetable broth or water
4 ounce can chopped green chilies
4 ounce jar chopped pimientos
1 1/4 cups corn kernels
1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 cups packed fresh spinach
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
freshly ground black pepper to taste


Place the onion, bell pepper, green onion and garlic in a medium saucepan with the 1/3 cup water and cook over medium heat about 3 minutes, until the vegetables are softened slightly and the water has evaporated.

Add the rice, broth/water, green chilies, pimientos, corn, parsley and cumin. Stir, cover and cook for 45 minutes.

Stir in the remaining ingredients and cook for 2 minutes longer.

Serve at once.

The McDougall Program for A Healthy Heart
John McDougall, M.D. and Mary McDougall
(1996), ISBN: 0-452-27266-1 
page 335

As for my changes:

For the first 2 ingredients I used half a bag of frozen onion/pepper mix. The store brand is this very fine dice of both onions and green peppers, perfect for this, and a number of other, McDougall dishes.

For the canned chilies, yesterday I took a tablespoon out of a can, and I'll use the rest of that can today in this.

I forgot to buy fresh spinach with the grocery order so had to run out and get some. Believe me, this dish needs fresh, not frozen. Frozen tends to stay together in clumps in a dish, whereas fresh easily disseminates throughout. While the frozen my taste as good as fresh, it looks nicer with fresh.

And I skipped the cilantro and didn't bother with fresh parsley in its place.

Tastes as good as it looks.

The recipe says 4 servings, and that's what it made. My husband and I each had 2 bowls and there were no leftovers.

The only thing I would change next time is to put the whole bag of baby spinach in instead of the 2 packed cups (1/2 bag) called for. We haven't been eating enough greens (Can anybody eat enough?) and this is a good way to get them. I think the dish can handle that much more without them being over-powering.