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    $5 Dinners | Budget Recipes, Meal Plans, Freezer Meals

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    Rice with Garden Greens

    June 11, 2009 by Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom 9 Comments

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    I walked out to the garden the other day and noticed that my parsley was TAKING OVER!  Perfect way to use up the parsley…and the spinach…and some basil too!

    Rice with Garden Greens | 5DollarDinners.com

    I chopped up all the spinach, parsley and basil and added it to 5 cups of rice on the stove (see recipe below).

    Rice with Garden Greens | 5DollarDinners.com

    All mixed together…a HUGE batch of rice that I can use for at least 5 meals!

    Rice with Garden Greens

    Rice cooked in a large batch can be frozen in meal size portions and thawed quickly, as part of a “fast summer meal!”

    Rice with Garden Greens | 5DollarDinners.com

    Rice with Garden Greens
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    Rice with Garden Greens

    Rice cooked in a large batch can be frozen in meal size portions and thawed quickly, as part of a "fast summer meal!"
    Prep Time5 minutes
    Cook Time50 minutes
    Servings - 20 servings

    Ingredients 

    • 2 cups brown rice (
    • 3 cups white rice
    • 4 cups fresh spinach leaves
    • 2 cups fresh parsley
    • 4 fresh basil leaves
    • 7 garlic cloves
    • Salt and pepper, to taste

    Instructions

    • In large saucepan or Dutch oven, bring 12 cups of water to boil. Add 2 cups of brown rice and return to boil. Reduce heat to medium and cover. Let cook for about 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, add the 3 cups of white rice. Turn the heat back up and bring water back to boil. Reduce heat to medium and cover again. Let simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring often.
    • Chop spinach, parsley and basil. Add it to the cooked rice and stir through.
    • Add crushed garlic cloves and season with salt and pepper to taste.
    • Serve a portion of the rice for a meal. Let remaining rice cool while you eat. Then add it to freezer baggies or plastic containers and freeze in batches.
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    Filed Under: Budget Friendly Recipes, Freezer Recipes and Freezer Meal Plans, Homemade Recipes, Recipes from the Garden, Rice Recipes, Savings, Side Dish Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes Tagged With: spinach

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    Comments

    1. gourmetmomma says

      June 11, 2009 at 5:32 pm

      perfect! you’ll appreciate being able to lean on the batch cooking efforts during that 3rd trimester (and with a newborn). that looks healthy, fruglal, and tasty… my favorite combination for food. 🙂 susan

      Reply
    2. Marie says

      June 11, 2009 at 6:59 pm

      I like this recipe – sounds very easy. Question – how do you get your rice to come out so perfect? My rice is either over cooked or under cooked and I’m seriously contemplating getting a rice cooker.

      Reply
      • Erin says

        June 11, 2009 at 7:32 pm

        It might the Dominican pots that I use when making it. They are aluminum and just cook rice differently. I’ve heard nothing but great things about rice cookers…might be worth the investment 🙂

        Reply
    3. Robin (rsislandcrafts) says

      June 12, 2009 at 1:08 am

      Great recipe. I don’t know why I never thought of freezing rice. I love to cook with rice but don’t always have the patience to cook the rice. Now I can cook larger batches and freeze them for quick meals and lunches 🙂

      Reply
    4. Amy says

      June 12, 2009 at 12:02 pm

      I just did the same thing on Tuesday night. I was not sure how well rice would freeze but I thought I would give it a try. We made our own Chipolte Burritos for dinner and I made 4x as much rice. I did not have the spinach but I used our home grown cilantro and peppers and a little lemon juice.

      Reply
      • Erin says

        June 12, 2009 at 12:17 pm

        YUMMY! Great idea Amy!

        Reply
    5. Christina Baita says

      June 12, 2009 at 1:01 pm

      Hello. You can buy frozen rice in the frozen vegetable section of the grocery store around here. I couldn’t imagine it though since it’s so easy to make your own but this just proves that you can freeze it. Thanks for the idea. Rice is a big OK for a gluten free diet and I love it. I too make a large batch and then use it for different meals. Thanks for the idea of mixing the rices since I didn’t even know you could do that!

      Reply
    6. Marie says

      June 12, 2009 at 1:03 pm

      Erin, my husband is also Dominican, (coincidence!) and I own a couple of those pots you speak of. Still, once in a while, my rice comes out too mushy (which he hates). Then again, I grew up in an Italian household and mushy rice is translated as risotto! (That’s my excuse – LOL) I guess its timing plus water amount.

      Well, today I tried making this recipe and I used Jasmine rice instead of regular rice and guess what? It came out perfect ! I Delicious !! So glad you gave me this idea of herbs in the rice.

      Reply
    7. Susan says

      June 12, 2009 at 8:10 pm

      Erin~ I’m curious about how your rice turns out when frozen. I”ve tried freezing rice a few times and it is all mushy and disgusting when it thaws. Dh balks at eating it. Do you have any tips on keeping rice from getting mushy when frozen? Thanks

      Reply

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    I’m Erin Chase…

    Also known as the
    $5 Dinner Mom.

    I have a little problem. I cannot make a meal that costs more than $5.
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    Want to join me?

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