Spanish Rice

Mom wanted my recipe for easy spanish rice. My friend Karen used to make this for us in China when she would make us American food on Wednesday nights. Even though we ate rice all the time somehow this was different! You will need some sort of skillet/pan with a lid. :)

Fry until begins to brown:
1 cup uncooked rice
3 tbs oil
Add and fry until onion is transparent:
1 small onion, chopped (I use less)
1 clove garlic, chopped
***I add chopped carrots, 1/4 tsp. cumin and 1/2 tsp chili powder
You could add red/green pepper too.
Add and allow to cook for a few minutes:
2 diced tomatoes or 3 Tbsp. tomato sauce - fresh tomatoes are better
Add:
3 cups water
1 tsp. salt
Cover and cook without stirring over low heat 30 minutes or until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed. I usually have to season it a bit more with salt, cumin and chili powder to taste. I add chopped cilantro and sometimes some rinsed black beans. I serve it with cheese and sour cream on the side.

This is great with crockpot tacos and my cornbread recipe. :)

Preparation

So I'm a little late with these pictures, but here's a few ways we prepared for Christmas as a family. We made cookies and chocolate treats and acted out the Christmas story (Jensen pretended to be Mary with the scarf across her face instead of her head and took tons of extra stuff to the "stable". I assured her that Mary probably didn't have a purse, a bunch of princess costumes, etc., but Jensen wanted to be prepared I guess!). Chris made a ham and cheese scone that was shared with the neighbors and Jensen got a new pair of Christmas jammies right before we started our advent calendar. Hayden, well...he just kind of hung out. He mastered crawling and determined to go places and get into things that he had not explored before!