What to do with leftover Mexican/Spanish rice...

    Rice always seems to be the gift that never stops growing. Our neighbor made us a huge dish of Mexican rice the other day, and it was delicious! For a week I have been making dishes with this rice. This is my last one, I have finally used it all up!  This happens to us when we eat out at a Mexican restaurant too.
   I made this for our church lunch on Sunday. It was delicious and soooooo easy! Just like the name says, you should probably have everything on hand in your pantry. It is easy to make this soup really spicy or really mild according to your family’s taste. So, the next cold, snowy day you have- don’t go out to buy ingredients to make a soup, just look in your pantry!

Everything you already have Mexican Crockpot Soup
2 and ½ Cups Mexican Rice
1 to 1&½ Cups Hamburger, browned with diced onions
1 Can Rotel
1 Can Tomato Sauce
1 Can Chicken Broth
1 Can Black Beans
1 Can Tomato Soup
½ Cup Salsa
5 Cups Water
1 TBSP Onion Powder
1 TBSP Chili Powder
½ TBSP Cumin
1 TBSP Dried Cilantro
½ TBSP Garlic Powder
1&½ Cups Frozen Corn
4 Slices of American Cheese
Tortilla Chips
Shredded Cheese


Put all ingredients in your crock pot. Cook on high 3&½ to 4 hours, stirring occasionally. Top with crushed tortilla chips and shredded cheese. Serves 12 to 15 people.

What to do with leftover cheesy broccoli rice...

I love when we have Chinese take-out, it's like the dinner that never ends :)  There are so many uses and creations that can come for it.  Over the New Year's holiday we got Chinese take out.  We had several cartons of rice left over.  Earlier in the week I made a batch of cheesy, broccoli rice with it.  Apparently it miraculously grew because it felt like we had more leftover than I started with.  Well you know how I hate to throw away food, so our cheesy broccoli rice became meatballs.  The nice thing about this recipe is if you don't feel like taking the time to make meatballs, you can use the mixture to make meatloaf or even hamburgers.  While the meatballs were baking, I made a gravy to serve with them, but they would be great by themsevles or as a sandwich with cheese melted on top.  Enjoy!

Easy, Cheesy, Meatballs
2 cups Broccoli Cheese Rice
1 lb Ground Beef
1 Egg
1/2 TBSP Onion Powder
1/2 tsp salt

Browned Meatballs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix together all ingredients in a large mixing bowl.  Form 1" to 1 and 1/2" meatballs.  Spray a large frying pan with non-stick spray.  Brown meatballs on all sides.  Transfer to a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes.  Makes around 15 meatballs.



My Helper :)

*Your meat mixture should have the consistency of a meatloaf mixture.  If your rice is dry, add a little milk to the mixture to moisten it up.  Be cautious though, if it is too moist, your meatballs will fall apart!