Taco Seasoning Flavored Rice

  I'm always experimenting with food and find some of the food combinations fascinating. This week, I decided to make tacos. I wanted everything to be organic as well, so I went to Whole Foods and bought the shells and the seasoning packet. I already had grass-fed ground beef in, as well as homemade sour cream and lettuce from an organic vegetable co-op. We also had a lot of white rice left over from dinner the other night, although I doubt that the rice was organic. You can buy organic rice and that of course, would be preferable. I'm sure you could use brown rice for this recipe as well.

   Here is what I did: First, I browned the ground beef. After the meat was browned I added the water and the taco seasoning mix to the meat. I let it simmer for a little while. The liquid did not thicken, so I took the meat out and put the leftover white rice in (I didn't measure. I just put in enough for three of us if we all wanted to have some). I let the rice reheat and soaked the taco flavored liquid in the pan in. Then I added some butter (I actually cut about 1/4 cup off. Maybe even more than that). Yummmmm.
 
   Note: I am not ordinarily a fan of Spanish rice, but this tasted pretty good. I would imagine if you could make your own taco seasoning mix, and then add water, you could make your own version of it. I, personally, like the packets because of the orange color of the mix. I will try to recreate this recipe and put it into a recipe format so others can make it. If you do make it, let me know how it turns out. I can tweak the recipe where necessary.

   Taco Seasoning Flavored Rice

2 cups leftover white rice
1/2 packet of taco seasoning mix
1/2 cup water
Butter, to taste (optional, only use grass-fed butter if possible)

   Put the taco seasoning mix and water in a frying pan and heat up. Add leftover rice. Let the rice absorb the liquid and add more water if necessary. Turn rice often. Add butter, if using.

Note: I got my seasoning packet from Whole Foods. You can use any seasoning packet for this. Keep in mind that well known companies may have additives or preservatives in the seasoning.