Make Lunch Ahead: Baked Chili Brown Rice and Vegetables

As I mentioned a few months ago, I’ve been trying to make food during the weekend that Brian and I can take to school as a hot lunch.  My favorite recipes make a lot of food with little effort and require few dishes or utensils at work.

Last week I made Curried Brown Rice with Tomatoes and Peas from Cheap Healthy Good.  It’s a dish I’ve made a number of times before and I really like it because it uses brown rice, which I usually don’t bother taking the time to make, and the prep is mostly hands off.  But as I made the recipe it seemed to me that it was the sort of thing that would be open to infinite variations.  And so, I decided to try making a Mexican style version.  The new recipe turned out really well.

This time around, I used a bag of frozen “Mexican Style” vegetables that included broccoli, cauliflower, red peppers and corn, but any combination of vegetables works.  You could also add beans or animal protein at the end when you add the rest of the vegetables and increase the spiciness to your liking using additional chili powder or hot sauce.

Baked Chili Brown Rice and Vegetables

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Prep Time 35 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Servings 6 servings

Ingredients

  

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 small onion diced
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 2 garlic cloves minced
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 14 ounce canned diced tomatoes drained
• 4 ounce canned diced chili peppers
• 2 and 1/3 cups vegetable broth
• 1 and 1/2 cups uncooked brown rice
• 1 pound frozen mixed vegetables thawed

Instructions

 

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• In a medium saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the diced onion and cook until soft, about 5 minutes.
• When the onion is soft, add the cumin, smoked paprika, garlic and chili powder and stir to combine. Cook for 1 minute.
• Add the drained canned tomatoes, chili peppers and broth and stir to combine. Cover and bring the mixture to a boil.
• Meanwhile, add the rice to an 8 x 8 pan and spread it evenly along the bottom. Set it aside.
• When the mixture comes to a boil, pour it into the pan that contains the rice.
• Cover the pan with 2 layers of foil and bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes.
• After 1 hour and 10 minutes has elapsed, remove the rice bake, stir and check to make sure the rice is done.
• Toss the previously frozen vegetables with the rice mixture.  Serve or divide into storage containers for lunch at work.
• Enjoy!