I promised a fried I'd share with her how to make rice, here is how I do it. And since I got creative last night, I thought I'd add a bonus recipe for beans, inspired by this one for black bean soup.

How to cook ANY rice

Ingredients:
1 cup rice
1 1/2 cup water
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon oil (I like olive oil)

Instructions:
1. Bring water to a boil.
2. Add rest of ingredients
3. Cover pot, and lower heat to a low simmer
4. Cook for required time: White rice =15 minutes, Brown rice= 50 minutes
5. DO NOT MIX or touch the rice until time is up!
6. If time permits, let the rice sit, COVERED, for 5-10 minutes.

Lazy Red Bean Soup

Ingredients:
1 can Red Kidney beans (light or dark)
2 tablespoons tomato sauce
3/4 cup water
1 small garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp oregano (or one whole cuban oregano leaf)

Optional (especially if you are feeding a picky toddler)
1/4 cup diced onions
1/4 cup green peppers
1 tsp oil (I like olive oil)
Adobo Goya to taste

Instructions:
1. Cook onions, peppers & garlic in the oil over medium heat until soft.
2. put rest of ingredients into pot
3. bring to a boil
4. cover, cook at low heat for about 10-15 minutes
5. Take about 3-4 tablespoons from the pot, and puree with either a mini food processor or potato masher. Return to pot.
6. Optional - pour over rice.
Yum!