Combine your rice and vegetables in one easy dish. The addition of zesty cheese makes it fit for a special occasion.

Ingredients:

Directions:

• In large pot, melt butter over medium-high heat; add carrots, onion, rosemary, salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes or onions are until softened. Stir in rice until coated in butter.
• Stir broth and hot water and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
• Working quickly, stir broccoli into rice and replace lid. Simmer for 5 minutes longer or until rice is tender and most of liquid is absorbed.
• Remove from heat and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes. Using a fork, gently stir in 1 cup (250 mL) of the cheese.
• Transfer to a serving dish and sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Tips:

To use frozen broccoli in place of fresh, let broccoli thaw and drain well. Cook rice for 20 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in broccoli and let stand as directed.

Using hot broth and water speeds up the cooking time and keeps the rice from getting mushy.

ESHA note: Low sodium vegetable broth, unsalted butter, and cheddar cheese were used in the analysis.

ESHA Tips:

• Try this recipe using a reduced fat cheese and instead add in some crunchy almonds.
• Substitute with a different variety of rice, such as wild rice.
• Reduce the sodium content by not bothering to add the salt to the recipe.

Makes 8 servings