Garden Vegetable Rice

I had a few garden vegetables that I wanted to use...and what better way to use it than in a quick rice dish. You can use a variety of garden fresh vegetables. In this recipe, I used yellow squash, zucchini, bell peppers (red, yellow and orange for color), onions, carrots and a jalapeno pepper for some zippy taste. You can easily experiment with all sorts of vegetables you may have at hand.

Garden Vegetable Rice

1 small yellow squash

1 small zucchini

1/2 yellow onion

1/2 bell pepper each color

1 carrot

1 jalapeno

1 cup Uncle Ben's rice

2 TBS cream cheese softened

2 cups water

1 TBS olive oil

1-2 TBS butter

3 garlic cloves minced

salt

pepper

Dice all vegetables. In a small bowl mix water and cream cheese whisk to get any lumps out and blend the two together. Set aside. In a 12 inch frying pan, heat oil and butter. Add all diced vegetables including garlic and saute till soft on medium heat. Add rice and stir to mix well. Add water and cream cheese mix cover and cook till done(about 15min). Fluff with a fork and serve immediately.

Tip: If you want a yellow look to the rice add a pinch of turmeric to the rice while cooking.