Mexican beans and rice

This one-dish meal is from The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook, which I've gotten from the library again -- it's so good I might have to buy it for myself. Add 1 cup rice and 1 cup stock to the rice cooker and start the cook cycle. Then saute chopped red capsicum, spring onions and garlic, then tip it into the rice cooker along with a drained can of beans, a can of chopped tomatoes and spices (oregano and cumin and chili powder). I wish I would have had tortillas to wrap around the rice, but instead the kids put it inside taco shells and the adults just ate it plain. Served with chopped lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and avocadoes; yogurt; and chilli sauce for the oldies. Coriander would have been good too.

I often serve lots of little bowls of vegies for the kids to choose from -- they seem to eat more if there's a variety and they can choose the amount. My son's friend who came for dinner the other night was amazed that there was an entire bowl of carrot sticks on the table. His father said they always put a serving on their kids' plates instead of the kids serving themselves and the novelty factor was pretty exciting for him: woo-hoo!