Spanish beef with rice

This is a wonderfully easy and delicious meal to make.
There are lots of ways to make it, but I tried to keep it as real to what I saw on alot of other sites, changing the tastes to suit my family (and adding veggies!!)

500gm beef mince (ground beef)
1 tin tomato soup ( i used salt reduced)
1 tin tomatoes
1/2 cup water with one beef stock cube dissolved
1 cup frozen veggie mix (I used corn, carrot, bean and pea)
1 cup rice (I use basmatti rice)
1/2 red onion chopped finely
1 clove garlic chopped finely
pinch chilli flakes
2 pinches coriander seeds (ground)
2 pinches Harissa
pinch of salt and pepper
1/2 handful of parsley finely chopped
corn chips (I use plain ones)
1 cup grated cheese (any of your fav cheese)

Heat a saucepan with some olive oil and cook the beef mince. Add the onion and garlic. Once they are softened turn down the heat. Add the tomatoes, tomato soup, stock and water and veggies and rice to the pan along with the spices.
Let this simmer and when the rice is cooked the meal is ready, add some parsley at the end.

Serve with corn chips for dipping and topped with some grated cheese.

Spanish (mexican) rice

A friend shared a recipe that she was given for Spanish Rice (see Sarah's post here). I used that and another one I found online to make some to go with our mexican chicken last night. It was a hit with the kids, and more importantly my husband who hates to eat rice. Excuse the messy plate, I was in a rush to dish while the kids where screaming for their dinner :P

This will serve 4 adults. Please take note of the water:rice ratio on your packet and use that as a guideline for how much stock to add.

1 1/2 cup rice (I used basmati as this is healthier than plain white rice and cooks better)
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup water (I didnt want too much salt, otherwise you could add 2 cups stock)
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
2 cloves garlic (if they are small use 3) chopped
1/2 brown onion chopped finely
olive oil
handful parsely
1/4 teaspoon (maybe a little less) of Harissa (a middle eastern spice mix) if you don't want to add this then don't, it added a hint of spice which went well with the mexican chicken.

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan and cook cook the onion and garlic until they are soft (not burnt). Add in the rice and stir around until it turns a different colour (about 3 to 4 minutes).

Add the tomatoes, stock, water, parsley and Harissa and bring to the boil (this should happen within a minute or two.

Once boiling, place the lid on and turn down to simmer. DO NOT LIFT THE LID. Don't stir it or touch it. Leave it be for around 20-25 minutes depending on what rice you used. Lift the lid and fluff with a fork once you see that the water has evaporated, don't leave it too long otherwise it will go dry and stick to the pan.