Recipe: Healthy Rice Salad Packed with Raw Vegetables and Fresh Greens

A pile of fresh vegetables and herbs is stirred into hot rice, then tossed with a simple olive oil and lemon dressing: easy, nutritious, gluten-free, delicious!

We love rice, and of course we love all-natural foods that are produced by socially responsible companies. So when my publishing network, BlogHer, asked if I was interested in creating a healthy recipe using one of RiceSelect's Royal Blend® rices as part of an upcoming ad campaign (which helps me and over 3,000 other mostly women bloggers bring you all our blog content for free), I said sure.

RiceSelect™ is a research based company focused on high value organic and all-natural products. All RiceSelect products are verified non-GMO and are grown, milled, and packaged in the United States under the most stringent farming and production guidelines. Their farms use a sustainable environmentally friendly process that assures socially responsible production.

There are three RiceSelect Royal Blend® products, and my recipe calls for the Royal Blend® with Brown, Red, & Wild Rice, which is an all-natural blend of Texmati White, pre-cooked brown, wild, and Thai red rice. It has no added sodium, a wonderful nutty flavor, and is ready to eat in less than half an hour.

In the 15 minutes it takes the rice to cook, you can turn a simple side dish into a healthy, colorful, flavor-packed feast. A pile of fresh vegetables and herbs is stirred into the hot rice then tossed with a simple olive oil and lemon dressing. It's delicious warm, cold, or at room temperature.

Recipe below. . .

Healthy Rice Salad Packed with Raw Veggies and Fresh Greens

Makes about 5 cups

Can you really mix 5 cups of herbs and vegetables into less than three cups of cooked rice? Yep. This simple, flavorful recipe is a great way for those who aren't big on munching giant salads to get a big serving of fresh greens.

To turn this into a vegetarian main course, just stir in some chopped fresh tomatoes, crumbled feta cheese, and garbanzo beans, then wrap it all up in flour tortillas if desired.

Once you realize that almost anything can be stirred into hot rice, you can let your imagination run wild. I've added everything from caramelized onions, sautéed mushrooms, and cooked ground lamb to this basic recipe. Other ideas: a handful of your favorite fresh herbs, shredded carrots or finely chopped broccoli, some cooked lentils, chopped nuts, leftover chicken or roasted vegetables.

If you can't find RiceSelect Royal Blend rices locally, they are available on Amazon.com.

Ingredients:

1 cup dry RiceSelect Royal Blend® with Brown, Red, and Wild Rice

1½ cups water

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon organic butter

2 cups packed (about 4 ounces) finely chopped fresh spinach or kale (any tough stems removed)

1 cup lightly packed (about 1½ ounces) chopped fresh parsley

1 cup chopped scallions (white and green parts)

1 cup finely chopped sweet red pepper (about 1 large bell pepper)

Dressing:

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1 small clove garlic, minced (about 1/2 heaping teaspoon)

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

Optional additions:

Diced fresh plum tomatoes or halved cherry tomatoes

Organic garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed if canned

Crumbled feta cheese

Flour tortillas (or gluten-free tortillas)

Instructions:

1. Combine the rice, water, salt, and butter in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil; stir once. Cover with a tight fitting lid, reduce heat, and simmer for 15 minutes.

2. Chop the vegetables while the rice is cooking.

3. When the rice is done simmering, turn off the burner and let the rice sit, covered, on the warm burner for 10 minutes while you make the dressing.

4. Place the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper in a glass measuring cup or small bowl and mix with a fork until well combined. Or you can make the dressing ahead of time and keep it in the refrigerator; bring to room temperature and mix well before using.

5. Stir the greens, parsley, scallions, and red pepper into the rice. It will look like you just added way too many vegetables, but they'll soften and shrink down in the hot rice. Add the dressing and stir until well combined.

6. Replace the lid on the pot and let sit for a few minutes.

7. Stir, taste and adjust seasonings if needed, and reheat lightly if desired. Serve warm or at room temperature, either as is or with tomatoes, garbanzo beans, and/or crumbled feta mixed in. Keeps in the refrigerator for up to two days.

Wrap it up:

You can either mix everything up together and then fold it into a tortilla, or layer the rice mixture and other ingredients. For 1 cup cooked rice I used 1/4 cup garbanzo beans, 1 large plum tomato (about 1/3 cup diced), and 2 Tablespoons feta cheese.

Still hungry? You'll find links to all my sweet and savory Less Fuss, More Flavor recipes in the Farmgirl Fare Recipe Index.

© FarmgirlFare.com, the vegetable happy foodie farm blog where Farmgirl Susan shares recipes, stories, and photos from her crazy country life on 240 remote Missouri acres—and the sheep and donkeys aren't the only ones who love their greens.