Zucchini Parmesan Rice

This is a great recipe for summer!  It makes for a fabulous side dish alongside grilled foods, and is also a pretty fabulous way to use up leftover rice and give it the non-leftover feel.

Ingredients:

1 ½ tsp olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 tbl dried parsley flakes
½ tsp dried basil
1 clove garlic
2 cups canned chicken broth
1 cup brown basmati or jasmine rice, uncooked
3 cups julienne-sliced zucchini
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
¼ cup parmesan cheese

Pour olive oil in large pot over med-high heat, and add chopped onion, parsley flakes, basil, and minced garlic. Saute until onion is tender. Add chicken broth; bring to a boil. Stir in rice; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 min. or until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed.

Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray; place over medium high heat until hot. Add zucchini, salt and pepper; sauté until tender. Add rice mixture to skillet, stirring gently, cook until thoroughly heated. Remove from heat and sprinkle with cheese.

*You can also adapt this recipe to use leftover rice from another meal. Just saute whatever veggies you want in your rice in a bit of olive oil and when tender, add your rice. Saute a bit longer until warmed through, turn off heat and sprinkle with cheese.