This bright and colorful cheesy Mexican beans and rice dinner will pop right off your plate and into your mouth. 🙂
Smart and Satisfying.
Weight Watcher members are always looking for ways to eat until they are satisfied without eating up all their weekly points in one sitting, and this recipe will do that for you. I am happy to tell you that this recipe makes seven (one cup) servings and each serving is 4 Weight Watchers FreeStyle smart points*. With lots of melted cheese you won’t feel like you are skimping on this one!
Vegetarian too.
This meal packs in lots of satisfying protein and veggies, without any meat, making this a smart vegetarian choice. Yum! 🙂
Here is what you need:
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 yellow bell pepper
1 orange bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
1 large onion
3 garlic cloves
1 (15 oz.) can black beans
1 (15 oz.) can kidney beans
1 package (8.8 oz.) Ready-to-serve white rice
1/4 cup Red wine vinegar
2 tsp. cumin
2 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. chili powder
2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 1/2 cup (6 oz.) shredded reduced-fat Mexican-style cheese blend
Here is what you do:
Chop bell peppers and onions. (so pretty. I love the colors of bell peppers when they are chopped together, don’t you?)
Heat oil in a large skillet and cook chopped peppers, onions, and garlic for 7-9 minutes.
Meanwhile, cook the rice in the microwave, according to the instructions on the package. Allow to sit on the counter and cool before opening the package fully.
Rinse and drain both cans of beans.
Mix in the rice, beans, seasonings, and red wine vinegar with the veggie mixture.
Allow to cook 5-6 minutes, or until heated through. Stir in 1 cup of the cheese.
Top with the extra 1/2 cup cheese. Set pan aside from the heat. Cover and let sit for 5 minutes allowing the cheese to melt.
Serve warm.
Makes 7 (one cup) servings.
8 Green, 4 Blue, and 4 Purple Points per serving.
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
- 1 yellow bell pepper
- 1 orange bell pepper
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 large onion
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 (15 oz.) can black beans
- 1 (15 oz.) can kidney beans
- 1 package (8.8 oz.) Ready-to-serve white rice
- 1/4 cup Red wine vinegar
- 2 tsp. cumin
- 2 tsp. dried oregano
- 1 tsp. chili powder
- 2 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. pepper
- 1 1/2 cup (6 oz.) shredded reduced-fat Mexican-style cheese blend
- Chop bell peppers and onions.
- Heat oil in a large skillet and cook chopped peppers, onions, and garlic for 7-9 minutes.
- Meanwhile, cook the rice in the microwave according to the instructions on the package. Allow to sit on the counter and cool before opening the package fully.
- Rinse and drain both cans of beans.
- Mix in rice, beans, seasonings, and red wine vinegar to the veggie mixture.
- Allow to cook 5-6 minutes. Stir in 1 cup of the cheese.
- Top with the extra 1/2 cup cheese. Set pan aside from the heat. Cover the pan, and let sit 5 minutes, allowing the cheese to melt.
- Serve warm.
*SmartPoints® calculated by Meal Planning Mommies; Not endorsed by Weight Watchers International, Inc. All recipe ingredients except optional items included in determining nutritional estimates. SmartPoints® values calculated WITHOUT Weight Watchers Zero Points fruits and vegetables using the WW Recipe Builder.
Have seen this recipe on your website and want to make it. I have a hard time finding any cheese, except mozzarella that is reduced fat cheese. Our town has Safeway, Wal-Mart, Winco, and Harvest Foods. Also can never find fat free salsa. Thank you for info.
Hi there Lana, A lot of times reduced fat cheese is called “Part-skim” cheese. Not sure if that will help or not. Another option would be to cut the cheese in half (using just 3/4 cup instead). If you just top the beans/rice with the cheese instead of mixing some in you could have a similar result and the smart points would stay the same. As far as salsa goes, I wouldn’t worry too much about if it says fat-free or not. I was just putting in here what I entered into the WW recipe builder, but the truth is that all salsa is either zero smart points or really low in smart points. (It’s mostly just vegetables) If you wanted to make your own fat-free salsa you could do that too. Homemade fresh salsa is awesome! Here is a recipe if you would like to go that route: http://www.food.com/recipe/no-cook-fresh-tomato-salsa-fat-free-216081.