Nutty Vegetable Rice Casserole

This sticks to the ribs! A hearty one-dish meal with comforting flavour and lots of good protein and vitamins. An excellent meal if you want something that fills you up like a meat dish, but is not a meat dish.

• Ready In: 40 mins
• Serves: 2-3

Ingredients

• 3⁄4 cup rice, uncooked
• 1 1⁄2 cups water
• 8  large  beet leaves, chopped
• 3  big carrots, chopped
• 3  tablespoons onions, chopped
• 1  tablespoon fresh ginger, chopped
• 1  garlic clove, chopped
• 2  tablespoons olive oil
• 1⁄2 cup almond butter
• 1⁄2 cup milk
• 1  teaspoon paprika
•  salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375. Soak rice in water for ten minutes (in the pot you will cook it in).
2. While rice soaks, mix almond butter and milk throroughly in a small bowl. Set aside. Begin to chop carrots, onion, garlic and ginger.
3. Drain and rinse rice, and add fresh water. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer on medium-low for eight minutes.
4. While rice cooks, saute carrots, onion, garlic and ginger in a pan with olive oil until they begin to be tender. While these are cooking, stir occasionally and chop beet greens into bite-size pieces.
5. When rice is cooked, turn off heat and let stand, covered, for ten minutes.
6. While rice stands, add beet greens to vegetable saute and cook until just tender. I prefer not to overcook these so you still have a variety of textures in the casserole and it doesn't turn into a "blob".
7. When rice has stood for ten minutes, remove lid, add almond butter and milk mixture, and stir thoroughly. Add vegetable saute mixture and stir thoroughly.
8. Pour mixture (should be very thick) into a medium casserole and top with paprika and a bit of salt.
9. Cook at 375 for ten minutes, covered. Enjoy!