Caribbean Ham and Rice/Cream Cheese Jello

This is a Quick Fixin Ideas from Albertson's Grocery. It only takes 20 minutes to make so it is great on busy nights. I've had it for years and really like it, but we don't have it very often since the rest of my family isn't real big on it. Kiah however, really liked it this go around. My husband even ate it as left overs for lunch today. He put it in a flour tortilla with shredded cheddar.

I took a picture of all the ingredients to show that I always buy the cheapest store brand and everything always turns out as good as if I had bought the name brand stuff.

Caribbean Ham and Rice

*1 package Rice-A-Roni chicken flavor
*1 can (8oz) pineapple tidbits in juice, drained and reserving the juice
*2 cloves garlic, minced
*1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
*1 1/2 cups cooked ham, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
*1 cup chopped green bell pepper
*1 can (15oz) black beans, rinsed and drained

1. In a large skillet, saute rice as package directs (cook it in butter until some of the rice turns a light brown)

2.Stir in 2 1/4 cups water, reserved pineapple juice, garlic and special seasoning packet. Bring just to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to low-med. Simmer 10 minutes.

3. Stir in pineapple, ham and bell pepper. Cover and cook for 5 more minutes or until most of the water is absorbed and rice is tender.

4. Stir in beans. Remove from the burner, cover and let stand five minutes.

416 kcal, 12g fat, 32mg cholesterol, and 1739mg sodium. You can reduce the sodium by cooking your own rice and using one chicken bouillon cube.

Life was busy yesterday and I did not get around to making homemade rolls. So I made a yummy dessert instead. The recipe I have is Blueberry Cream Cheese Jello Salad, but I decided to try Cherry pie filling instead of the blueberry. It was still really good, but I think I like the blueberry better.

*1 large package raspberry jello
*2 cups boiling water
*1 can blueberry pie filling (feel free to experiment with others)
*1 small can crushed pineapple

Topping--

*8 oz cream cheese
*1/2 cup powdered sugar
*1 cup sour cream

1. Dissolve jello in water in a 9x13 dish. Mix in the pie filling and pineapple. Chill until set.
2. Blend topping ingredients. Spread over chilled jello and chill again before serving.