Italian Rice and Artichoke Salad

This recipe caught my eye because I have a very large jar of artichoke hearts, and try to use them every chance I can!

2/3 cup cooked long grain rice
Marinated Artichoke hearts
1 cup Tomatoes, cut into bite size pieces
1/2 cup Roasted red peppers, cut in strips
1 cup Black Olives
2 TBSP lemon juice
1 garlic clove, crushed
Grated Parmesan Cheese
1 TBSP snipped fresh basil or 1/2 tsp dried basil
1 avocado

This recipe is fast, the longest thin is to cook the rice. While it cooks, I cut up the vegetables. The artichokes have a dressing on them already, so that adds flavor to the rice. It was good to add a little Oil and Vinegar dressing on your serving, and there will be more flavor if you can let the salad cool in the fridge for a couple hours.

Sprinkle with Parmesan. I also added avocado on the side. Wow! That is what the recipe was missing!

This is a side dish, but you could add some pre-cooked fish or chicken to make it more complete.

Roasted Red Peppers

How to Roast peppers:
1. Line a cookie sheet or flat pan with foil. Spray with olive oil, and place washed peppers on tray.
2. Put into preheated oven set on broil setting. Let peppers get blackened, turn them every few minutes until every side is black.

3. When peppers are blackened and hot, wrap the foil around them. Let them cool completely.

4. Open the foil, and remove the skin from each pepper.


5. Cut the peppers, removing all the stems and seeds. Cut the peppers into strips, if desired.

6. Store the peppers in small ziplock baggies in the freezer. Cook more than one so you have them on hand. You can also buy a large bottle of Roasted red peppers at Costco!