Beef Taco Rice

I got this one from Cooking Light and we tried it the other night. It's pretty easy to assemble when you're in a hurry and tasted great. We had plenty of left-overs for lunch the next day and it almost tasted better re-heated. Sorry I don't have a cool picture like Laura!

Ingredients
4 cups water
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 (1.25-ounce) package taco seasoning, divided
4 cups uncooked instant rice
1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
1 pound ground beef
Cooking spray
1 (16-ounce) can fat-free refried beans
1 cup package shredded Mexican blend or cheddar cheesee

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350°.
Combine first 5 ingredients in a large saucepan; add half of the taco seasoning. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Stir in rice; cover and let stand for 5 minutes. Stir in tomato sauce.
Cook meat in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until browned, stirring to crumble. Drain; return meat to pan. Stir in remaining taco seasoning.
Spread half of rice mixture in bottom of a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Spread beans evenly over rice mixture; top with beef mixture and half of cheese. Spread the remaining rice mixture over cheese; top with remaining cheese. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes or until the cheese melts.
Yield
10 servings (serving size: about 1 1/4 cups)
Nutritional Information
CALORIES 371(18% from fat); FAT 7.5g (sat 3.6g,mono 2.5g,poly 0.4g); IRON 4.4mg; CHOLESTEROL 42mg; CALCIUM 221mg; CARBOHYDRATE 51.2g; SODIUM 696mg; PROTEIN 23.7g; FIBER 3.8g
Cooking Light, JULY 2001

*we ate it with a little bit of light sour cream on top.