Looking for a recipe my grandma used to make for me

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dforsythe03

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I am looking for a recipe my grandma used to make for me when i was younger. She didn't use a recipe that I can remember, but it is a summertime comfort food for me. The only ingredients she used were hamburger, fresh tomatoes, and rice. She would layer these 3 in a saucepan and cook them until the rice was done. I do not remember the proportion of tomatoes to rice, nor do I remember the order. I think it was hamburger first then rice and then the tomatoes. She repeated that order until the pot was full. (it was a small pot 2qt if that helps) I would love to fix this for my kids. If anyone could help me with a recipe or proportions or something I would really appreciate it. My grandma passed away 3 years ago and she never wrote it down, and unfortunately neither did anyone else in the family.
 
This sounds somewhat like what my Mom used to make. She called it Spanish Rice. As far as I can remember it had rice, hamburger and canned tomatoes. Probably also green pepper and onion. Does that sound familiar? Lots of recipes for Spanish rice online.
 
I wonder if she might have added some sort of liquid... would the rice have enough without it?

My mom made something similar. I suspect she added a can of tomato soup to it, too.

At least it is easy enough to experiment with! Good luck!
 
if she did it was water...everything she cooked was always so simple. She never used a lot of seasoning or even a lot of ingredients. We used to can tomatoes every summer, we always had an abundance of them--even after canning and this was one of those recipes to use some of the fresh tomatoes before they went bad. I guess I'll play with it and see what I can figure out. Any idea (other than the farmer's market) where I can get really fresh and ripe homegrown tomatoes?
 
Well if I was gonna make it, I would brown the burger first or its gonna be greasy.
Going with simple, I'd salt and pepper it. (if I get one fancy, it would be some garlic powder or maybe oregano.)

If using real rice, its about a 2 to 1 ratio of liquid to water, maybe a little more liquid. So just using tomatoes as the liquid source, i would want to use 3 or 4 maybe. Chop them up and be sure to save the juice to add.
I'd probably heat it for a while, see how much liquid was developed, then add enough stock or water to just cover. Then simmer for however long the rice said.
Wouldnt peek, just like with rice.

As for fresh and juicy tomatoes.. got any gardeners living nearby who might part with a few?

Let us know how this turns out. It sounds familiar but darn if I can remember from where!
 
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