Rice Stuffing with Apples, Herbs, and Bacon

I was looking for a rice dish to go with pork roast and I got lucky!  This is moist and delicious.  I love the combined fruit flavors.  I used just a small amount of spiced herbs, so as not to overpower the fruit.  It's a wonderful side dish.  Check the liquid level on the wild rice every few minutes while you're steaming it and add broth if necessary, to avoid burning.

12 servings

13 calculated points

Ingredients

• 3 1⁄2 cups water divided
• 1 1⁄2 cups low fat, low sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup uncooked wild rice
• 1 ⁄3 pound bacon
• 3 cups diced onions
• 3 cups diced celery
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 cup uncooked long-grain white rice
• 1 3⁄4 cups currants
• 3 ⁄4 cup dried cherries
• 3 ⁄4 cup dried cranberries
• 1 ⁄2 ounce dried apricots
• 1 cup diced, unpeeled apples
• 1 ⁄2 cup chopped Italian flat leaf parsley
• 6 tablespoons dried mixed herbs

Directions

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, bring 1 1/2 cups water and the chicken broth to a boil. Stir in wild rice. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 45 minutes.

Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Reserving drippings, drain bacon, crumble, and set aside.

In the skillet with the reserved bacon drippings, saute onions and celery with 1 tablespoon water. Cook until very soft, about 20 minutes.

Stir remaining water, white rice, currants, cherries, cranberries, apricots, and apples into the wild rice. Continue cooking 20 minutes, or until wild rice and white rice are tender.

In a large bowl, mix the bacon and the onion mixture into the rice mixture. Season with the Italian parsley and dried mixed herbs.