My mother made something called "Spanish rice." I think it was Minute Rice with tomato sauce and sauteed green peppers and beef. A very 1950s dish, I think, from the "Lipton Onion soup mix as a basic food group" approach to cooking. I get the shivers just thinking about it. Though I find I use a lot of onion soup mix in my cooking today! Has anyone ever actually used that stuff to make soup? I doubt it.
My mom made "Spanish rice" but hers was made with ham, and no onion soup mix. One of the few times I liked leftover ham. Ham is good the first time around, but rarely, is it any good the second, third or fifth time. Unfortunately, for holidays, my mom used to buy these 60 pound hams that we had to eat every day for the next seven months. That's why I seldom eat ham today.
My mother used to make this awful stuff as well. She also made something called "Hungarian Surprise" which was very similar. Yuk.
Of course, the worst food in the world is liver. Just the smell of it made me gag.
And a 60's-early 70's thing, too. My mom made spanish rice, no lipton onion mix, and it was yummy. I haven't been able to duplicate it. Maybe the Lipton Onion mix made it yucky? I can't eat onions raw or par-cooked like in the mix, so I just omit it or substitute.