Spanish Rice

We had this last night. I was hoping for a bit more, I must say. It wasn't spicy, but actually not that flavorful, either. It's from the Betty Crocker cookbook that I mentioned in a previous posting.

Spanish Rice
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup uncooked regular long grain rice
1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
2 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp chili powder
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1 small green pepper, chopped (1/2 cup)(I cut mine into big enough chunks for Sam to pick out)
1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce
1 pound hambuger, cooked and drained

Heat oil in 10 inch skillet over medium heat. Cook rice and onion in oil about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until the rice is golden brown and onion is tender. Stir in remaining ingredients. Heat to boiling; reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until rice is tender.

Okay, so someone can help me out here and tell me why, in every recipe that I make that has real rice in it, not minute rice (even though Minute brown rice isn't so bad for you), the rice never cooks all the way! Every single time, the rice ends up crunchy because it's not cooked all the way. I anticipated that this might happen with this recipe, as it has with so many others, so I cooked it for 10 minutes longer than the recipe calls for. I buy exactly the type of rice, to the letter, that it calls for, and still. Partially cooked rice. So frustrating. But besides that, as I said above, there just wasn't a whole lot of flavor to this rice. If you have success with rice, and adding additional spice/flavor, then go ahead and try this one...and tell me your tips!!