Arroz con gandules

A friend Michelle has been bringing over "puert rican" rice the last few gatherings, so Andy and I decided to get the recipe.  The problem is that it includes Sofrito and Sazon, which are products that are made by Goya.  These products, although amazingly awesome, have MSG and other perservatives so I set out to make my own sofrito and sazon in order to make this yummy rice dish.

This is what I came up with.

1/2-1 cup of chopped ham and/or a couple strip of bacon
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped peppers
TIP: I always keep a bag of frozen onions and one of frozen peppers in my freezer so I fresh veggies don't go bad.  I don't actually cook that often
2 teaspoons of chopped garlic or 2 cloves of garlic minced
TIP: Buy chopped dried garlic from Spice House or somewhere so you don't have to hassle
1 15 oz of Green Piegeon Peas undrained
1/2 15oz can of organic tomato sauce
1 cup water
2 cups of rice (cooked minute rice)
--Replace 1 packer of Sazon with:
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Cumin
1/2 tsp Coriander
--Replace Sofrito with the already included tomatoes, peppers, and onions +
1 tsp Cilantro
Organo?

1. Heat olive oil in a medium, heavy saucepan or larger drying pan over medium-high heat. Add ham to pan; cook until brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic, peppers and onions; cook, stirring occasionally, scraping up brown bits from bottom, until vegetables are soft and translucent, 10 minutes.
2. Cook 2 cups of minute rice.
3. Stir in pigeon peas, tomato sauce, and 1 cup of water in pan.
4. Add salt, garlic powder, coriander, and cilantro. Bring to a boil.
5. Add rice to pan. Bring rice mixture to a boil then turn to low. Cook, uncovered, until most liquid is evaporated. Gently stir rice from bottom up.
6. Remove saucepan from heat. Gently fluff rice with fork. Let stand 5 minutes.

References:
http://www.goya.com/english/recipes/arroz-con-gandules
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/easy-arroz-con-gandules/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKn6SrcSjA4
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/sofrito/
http://www.food.com/recipe/sazon-the-dry-mix-404770
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ingrid-hoffmann/pigeon-pea-rice-arroz-con-gandules-recipe.html