Maggie's Rice Skillet Dinner

If you're friends with me and Shana on Facebook, you've likely seen her tag me under a recipe or share something to my wall with "veganize this?" or "make this for me?" and nothing else. As it turns out, she does that outside of social media, too. Years and years ago, Shana used to have a subscription to a magazine that no longer exists, but it often included recipes that were easy and quick to prepare and targeted at families with children. Recipes would get torn out of the magazine and excitedly waved in my line of sight. Sometimes they were made right away, but often they went into the giant stack of recipes I want to try.

When looking for a new dish to make a while ago, I stumbled upon one of those torn magazine-page recipes. It looked good, especially with the tweaks I was envisioning to make it both vegan and a one-dish dinner. With approval from Shana to try something new, the rice skillet dinner was a go and resounding success! Nothing fancy, just warm comforting goodness for when you're short on time but still want a delicious meal.

Oh, and make sure to use your largest skillet! A 12" is a necessity (or cut the recipe in half)!

Maggie's Rice Skillet Dinner
Ingredients
1, 14 oz. package of faux sausages, sliced (see Helpful Hints)
3-4 T. oil
1 small onion, diced
1 large red bell pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
2 small heads broccoli, in small florets
2 1/2 c. faux chicken or veggie broth
1, 15 oz. can unseasoned tomato sauce
2 c. uncooked instant brown rice
1/2 c. shredded vegan mozzarella cheese

Directions
1. In a LARGE skillet, brown sausages and onion in oil.
2. Add pepper and garlic, saute for 2-3 minutes.
3. Add broccoli, broth, tomato sauce, and rice. Simmer, stirring occasionally until the liquid is absorbed.
4. Stir in shredded cheese, then serve.

Helpful Hints

• The faux sausages I use are Tofurky Italian flavor. I like this flavor a lot in this dish, but I'm sure others would work fine. Recently, our local grocery store started selling their own brand of a faux chorizo, which I'd like to try in here, too. 
• This really does make a lot of food, so plan to feed others. If you're not planning to feed 3-4 people, or if you don't have a 12" skillet, halve the recipe. You can easily buy 8 oz. cans of tomato sauce, so I'd just dump the whole thing in. I haven't tried this, but it's only .5 ounce more than actually half...
• Our local grocery store sells Daiya mozzarella shreds, so that's what I used. 

The post "Maggie's Rice Skillet Dinner" first appeared on Maggie's LesVegan Kitchen.