Sausage and Vegetable Rice

I'm afraid I don't have an accurate recipe for this one. Not because it's something I just threw together, although it was, but because I thought I had written it down when I hadn't. Well, I wouldn't have written it down. Props where they're due, my girlfriend is kind enough to take down all my frantic "oh crap it's going to burn! Quick while I'm stirring/removing from the heat/deglazing/burning myself/panicking write down these ingredients before I forget what I did" recipes. But she wasn't in the kitchen when I made this, so while I still probably recited off everything I was putting in (they say it's only a problem if you start responding to yourself too), she obviously couldn't type it up. So I tried to recreate what I did by what was going on in the pictures. Considering I almost always miss a step or two I'm not going to pretend to assume it's complete. Here's what I think this was:

1 cup brown rice
2 1/4 cups chicken broth (or however much liquid the rice you are using needs)
1 small onion, diced
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 a package of kielbasa
1 cup frozen baby carrots
1/2 cup frozen corn
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup frozen mixed sliced peppers
1 light tsp dried basil
1 light tsp dried oregano
salt and pepper

Cut the kielbasa into half moons and brown it in a medium sauce pot. Once it's browned remove it and add the onion. Brown the onion. When that's browned add the garlic. Saute for 30-60 seconds. Pour in the broth, then the rice and add the basil, oregano and salt and pepper to taste. Add the sausage back in, cover and cook til almost done. Add the frozen vegetables. Stir it around, cover it and let it simmer till the rice has absorbed all the liquid.

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I often make meals out of rice and whatever we happen to have around. Chunks of chicken, any frozen vegetables, sausage, leftover steak tips or pork chops, some kind of veggie side dish that needs to be finished before it gets foul, whatever is around. I sometimes just make boxed rice pilaf and stir in whatever I have for the last five minutes or so, but sometimes I whip out the brown rice and make stuff like this. It's never the same twice, which is really a double edged sword. On the one hand, that means it's always at least sort of new. On the other hand if it was really good the chances of me recreating it are slim to none. I use all kinds of seasonings, from Italian to teriyaki, but mostly whatever I happen to grab first. Anyway, here is what I think I did this time.

First, browned up the kielbasa. Then the onions, followed by the garlic. Saute the garlic for just a couple moments, you don't want to burn it.You know, a lot of my recipes start out just like this. I should just begin recipes with "Prepare preliminary three step browning procedure! Engage!". It wouldn't really be quite right without some kind of button or lever though. Ah well. Time to deglaze. This would be two and a quarter cups of chicken broth. I think. It might be vegetable broth. Now the herbs. I'm pretty sure one is basil and one is oregano. But again, I'm not really positive. I don't have a picture of me doing it, but it's safe to assume I added some salt and pepper. Then the kielbasa goes back in, followed by the rice, a lid goes on and it cooks till it's almost done. Then in go the veggies. Frozen ones, because that's what I have most of the time. That got stirred around then recovered and left at a simmer till the rice had absorbed all the liquid. And that's it. Rice and stuff. This doesn't make light, fluffy rice just so you know. More like risotto or jambalaya, very saturated and rich. This is really more a concept than a recipe, make it with whatever you want or need to use up. Any vegetable is good, really, as is any meat. You could mix in some cheese at the end or sprinkle some over the top after serving. Good stuff on a cold day and it reheats really well.