Quick, Easy, and Satisfying Dinner Tonight

Sophia, my ballerina, has dance class on Wednesday nights. I don't have the time to get into a big recipe on dance nights. In general, most of my bigger recipes happen earlier in the week. I spend the weekend deciding on a recipe, figuring out what I need for it, and do a big shopping trip if needed. By Wednesday or Thursday I try to do as much with leftovers as possible. I may have to cook one or two things to pair with leftovers, but I usually don't do a whole lot of cooking later in the week. Id rather eat what I have than trash it.

Tonight I did not use leftovers; I just threw together a quick meal that I found very satisfying!
I started by cooking brown rice by using my vegetable broth. I may never go back to using water to cook the rice. Then I cooked up some sausage that is meant for making sandwiches on a grill. I do not own a grill. Not yet! I cut the sausage up into bite sized pieces and threw it on a grill pan while the rice was simmering. I wanted to add some flavor. My first idea was to throw a can of diced tomatoes onto the grill pan once the sausage was almost fully cooked. Even though I usually have diced tomatoes in my cabinet, I was disappointed that I was all out. I did, however have a small 5 oz can of tomato juice. Once the sausage was just about done, I poured the juice over the sausage mixed it up. Most of the juice burnt off in the pan, but it did coat the sausage nicely and give it some good flavor. Surprised myself with that one. Finally, I made a bag of frozen mixed vegetables mixed with a can of creamed corn. I learned this trick from an ex-boyfriend's mom. It creates a nice light sauce for your veggies.

I was able to cook this meal in just over 30 minutes. And to think I used to get McDonald's every week when Soph had dance...