Sausage and Rice

My creamy sausage and rice is one of those tummy pleasing comfort foods.
It's great year round because the ingredients can always be found and additions can be made to suit your families taste.
This is also a one skillet meal which is always a plus in my book since I dont own a dishwasher.
This is the basic recipe and you can let your culinary imagination run wild once you get the basic down.

Sometimes when I want to make it a little spicy I add a diced jalapeno or simply sprinkle in red pepper flakes.
For a great Cajun dish I simply add Cajun seasoning and a can of rinsed and drained red kidney beans.

If you want to take this in a Spanish direction, simply change up the sausage with Mexican chorizo, just make sure you take that type of sausage out of the casing, and make sure to brown well.If using chorizo you would also have more fat left in the skillet and would need to drain most of it off.Add a can of rinsed and drained black beans and you have a very tasty Spanish Sausage and Rice.

No matter which way you decide to go, just note
I always use white rice for this because of the starch which helps to give this the creamy texture, but if you chose to use brown rice it will also be delicious, just not as creamy.

Jodies Kitchen Creamy Sausage and Rice
1 tablespoon oil
1 package smoked sausage or kielbasa cut into bite sized coin shape 
1 bell pepper chopped (any color works)
1 onion diced
1 garlic clove minced
1 tablespoon butter
1 and 1/2 cup long grain rice (NOT INSTANT)
2 &1/2 to 3 cups chicken stock or broth
Salt and pepper to taste
Heat oil in a large skillet and saute sausage on all sides until slightly brown and fat has started to release.Add bell pepper, onion and garlic. Saute about 3 minutes, stir in butter and let melt, then add rice and mix well.Turn skillet up to medium high heat and add chicken broth, salt and pepper, mix well.Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer, adding more broth as needed and stirring regularity until rice is cooked and reached desired creaminess.Taste to adjust salt and pepper, serve while hot.