Gluten Free Italian Sausage and Rice Skillet Dinner

My oven has been broken for the past few days!  Yikes!  I'm so dependent on my oven...for baking bread, making snacks, roasting dinners, roasting vegetables.   So, last week when I noticed that it was taking a REALLY LONG time to bake anything, I started to get worried.  When the appliance guy came to look at it he said the bottom coil was broken and he would be back to fix it as soon as the new part came in.  Well, it's Friday, and still no appliance guy, so I'm guessing this means that we'll have another weekend without the oven.

I've had to resort to buying store-bought (gluten) bread for my husband's sandwiches for his work lunch.  GASP! 

Anyway, I've had to get creative in finding new ways to cook, so I decided to try something new and came up with this recipe for an Italian Sausage and Rice Skillet Meal.  I was also trying to use up a few ingredients from my freezer as we are going on vacation in a few weeks, and I didn't want my freezer to have much in it, in case we lost power (always a possibility in FL) while we were away.  Anyway, this is what I came up with, and everyone pretty much loved it!

Gluten Free Italian Sausage and Rice Skillet Dinner

1 ham bone (this is not necessary, I was just trying to use mine up from the freezer.  If you don't have one, skip step 1. in the instructions.)

2 cups of brown rice

5 cups of water

1 large can of diced tomatoes

1 chopped onion

2 cloves of minced garlic

1 tsp basil

1 tsp orgeano

1 tsp salt

1 lb. Italian sausage, cooked and drained

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella  cheese.

1. Combine ham bone and water in a large pot.  Bring water to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 2 hours or until any leftover ham on the bone is falling off.  Remove bone and discard.  

2. Add rest of ingredients except the cheese.  Cover pot and simmer for 45-50 minutes or until rice is done.  Take off heat, add in cheese, and stir until melted.

Enjoy this gluten free Italian Sausage and Rice Skillet Dinner