Recipe - Vegan Chick'n and Mexican style "Beef" Paella

Keeping in my usual fashion I found a vegan recipe I just had to try, and tweak.  Why "tweak"?  The main reason is adaptation to what resources and ingredients I have close by, at home or my usual supermarket haunt.  This is the main reason the other reason is to suit my tastes and desires - not that they will match your particular tastes however variety, they say, is the spice of life!

To give credit where credit is due, the "untweaked" version of this recipe came from UnusuallyVegan.com and included vegan chorizo, two packages of Gardein Chick'n scallopini and frozen peas. The tweaked version, (which I can say was unbelievably delicious) I substituted Lightlife's Smart Ground Mexican style veggie protein crumbles for the vegan chorizo, one package Gardein Chick'n scallopini, a can of Ro-tel (diced tomatoes and jalapenos) and no peas because I didn't have any! Oh man, let me tell ya, this is one you should try! Let's get to it!

What we need:
1 - package Lightlife Smart Ground Mexican style veggie protein crumbles
1 - package Gardein Chick'n Scallopini
2/3 - diced medium onion
1 - 15 oz. can Ro-tel or can diced tomatos with jalapenos
1 1/2 - cup long grain brown rice (non instant)
3 1/2 - cups veggie broth
2 - tablespoons minced garlic or 2 cloves garlic
Olive oil
salt to taste and to sweat onions

In a large sauce pan heat veggie broth and can of Ro-tel (with juice) to a boil. Add rice and allow to resume to a boil. When it boils turn heat down to simmer and cover. Allow to cook 45-55 minutes. With about 5-10 minutes left before the rice is done, add a little olive oil to a saute pan and heat protein crumbles. In a second saute pan add a little olive oil and cook the Gardien Chick'n 2-3 minutes per side. Move done Chick'n to a cutting board. While Chick'n is cooling in same saute pan add more oil if necessary, onions (salt them to sweat) and garlic. Saute for 3-5 minutes until onions are tender. Add protein crumbles to the onion mixture and cook 2-3 minutes more. When cool to touch cut up Chick'n (dice) in to squares. When liquid is absorbed in rice and rice is tender add the Chick'n and the protein, onion, garlic mixture. **Tip - for extra flavor reserve a small amount of the veggie broth and add to the protein crumble mixture to get all the pan drippings before adding to the rice. For those who love cilantro I added a couple sprigs to mine. If you don't have a palate for cilantro, leave it off!

I knew this was going to be good, but had no idea how good until the first bite! I will make this again and again and next time I will plan ahead and try it with the vegan chorizo instead!
Thanks for visiting the blog! Until next time,
Kel