Day 13: Rice Pudding

When we were in Georgia, I dreamed about food with some regularity.  In the morning, I'd wake up knowing exactly what we'd eat that day and how I wanted to prepare it. I think I dreamed about rice pudding last night.  My mom used to make it as a special treat for us when we were kids. She made it in the oven, then served it hot, covered with cold milk. Oh, it was so good.  So today, I made rice pudding.

Mine was a little different from mom's.  Hers had eggs, milk and butter.  Today's recipe was quite different.  The only similarity was rice, and that was even a different kind of rice.  So... here it is. 

I started with a tablespoon or so of almond oil and put a cup of arborio rice in to saute, along with about 1/2 cup of apples.  After about 2 minutes (stirring constantly), I added 1 cup of hot (not quite boiling) water and cooked over a low-medium heat until the water was absorbed by the rice.  I repeated that two more times and added another cup of apples.  This is a stirring intensive dish! After three cups of water, I switched to unsweetened almond milk, adding 2 cups, one at a time, stirring constantly. I added a couple of tablespoons of honey, along with some cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger.  It needed a tiny bit more sweet, so I added a teaspoon of candied ginger and some vanilla.  YUM! Cook time was about 30 minutes, stirring the whole time, but it was worth it.  Super sweet, rich and delicious! And, it really tasted just like I remember Mom's tasting.  Go figure.

The rest of the day had some interesting food as well.  Breakfast was a peanut butter and banana sandwich... again.  I love them and they taste so good.  Lunch was an amalgam of the veggies in the fridge left over from last week's farmers market.  It was corn (cut off the cob), spinach, sweet potatoes and northern beans all cooked together in a pan on the stove.  Quite tasty! Dinner was a sunshine squash (looks like a small, bumpy pumpkin) roasted in the oven, then pureed with onion and almond milk, served over kamut (an African wheat that is an awful lot like brown rice, only chewier, if that is possible).  That was pretty amazing, too.  The rice pudding was a late afternoon snack.

When you put it all together, along with the nectarine I had before I started making the rice pudding, it was a pretty healthy food day, with plenty of protein represented.  Tomorrow is another farmers market day; another opportunity to come up with some new and exciting menu options for next week!