Baked Rice Pudding

I know, the picture looks a little funky, but give it a chance.

This is "rice pudding" that my mom has made since we were kids. You bake it up into something that can be cut into bars. She usually added raisins, but I hate raisins. I used to pick them out when I was a kid, haha.

Baked Rice Pudding

1 c. milk
3 cups cooked brown rice
dash of salt
1/2 c. brown sugar, not packed
1 T. vanilla
3 eggs, beaten
cinnamon

Mix it all up, place it into an 8x8 pan, and bake it at 350 for about 45 minutes. It is ready when a toothpick stuck in the middle comes out clean and the pudding is set.

Eat cold or hot.

Udi's Bread

I picked up a loaf of Udi's Whole Grain Bread in the frozen gluten free section of Whole Foods.
I brought it home, made a sandwich, and was amazed.
It was delicious! Not hard, crumbly, or dense. No funky flavors or textures. Doesn't need to be toasted or slathered and confused with toppings to make it edible.

~*Cue fireworks and Celiac angels singing*~

I finally found good gluten free bread! Horray!!

Needless to say, I've happily been on a sandwich kick for the past few days. Oh, Turkey, Ham, Tuna, Club, Grilled Cheese, Egg Salad Sandwiches... I've missed you!!

[I was hungry, :o)]

So yes, Udi's is here to stay. Until I finish the loaf, which is almost gone. Then I'll go get another one!

Zesty Pasta

Another one of those "I need to use stuff up" dinners.

1/2 can of Rotel diced tomatoes and green chiles
a handful of frozen peas
some leftover shredded spinach
a few tablespoons of sour cream
Whatever GF pasta was in the pantry
parsley, basil, and pepper to taste

Heat the tomatoes, peas, spinach, parsley, basil and pepper on the stovetop on low while the noodles cook. When they're ready, top with the "sauce." Mix the sour cream into the tomato mixture just before serving.

It sounds kinda funky, but it was really very delicious. The sour cream brought everything together and cut down a little on the heat without being too heavy. It had a nice spicy kick- if you don't want a kick, then just use regular diced tomatoes.

Quick Red Beans and Rice

First, let me apologize for the picture. My sister has my camera at the after-prom beach house, so I had my brother take a picture with his phone. I just hate to post without a picture so you get some idea of what it will look like. I assure you, it tastes better than it looks.

Disclaimers aside, this is some good shiz.

I had leftover canned red beans and some brown rice so of course the first thing that popped into my head is red beans and rice.

This recipe is more of a guideline.

3/4 can of red beans, not drained
GF andouille sausage, chopped into chunks
1 stalk of celery, chopped
1/4 c. onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 t. parsley
1/2 t. crushed bay leaves
cayenne pepper, salt, pepper to taste
1 t. oil

Heat the oil in a skillet, then cook the celery, onion and garlic for a few minutes to get them soft. Add the rest of the ingredients, and let it heat throughly. Serve over rice.

Quick & easy.

Spring Rolls

I love having asian-cooking-savvy friends... AKA Jen :o)

Today: Spring Rolls. Like the kind you get at restaurants. They're ridiculously easy!

Gather your ingredients:


boiled shrimp
cooked pork marinated in fish sauce (make sure it's gluten free)
rice vermicelli
carrot sticks (boiled so they're not too crunchy)
cucumber sticks
lettuce
rice spring roll wrappers (check, some have gluten)
peanuts or peanut sauce

Step 1:
Dip the spring roll wrappers in warm water. Just get it wet; don't soak it.


Step 2:
Place the wrapper on a plate and add lettuce. Placing the lettuce on first helps you roll it without tearing the rice paper.


Step 3:
Add rice vermicelli


Step 4:
Add all of the other fixins


Step 5:
Start rolling like a burrito, tucking the ends in so stuff doesn't fall out


See? Easy! (Sort of, haha)



Dip in GF fish sauce, GF soy sauce, or your favorite stuff.

Stir fry type of thing

I have decided that I love cooking in my cast iron pan. It heats quickly and evenly, and puts a little of much-needed iron into my food.

Today I made a stir fry of sorts. It was delicious.

I marinated the chicken for 2 days in soy sauce and fresh grated ginger, mostly because I had planned to make it sooner but ended up eating at friends' houses.

It's got all sorts of healthy stuff and tons of flavor.

I highly recommend the fresh ginger. It's actually pretty cheap and a small hunk lasts a while. It makes such a huge difference.

Here's the recipe:

1 chicken breast, marinated in (gluten free) soy sauce and fresh grated ginger, cut up into strips or chunks
1 minced garlic clove
1/4 c. chopped red onion
1 c. shredded carrots
1 handful of fresh green beans (from my garden!!), chopped
1 handful of spinach, shredded
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
1/4 t. crushed red pepper flakes
1 1/2 c. brown rice, cooked

Boil the carrots and green beans in some water for 1-2 minutes while the skillet heats up on high. Add the sesame oil and some extra fresh grated ginger, and cook the chicken. Set it aside on a plate.

Bring the heat down to medium. Add the rice and onions. Add the carrots and green beans, as well as some of the water used to cook them. I used about 1 c. to soften the rice back up. It also acts to deglaze all the good stuff stuck to the pan.

Stir in the garlic and all the seasonings, and add the spinach right before you serve it.
Season with salt as needed.

Makes 2-3 servings.

If you're feeling creative, roll the cold leftovers in spring roll wrappers.

Betty Crocker Chocolate Chip Cookie mix

Let me just start off by saying that the box tells you to mix an egg, a teaspoon of vanilla, and a stick of butter. A whole stick. For a realistic 16 cookies. That's about 1/2 tablespoon of butter in every cookie. With that amount, you can bet that those cookies are going to taste good.

And of course, they do. Really good.

One thing to note: You really have to get in with your hands and shape them into balls to bake them.

A winner in my book.

Crockpot Baked Beans

I love beans. I could happily eat them every day. As a child, one of our favorite videos (on VHS!) to watch was Mickey and the Beanstalk.

In the story Mickey, Donald and Goofy have been living off of beans for a long time, and finally they run out and Mickey goes into town to sell their cow and get some food. When Mickey brings home the magic beans (At 8:45 into the clip linked above), Goofy exclaims, "BEANS?!" "What do you mean, BEANS?!" and Donald freaks out true Donald-style.

And I think of it every time I make beans.

I don't even need BBQ as an excuse to make baked beans. I can make a meal out of beans and cornbread. ... Or really, just beans.

I used this recipe, tweaked a bit.

Baked Beans

2 cups dried navy beans
1/2 pound bacon (omitted because I forgot to buy it, oops!)
1 onion, finely diced (used much less)
3 tablespoons molasses
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar

Soak the beans overnight in water. If you have a removable crockpot um, pot, then soak the beans right in the pot. Drain the water into a bowl and keep it.

Add the other ingredients, stir well, and add enough of the water to cover the beans. Cover the crockpot, set it on high, and cook for 8-10 hours, until the beans are tender. If desired, cook for an hour with the lid off to thicken it up a bit.

Makes 6 servings, or a whole lot of beans for one person, even if that person happens to love beans. I wonder if they freeze well?