Strawberry-coconut rice pudding

Really I came to the computer to post this recipe.  I just got here and saw the screens I had up searching for the play dough recipe and looked again.
This recipe is from 366 Delicious Ways to cook rice, beans, and grain.  This book is definitely going on my wish list.
Being a person who rather enjoys her rice pudding, I was surprised (actually quite surprised) to find a new way to cook rice pudding.  This one started in a double boiler - who knew you could cook rice that way - not me.  Just a warning - the actual rice never seemed to boil (and I checked on it a few times wondering when it was going to simmer.)  It didn't, just the water underneath, but magically the rice absorbed all of the water and on we went with the recipe.
 After the rice was made, the pudding was made separately and added to the rice, and the strawberries.  Very effective, but also a bit on the time consuming side.  Luckily the longest part is cooking the rice and it only needs to be slightly baby sat to ensure that the bottom of the double boiler doesn't boil dry. (Mine did while I taught piano lessons.  Luckily it didn't scorch.  I think it had barely boiled dry.  Whew!!
And the important info - was it any good??  Great flavor and texture.  A little too sweet for my liking.  As a dessert, it was great tonight, but typically I like to eat rice pudding as breakfast, and this would definitely be too sweet for me for that.  Next time I will probably try this with 1/2 the sugar/sweetener and sub out some agave. -I made myself some notes in the recipe below.)

On to the recipe.
Did I mention this is time consuming?  Start early :)

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup uncooked Arborio rice
• 2 cups water
• 3/4 cup sugar (I used 1 Tablespoon less, and would probably use a lot less next time.
• 1 pint fresh strawberries
• 1 can (14 oz) light coconut milk
• 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 large eggs

Directions

1. In the top of a double boiler, combine the rice, water, and 1/4 cup of the sugar. (Use 1-2 Tablespoons agave here next time??)  Simmer until the rice is completely tender and most of the water has been absorbed.  (About 1 1/2 hours)  Set aside to cool
2. Meanwhile, wash and hull and slice the berries.  Place in a bowl with another 1/4 cup sugar. (Use less next time)  Mix and set aside.
3. When rice is ready (or almost ready) heat coconut milk in a heavy bottomed, medium saucepan over medium-low heat.  Combine remaining 1/4 cup sugar and cornstarch (Here is where I took out 1 Tablespoon of sugar -debated more and should have taken out more -next time.)  Whisk cornstarch/sugar mixture into the coconut milk.  Continue whisking until the sugar is completely dissolved.  In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs until smooth.  Add about 1 cup of the hot coconut milk mixture to the eggs whisking continuously.  Slowly pour the eggs back into the saucepan, again whisking continuously.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens.  (About 10 minutes - it will look bubbly at first, but it gets to looking nice and puddingy (you know smooth, thick and creamy)  That does take just about 10 minutes.  I went back and froth from whisking and using a silicon scraper spoon that I like to stir with.  Whisk kept the pudding smooth, silicon spoon kept it from sticking anywhere (sides or bottom.)
4. Stir cooked rice and strawberries with their juice into the pudding mixture.
5. Set aside to cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until chilled. 

My favorite play dough

As I was labeling my last post about peanut butter playdough, I realized I have no craft type recipes (no category, so no recipes.)  I couldn't believe that since I have made all sorts of stuff from slime to play dough to different types of paint.  I mean I'm an Elementary Ed major with an Early childhood minor and I taught kindergarten for years.  This is my all time favorite play dough recipe.  The jello in it gives it color and smell and the large amount of cream of tartar gives it a great texture and makes it last forever.  This one took me a while to find because I haven't actually made it in years.  Maybe for the next playgroup.  If I find my other favorite playdough I'll post it too.  I used to make it each year at the beginning of the school year as a 1st day of school activity.  I know where the recipe was (in a Mailbox magazine) but I gave those all away when I quit teaching.  :(  

Ingredients

• 0.3 oz package of sugar free fruit flavored gelatin
• 2 cups four
• 1 cup salt
• 4 Tbsp cream of tartar
• 2 cups boiling water
• 2 Tbs. cooking oil

 Directions

1. Mix the dry ingredients in a pan.  Add the boiling water and cooking oil.  Stir over medium-high heat until the mixture forms a ball.  (This usually happens immediately when you add boiling water.)  
2. Place the ball on waxed paper to cool.  Store in an airtight container.  Use different flavors to make different colors and smells.

 I do suggest adding a little food coloring to lighter colored Jello if you want a brighter colored dough.

peanut butter playdough

Yesterday was finally my turn for playgroup at my house.  We have 6 toddlers (2 1/2 to 3 years old) in the group, and we are house #6 so it has been a while before it got to us. Somehow Monday night or Tuesday morning while laying in bed I got the great idea to do peanut butter playdough with them.  However, I didn't manage to get to the finding a recipe and making it part until.... you guessed it Thursday morning.  There sure are a lot of peanut butter playdough recipes out there in case you were wondering.  They have varying quantities of peanut butter, nonfat dry milk, honey, and/or powdered sugar in them.  I chose a recipe that used very little honey and no powdered sugar.  I was actually overall impressed with the flavor.  It was quite tasty.  (To be honest I was afraid of the powdered milk tasting to strong.)  I'd definitely make this again for fun and/or snack.   The kids loved it.  Most didn't play too much with it - just mine.  He played forever, then played with it again in the afternoon.  They all had cute little grins when they tried eating it since they all informed me eating playdough was a no no.  :)

Unfortunately Brandon made this and I think he used equal parts peanut butter and dry milk.  I tried to add lots more (almost another full cup) of peanut butter and a bit more honey, so definitely start with the lesser amount of dry milk so it doesn't get too dry.

Ingredients

• 1 cup peanut butter
• 2/3 -1 cup nonfat dry milk
• 2 Tablespoons honey

Directions

1. Mix all ingredients adding enough powdered milk to make the playdough dry enough to handle but not crumbly.  
2. We just smashed ours flat and cut things out with cookie cutters.  I've added some other ideas below.

Other ideas

1. Add raisins to make a face
2. Stir in chow mein noodles and make a bird's nest.
3. Stir in chocolate chips or cheerios..... (you get the picture)
4. Try a nonfat chocolate milk mix to make chocolate peanut butter mix.
5. I read on comments to this blog that this mix could be cooked. Someone said they made halloween witches fingers with it - even putting a pretzel in the middle for a bone (almond slice for fingernail.)

Strawberry-Banana pancakes

Here is the other recipe I tried out of the 366 delicious ways to cook rice, beans and grains.  I had to make a few more modifications to it because I couldn't find wheat germ at the store the other day and I had greek yogurt, not regular.  They still ended up tasting delicious.  I liked that they were whole grain and contained some fruit.  I also liked that they had corn meal in them.  Gave them a little different flavor/texture from your regular pancake.
This is what I ended up doing this morning.

Sorry for the sad pic.  I don't always think to take a picture of pancakes.
These are day old cold out of the fridge, but you can still see the Strawberry chunks.  Yum!

Ingredients

• 1 cup yellow cornmeal (I use home ground popcorn)
• 1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 3 Tablespoons brown sugar (I'd probably use agave next time - not sure why I didn't change that today -I was in a hurry though.)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup greek yogurt (If using regular, you probably will need less milk)
• 1 1/4 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 Tablespoons oil
• 2 large egg whites
• 1 banana, diced
• 1 cup finely chopped fresh strawberries

Directions

1. Combine cornmeal, flour, wheat germ, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Mix well.
2. Add yogurt, milk and canola oil.  Stir until evenly moistened.  Stir in bananas and strawberries
3. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form.  Gently fold in the remaining batter.
4. Cook on a pre-heated griddle using 1/4 cup batter for each pancake.  

Syrian Rishtah

So I have yet another cookbook checked out of the library.  (OK, so I have 3 or 4 out)  But one in particular I really like.  It is called 366 Delicious ways to cook Rice, Beans, and Grains (unfortunately my Amazon product finder is not working so no cute little picture.)  Anyway, it if full of tons of ideas for cooking grains and beans (imagine that.)  Not a great book if you are looking for something with tons of pretty pictures, but as a resource for new ideas I'm loving it.  Now if I can just find a place around here that sells amaranth I'll have a bunch of new recipes to try.  :)
Last night's dinner and this morning's breakfast both came from this book, and I have tons more with little pieces of paper sticking out to try.  I've already put them in my menu for then next few weeks.  I'll start with last night's dinner.  I chose this because I've had good luck with lentils in the past, and I thought the combination of spices (cumin, allspice, and coriander) sounded interesting.  It turned out really good.  I loved the flavor.  I thought the sauce ended making the noodles a bit grainy, but I used regular green lentils rather than the French lentils called for (couldn't find those)  I think this problem could be solved by 2 things if using the green lentils - 1 cook them a little less time originally, and 2 not adding the cooking water, but fresh water or more stock.  Definitely what I would try next time.  I'd make this again, and actually sent the left overs to school with my 5 year old, so I can't have been that bad if he was willing to eat left overs.  :)
This is how I made it.  (Adapted a bit from the original in the book.)

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup dried French green lentils, rinsed (I used regular, see above)
• 2 1/2 cups water
• 1 Tablespoon butter
• 2 small (or 1 large) onion, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced (I used the dehydrated minces, the fresh garlic I have has been particularly spicy lately and I didn't want the dish ruined by pungent garlic I actually sauteed onion and garlic but it was so strong smelling that I started over and used the minces)
• 1 can (15-16 oz.) petite diced tomatoes (undrained)
• 1 Tablespoon tomato paste
• 1/2 cup chicken stock (could also use vegetable to keep it vegetarian.  I just had chicken in the fridge that was already opened)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional - I left this out because of the kiddos but served them on the side for DH)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 lb fettuccine noodles

Directions

1. In a medium saucepan, combine lentils and water.  Bring to a boil.  REduce heat and simmer, covered until lentils are just tender but still retain their shape (25 min - maybe a bit less next time for regular green lentils -see above)  Set aside but do not drain.
2. In another saucepan, heat butter over medium heat.  Add onions (and garlic if using fresh) saute until onions are golden (about 10 minutes.)  Add garlic minces towards the end of the 10 minutes if using dried.
3. Add the lentils, cooking liquid, tomatoes, tomato paste, stock, cumin, allspice, soriander, red pepper flakes (if using) salt and pepper.   Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes.
4. Cook pasta according to package directions.  Drain and toss with the lentil mixture.  (I made 1 lb of noodles but didn't use all of them.  I used most of them, but not all - didn't want the pasta to be too dry.)

BBQ chicken salad with cilantro lime dressing

This was delicious.  Very reminiscent of Cafe Rio salad but way easier to make -and actually probably healthier since it doesn't have the tortillas or rice.  I found this recipe on recipe shoebox.
(I've actually got this new little app called evernote on my ipad and computers.  It lets me just clip a webpage into it so I can keep track of things.  I'm thinking it is like pintrest but not nearly as time consuming since I'm just seeing my own stuff.  I'm loving it because it actually gets some of the recipes I want to make marked.  It is making menu planning a breeze and letting me try lots of new stuff without losing the webpage it was on.  So loving it.  Anyway, I digress, back to the recipe.)
 Not much to say except this will definitely be making a more regular appearance at our house.  One of the best ways to get my older boys to actually eat salad.  And as an added bonus, they even like it.  Tavio rated this 9/10 stars.  Wahoo!

Ingredients

• 1 package pre-cooked chicken (usually 12-16 oz.)  Can be chopped or shredded.  (I used shredded - made my pre-cooked chicken in the smoker this time around and a couple were so nice I shred them.)
• BBQ sauce - to liking - I used 1/2 cup give or take a bit.  (we like sweet Baby Ray's honey BBQ sauce)
• 2 hearts of romaine - chopped
• 1 can corn, drained
• 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 bag cherry or grape tomatoes
• mozzarella cheese (we used it, but it could totally be optional to me.  Not really high on the bringing flavor to the party list in my opinion.)

Dressing ingredients

• 1 envelope ranch dressing mix
• 1 cup mayo
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 bunch cilantro
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1 clove garlic

Directions

1. Blend all dressing ingredients in a blender until smooth.  Set aside.
2. Combine shredded chicken and BBQ sauce.  
3. To serve, place lettuce, corn, black beans, cheese, BBQ chicken, dressing and tomatoes on a plate.  Enjoy.  

Lemon Lime Jello

Along with the lime chicken I made yet again another jello salad.  I don't know what my facination is with making these.  I guess I feel like I made a dessert which of course my kids love.  They are in no way healthy though - although I have an Idea to try this but in a healthy version - I'm a little worried though.  Anyway, the idea for this came from Deals to Meals.  I thought is was so strange to combine jello and pudding - probably what possessed me to try it - I couldn't even imagine the result.  It turned out ok.  Pretty tangy with these lemon/lime flavors.  I'd love to see a chocolate pudding with strawberry jello.  (That is my goal for a healthy version - we'll see)  Here is how to make this one. -Oh, I was going to go without putting the cool whip on top, but trust me, it needs it.  Kind of takes off the super strong tangy/sweet artificial lemon/lime flavor.  Sorry, I know I'm not making it sound appetizing.  It is my healthy side taking over the typing fingers.  The kids loved it though.  Tavio chose to have 1/2 pudding and 1/2 ice cream for dessert last night, so it really isn't all that bad.  :)

Ingredients

• 1 large box cook n'serve lemon pudding
• 1 large box lime jello (I used 2 small)
• 1 tub cool whip (I only used about 1/2 the tub

Directions

1. Make lemon pudding according to package directions.  Set aside.  Make the lime jello according to package directions, minus 1/2 cup water (I do have to say I did it the quick way using ice for the cold water so it would be cool and start to set.)  
2. Whisk together the jello and pudding.  Pour into a 9 X 13 pan.  
3. Let cool in fridge for 3-4 hours until firm.  When firm top with cool whip.