Rainy Day Rice Pudding

The heater broke in my office. It was 53 degrees F in my cubical yesterday morning. No amount of coffee can brave that. Since I'm not savvy enough to figure out how to sync my work e-mail to my personal e-mail (not savvy enough... or can't be bothered? Same difference) I didn't get the "you-should-work-from-home" e-mail my boss sent out that morning. I had a meeting later that day so I stayed.

I should mention that this is my biggest nightmare. Freezing to death. Or one of them. The other ones involve failing a class (despite my graduation), and pant-less-ness. 

It most likely comes from the fact that I am rarely, if ever, completely warm and content. My fingernails have the tendency to turn blue when I'm cold. Looking at them only heightens my awareness of how how the chill IS really in my bones. I've read Into the Wind. Hypothermia is soon to follow.

So this morning, when I got the "you-should-work-from-home" e-mail at 7:00am I did the sensible thing. I stayed in my pajamas all day and worked from home. And just as I was patting myself on the back for not getting distracted around the house, I decided the perfect thing for a rainy day was a hot bowl of rice pudding for a pre-lunch snack. (That turned into a lunch and after-lunch snack too. Even kinda still thinking about it now...)

Trying to stay true to my hours, I wanted to put something on and forget about it until the timer went off. While I love crockpots (don't worry dears, you'll get your Crockpot fix here in later posts) the thought of being home for the entire 6 hours it takes to make something with them is painful. When I use Crockpots it's so I can throw something in at lunch and be pleasantly surprised when I get home that a meal is waiting for me. (It's magic!) Checking on it every hour or so is pure torture. So therefore, I did a variation- I made it in the rice cooker- and made the recipe up myself. 

I've tried making recipes up a few times. Considering I cook gluten-free, dairy-free, fat-free and low sugar I'll let you decide if it sounds like my recipes turn out like Martha's. But this one actually did! Super yummy and creamy and just what I wanted. 

GF DF Low-Fat Rice Pudding in Rice Cooker

2-3 cups COOKED white rice (leftovers)

3 cups Rice Milk

1 cup water

1/2 to 3/4 cups sugar

teaspoon of vanilla

Later add-

1/2 cup tempered egg whites

1/2 teaspoon tapioca starch

Mix up the first 5 ingredients and turn on your rice cooker to the white rice cycle. 

About 20 minutes in, whisk up egg whites with tapioca starch (or any other GF starch). Open the Rice Cooker and spoon out some of the liquid into the egg whites and whisk together. This is called tempering and keeps the eggs from scrambling when you add them to hot liquid. 

Once well incorporated, pour into the cooker, mix throughly and let it finish its cycle. 

Once buzzer goes off, it will have separated a bit. Stir up until fully combined and there you have it!

Yummmmmmmm. Serve hot or chilled with cinnamon and raisins. It will thicken as it cools. 

I burned my mouth. You should probably let it cool more than 15 seconds. 

Mushy food for the win. 

A Fresh Page: A Dirty Keyboard

It always starts with a blank page.

On the web it's more metaphorical. 

It starts with a dirty keyboard too. I can't remember when mine has ever been clean. I tend to eat while I'm on the computer. Even though self help articles (I think they're technically called 'health columns' but lets call a spade a spade here) tell me that I'm not enjoying what I'm eating when I'm not staring at my food. Therefore, I will most likely consume more. The writers of this article did not think that I had to pause, put down my spoon type a sentence or two, thus giving me time to swallow, digest, and appreciate all while creating a unique and beautiful sentence (or finally nailing what I want my Facebook status to be). 

Anyways, I like avocados and bits of them are on my keyboard. 

The first entry should be something like a mission statement. A thesis for a written work that has no end. A clever foreshadowing on what will happen in the following posts- in the future. Some fancy metaphor for what my life will be. 

So this should be a cinch then.  

I'm not out to preach. The idea of standing on a stump has been a sad idea every since I finished "The Giving Tree". That was a hard year. (WHY would someone put his old fat ass on the thing that's given him EVERYTHING and think it's chill?) 

I do know the things I like and I'm out to share them in a language with high letter clicks and deeper space bar thumps. 

I like books. But I also have friends. I love to cook. I like to knit. I love being warm. So there you have it. I generally enjoy the comforts an octogenarian- but with a twist of a young perspective.

Eggnog is better spiked. Use the yarn you would have used for an afghan and knit up a halter. Living with the comforts of the old with the mind of the young- let's hope it does me justice. 

So there's your thesis statement. The things that will be discussed in the upcoming posts, in some form or another. A secret old soul who still likes go get out shake her not yet saggy booty.

So with this dirty keyboard- let's get down to the grit. That reminds me- this nail polish is on its last day. The color of "Uptempo Plum- perhaps this will set the mood for the following posts.