Life's Short, Eat Dessert First!

Here's a straightforward
dessert the whole family
loves...

Coconut Rice Pudding

1 cup arborio rice
1 can coconut milk
2-3 cups water
2 T. sugar
1/2 cup almond milk (optional)

Place rice in a large saucepan. Add 1 cup coconut milk and 1 cup water. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low. Simmer about 20 minutes, stir, then continue simmering until most of liquid has been absorbed.
Add remaining coconut milk, and as liquid is absorbed, slowly add warm/hot water in approximately 1/2 cup increments, stirring almost constantly. When rice is tender, remove from heat.
Add almond milk or thin with water before serving if pudding has become too thick.
The kids love to top with a little brown sugar or fruit...I like frozen strawberries or ripe banana slices while the pudding is still quite hot. If you want, you can also add fruit during the cooking process if you prefer softer cooked fruit.

I've made a few too many
desserts this week! Finally,
a recipe from Colleen
Patrick-Goudreau's The Joy
of Vegan Baking that I
actually liked, Banana Crumble.
The top was nice and crunchy
and the bananas didn't need
to be overripe.

We ate it with Trader Joe's
vanilla soy ice cream. Their
soy yogurt imitates Double
Rainbow's brand very well.
My favourite flavour is
definitely the Cherry
Chocolate Chip.

But one cannot live on
dessert alone...
Time to roast up whatever
veggies I had on hand in
the fridge. I covered two
baking sheets with onion,
garlic, kohlrabi, broccoli,
potatoes, zucchini & summer
squash, asparagus, & colorful
bell peppers. A little olive oil,
salt, pepper in a 400 degree
oven until tender & browned
and you have a great start
to many meals.

I tossed the veggies with a
can of chick peas, and a
dressing of olive oil, lemon
juice, garlic, salt & pepper.

In the rice cooker I had a
batch of Ina Garten's
Herbed Basmati Rice ready.
The two dishes went
perfectly together. And what
a great way to use a mix of
fresh herbs.

I know some people think
a rice cooker is a single
purpose gadget, but in my
opinion they couldn't be
more wrong. There's a good
reason most asian households
have a rice cooker!

Got leftover rice? I used
a heaping of leftover rice
in this Broccoli Rice
Casserole recipe from the
VegPeople recipe archive.
It traveled well to the park
the following day in a
Thermos too (and of I
forgot to take any photos
of our picnic, oops!).

I love the cheezy broccoli.
This is a quick recipe that
uses a bag of frozen broccoli.
The sauce was a bit salty in
my opinion, which meant my
husband didn't have to add
any to his for once!