hasta manana

Updated 4/16 to include pictures of the food! Also, Tim did well & we looked at new apartments today! I'm very happy. :)

I can't wait for tomorrow. I've been waiting for tomorrow for weeks...months even! Tomorrow is the day I find out for sure if I will be getting out of this god-forsaken place...the day I can finally relax and spend time with my not-driving-me-crazy-anymore Tim...the day he can relax & stop being the most ungodly frustrating human being on the face of this earth (exaggerate much, Sarah? sorry babe! i love you even when you're stressed out of your gourd)...the day when I can start making plans. At least, we hope.

In the meantime (as I haven't spent much time with tv, music, sleep or fun...I gather those are all rather distracting), this weekend has been a whirlwind in the kitchen. In fact, I'm rather unsure that I've spent any time NOT in the kitchen. As I write, I'm sitting beside a pizzelle maker, occasionally pausing to remove pizzelles & drop more batter onto the iron. Not only have I spent the last oh, I don't know, 12 hours making cookies (for Tim to bring to his presentation tomorrow), but I've also managed to squeeze in:

Coconut macaroon pancakes









(for which I didn't have coconut milk, so I sub'd skim milk & didn't have eggs, so I sub'd egg whites...still delicious!)

Failed Kozy Shack rice pudding experiment
(which was FAR too sweet, and I couldn't get over the flour as a thickener (ok, partly my fault since I didn't have any all-purpose flour, used white whole wheat...ewwy uncooked) with the weird texture the flour provided...still haven't eaten much of it. I occasionally take it out of the fridge & taste it, but then I kind of shudder & put it back.)

More white chocolate biscotti
(a new recipe, very much the texture like you'd get at a real coffee shop, which was cool. So good dipped in coffee. Mine personally didn't have much flavor, but I think that's because the white chocolate chips obviously didn't survive very well in all that heat. I made a bunch of changes to this recipe, so hopefully I'll update this with my recipe, but I appear to have lost the paper right now...)

Buckwheat galettes
(using entirely buckwheat flour...I didn't have any all-purpose. Also using 2% milk. I ran into some lumps in the batter...if anyone has any advice on how not to get those? Other than that, delicious & easy! I love crepes, but have never been to France, so I've only ever had them in the States & Montreal...& at home! We ate them with eggs & cheese, as well as with strawberries & whipped cream.)

Lucky muffins
(I tried incorporating some of the actual cereal into the cupcake...what's the use in getting rid of the yummy part of the cereal...it's the rest of the cereal that's hard to use up! It was mildly successful. I wasn't wild about them but Tim liked them, and we finally got rid of that box of Lucky Charms that's been sitting in the cupboard for months.)

Successful & delicious rice pudding
(In two parts: I wanted to try a recipe starting with cooked rice, but didn't actually have any cooked rice, so I "cooked rice" by simmering 2 cups skim milk & 1 cup basmati rice in a covered pot until the milk was absorbed. Then I halved the rice, made attempt #1 with the first 1/2, and put the other half in the fridge overnight. The next day, I took the other 1/2 out of the fridge, put the cold (2 cups) cooked rice in a pot with 3 cups 2% milk, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1/2 cup sugar & 1 tsp cinnamon. I let it simmer for about an hour, stirring frequently, until most of the milk was absorbed. Then into the fridge it went again, and it's still creamy & thick & lovely! And not flour-y at all, thank goodness. I roughly followed this recipe, once I had cooked the rice.)

I also attempted scalloped potatoes, but those didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped. Tim liked 'em, but I wasn't satisfied.

As for the cookies, I made:

Chocolate Chunk & Cherry Oatmeal Cookies
(I'd been dying to try these. I halved the recipe, & used 1/2 light brown sugar & 1/2 dark brown sugar. I also used 1/4 cup white whole wheat flour & 1/2 cup all-purpose flour (in the halved version). Before adding the cherries & chocolate I split the batter, adding the cherries & chocolate to 1/2 the batter, and just adding raisins, 1/4 tsp cloves & 1/4 tsp nutmeg to the other half (oatmeal raisin cookies). Both halves were delicious. Great texture & the chocolate cherry ones had great flavor. Actually, I've decided to keep those ones...they're too good to share with Tim's department. :)



Patricia's Chocolate Sugar Cookies
(Didn't change a thing! These are really delicious. Mine looked darker than the ones in her pictures, but that might have been my camera or I added slightly more cocoa or something weird. Mmmm...I'm not usually big on sugar cookies, but add some chocolate in there & I'll be pushing my way to the front of the line!)



Chocolate Chip Cookies
(These I wasn't totally satisfied with, but I blame that on the fact that I left out the peanut butter...I know, I'm crazy...that's the best part...but this time I just wanted a basic chocolate chip cookie recipe, so I used 1/3 cup sugar, 1/2 tsp vanilla, 1 egg yolk & 1/2 cup flour instead. Everything else I kept the same (except...uh...clears throat...I used leftover "Santa" Reeses' peanut butter cups...don't yell! I know, we never eat candy! We had so much Christmas candy! I promise, it was still edible!) and I liked the texture of these a lot better.)

And that brings me back to pizzelles. I added some chopped hazelnuts to this batch...yum!

I'm hoping to add some pictures soon...right now it's dark & late so I'm not going to photograph yet. Wish Tim luck tomorrow! Here's hoping that my baking will soften them up a bit. :) Can't ask too many tough questions when eating delicious treats, right?

Rice Puddin'

I must admit, I used to love the smell of rice pudding only for its cinnamon sprinkled on top. Once I tasted it, I had an entirely different feeling about it. How could something that smelled so wonderful taste so awful?

Over time, though, I grew to LOVE rice pudding. I go through phases where I will eat an entire container in 2 days. Once I decided to try making my own, I started with the basics. And that's where I've stayed. :)

This version is super simple, but time consuming. It basically involves letting rice, milk & sugar simmer on the stove for over an hour. I never exactly time how long it takes (one of my worst tendencies when it comes to cooking), rather I watch it until the milk is mostly soaked up. It will thicken a little more once you take if off the heat, but you should get it close to the consistency you desire before you remove it from the stove.

I would love to hear if anyone has any variations. Most of the recipes I see just vary in amount of each of the ingredients. Oh, I've forgotten to mention the biggest secret to my rice pudding...skim milk.

I know, I know, skim milk does not a rice pudding make. But it's all I ever have in the house, and honestly it thickens up pretty well. And it's a guilt-free dessert! So if you'd prefer a dessert that actually tastes good (just kidding!) feel free to use whatever milk you'd prefer.

Rice Pudding

1 3/4 cups skim milk
1/4 cup uncooked long grain rice
1 tbsp sugar (more if you like it really sweet)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Pour milk, rice, sugar, and vanilla into a saucepan on the stove. Mix together & begin heating on medium until the sides of the pot begin to bubble. Just before the mixture is going to boil, turn the heat down to low or medium-low (whatever keeps the pot at a low simmer) and keep an eye on the pot for the next hour, stirring occasionally.

Add cinnamon either a few minutes before you take the mixture off the heat, or sprinkle it on top to serve.

Serves 2 (or just one if you're me!)


I actually accidentally ate most of this hot off the stove. Many people eat it warm, and it does taste good this way. I prefer it cold, but I find that I can rarely wait that long. You really just need to be patient & keep an eye on the pot. Oh, I will mention though that at some point during the process I walked away from the stove for a while & came back to a nice thick skin on the top of the milk...so I skimmed it off, threw it out, and continued cooking. I know, gross, but just remember, little mistakes often don't have that much of an impact.

Hope you enjoy!

Coconut Chocolate Pudding

Tim had something or other to do the other night, so after finally straightening up the house now that we've been back from Jersey for a week, I decided to make some pudding that I've been threatening to make forever. We also had some mini graham cracker crumb pie crusts that we had bought so we could find something to put in them, so I figured this would be perfect.

The pudding turned out AMAZING. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to pull it off, but it was relatively easy. I had to go out and buy special cocoa for this project, as it calls for dutched cocoa, or cocoa processed with alkali. The grocery store didn't carry it here, but it might be in grocery stores elsewhere. Just check the ingredients to make sure it states: cocoa processed with alkali.

This website shows the original recipe & instructions:

http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/coconut-chocolate-pudding-recipe.html

I didn't modify this much at all, except I didn't have lite coconut milk so I used regular. Probably tasted better (richer) that way anyway! I also didn't use curry powder, but used a mix of ingredients suggested by one of the reviewers

Coconut Chocolate Pudding Recipe

1 14-ounce can of coconut milk, divided
3 tbsp sugar
scant 1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup cornstarch, sifted
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp chili powder
3 tablespoons alkalized dutch-cocoa powder, sifted
3.5-ounce Ghiradellhi bittersweet chocolate chips (or any dark chocolate)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup coconut flakes, toasted in a dry skillet

Shake the can of coconut milk vigorously for a few seconds. In a heavy saucepan bring 1 1/4 cups of the coconut milk, sugar, and the salt (just) to a simmer over low heat.

While that is heating, in a separate bowl whisk together the remaining coconut milk, cornstarch, spices, and cocoa powder. It should look like a chocolate frosting.

When the coconut milk and sugar mixture has started simmering take about 1/4 cup of it and whisk it little by little into the cornstarch mixture, creating a slurry. Turn down the heat to the very lowest setting. Now drizzle the cornstarch slurry mixture into the simmering pan of coconut milk whisking vigorously all the while. Keep whisking until the pudding comes back up barely to a simmer and thickens up a bit, about a minute.

Remove the saucepan from heat, continue whisking while it is cooling for about a minute. Now whisk in the chocolate and vanilla. Keep stirring until the pudding is smooth. Place in a refrigerator to chill thoroughly. To prevent a skin from forming press plastic up against the surface of the pudding. Serve dusted with the coconut flakes.

Serves six.

This was really rich, almost like a heavy mousse (or maybe not like mousse, I don't know that I've actually ever had mousse). It wasn't anything like pudding that I've had before, but it was good! Send me a comment if you have any questions & I'll be glad to try to answer them!