It’s been forever and a day that I enjoyed homemade rice pudding. It’s a memory from when I was about 7 years old, my grandmother and I would make both rice pudding and egg custard.

This evening, one of my daughters made dinner. It included rice – of which she made a lot. Way more rice than we needed for dinner. Spur of the minute I decided to make rice pudding with some of the leftover rice.

I search several different recipes and sort of combined what I thought I wanted. I ate mine while it was still hot, so it was still a bit soupy (like in the photo) but ooh was it yummmy! Here’s how I made mine.. remember some recipes are just a guide – and apparently this is one of them. Don’t be afraid to change it up a bit if your ingredients don’t quite fit.

I used:
3 1/2 cups of milk
2 cups of rice plus a spoonful more
1/2 cup of white sugar
1/4 cup of brown sugar
pinch of salt
1 TBS butter
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

I know others like raisins in their rice pudding so if you have some handy, throw some in. I didn’t have any and prefer mine without anyway.

I poured the milk into the pan my daughter had used for the rice along with my semi-measured amount of rice. I turned it on about medium (that’s about 4 on my stove top).

While it was heating I cracked and egg and whisked it up with a fork, added my vanilla.

As the milk and rice was warming up, I measured both sugars and tossed those into the pan along with the pinch of salt. When it came to a slight boil, I turned it down to low/simmer. Stirring often.

I thought I was going to heat everything and then put into the oven on 350 to bake for half and hour, but I was too impatient so I just put in the rest of the ingredients – the egg, vanilla, cinnamon, butter and let cook on the stove about 15-20 minutes. Stirring very often to prevent scalding.

It thickened up a lot as it cooked, but after it cooled was when it really got thicker. I ate a bowl hot and put the rest in the fridge.

There were so many different rice pudding recipes, I’m just adding to the masses. I thought I share anyway since I really didn’t have a specific recipe and just muddled this one together. It is sweet, but I like it sweet.

Summer is hot, and sometimes it’s just hard to eat much. Staying hydrated and taking advantage of some of the fresher fruits is just one way to make your summer enjoyable.

Frozen fruit isn’t just for the blender to make yummmy fruit smoothies. Freezing bite-sized pieces of fresh fruits make for great snacks (and on really hot days, even dinner!) throughout the warm season.

Cut up watermelon, whole seedless grapes, peach chunks, raspberries.. the list goes on… place on a cookie sheet small enough to fit in your freezer – space the fruit so it isn’t touching and then freeze. I like to roll some fruits in sugar, like raspberries. If it sounds good, but you don’t want to use real sugar, you can always try one of the calorie free sweeteners like Pure Via or Splenda – I much prefer real sugar… just can’t get my taste buds to accept the other sweeteners.

I’m headed out to my dads to pick some fresh raspberries for freezer jam and frozen snacks… I just hope I manage to bring some home and don’t eat all those sun-kissed berries off the vine instead.

I’ve kind of been in the mood for some beef stroganoff. Last week I picked up a couple of roasts.. one to make just beef and noodles (appeals to more family members) and one for my own stroganoff dish.

Unfortunately, I was at the end of rope with my crohn’s disease medication and was just so sick. I did manage to cook the roasts and got lots of good roast juice – Em (daughter) finished the beef and noodle for me. I, on the other hand, stayed away from the kitchen for about 4 days…

After starting my new meds on Friday, a couple days later and I was ready to try food again. But the roast still didn’t sound good – thank goodness I got it on sale!

Today I thought I’d try making some stroganoff from a recipe I found on AllRecipes. It wasn’t until I was cooking it, that I decided I’d read the reviews.. egads, I was in trouble… they were very correct. This was bland. But while my noodles (I used macaroni instead of egg noodles) were cooking, I got out some of the beef juice from my roast, added that and some worstershire sauce – huge improvement. But there are some changed I’d make if I were to make it again – I’ll share after the recipe.

For tonights dinner I used:
1 pound ground beef (because I was not feeling well, I didn’t bother draining – high quality meat so it wasn’t so bad)
a few dashes of onion powder (with crohn’s, real onions don’t sit well with me, though I love them)

Once cooked through, I added:
1 tbsp flour – though I questioned myself as to why the recipe called for it… should have left it out.. was sooo thick without
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp salt
and a can of condensed mushroom soup
and about 3/4 cup of sour cream (that makes it stroganoff, so you have to add that!)

Oh.. so thick, I quickly added 1/4 cup of water and removed from heat.

While my noodles (macaroni) were cooking, I added some worstershire sauce (a couple of dashes and then another) and about 3-4 tablespoons of thick beef juice (this was jazzed up while cooking with bouillon cubes).

Drained the noodles, topped with the beef stroganoff and sat down to eat and write it out. Here’s what I would do different next time.

Because I’m not a huge meat eater (more so when it comes to ground beef), I could easily reduce the called for 1 pound to 1/2 a pound (or just do roast as I’d intended – leftover roast would be awesome!).

I’d add some mushrooms to the meat while it was cooking – I would probably have liked to add the shitake I had in the fridge but thought of it too late (darn it!).

I would add 1/4 – 1/2 cup of water with a bouillon cube or maybe just beef broth as soon as the meat was browned.

Since I’m adding more liquid, I’d go ahead and add the flour too.

Serve over noodles of choice. I’d say would be kid friendly except my boys are beyond picky.. though they both said it smelled good.

Here are my Four Foods on Friday #74 answers:

Valmg says she’s going on a diet of pureed foods soon and needs some answers…

1. What’s your favorite flavor of yogurt?
I like lots of different yogurts but here’s my top favorites.
Just plain Vanilla – this is my top fav because it’s so easy to cut up whatever fruit is handy, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, bananas and toss in. I also like granola cereals or grape nuts on it too.
Aside from the vanilla, I’ll take boysenberry, strawberry, cherry, mixed fruits, blackberry. My boys like orange creme.

As for types of yogurt, I usually just eat the regular kind.. but I used to really like the thick custard style.. but I never see it any more. The whipped is ok, too.

2. Got a recipe for a smoothie?
I’m not much of a recipe follower when it comes to smoothies.. but here’s a site with over a hundred different recipes for making smoothies ~ Fruit Smoothie Recipes by RC.

Typically, I’m a throw whatever I have in the blender and mix it up.. usually a handful of ice, a bit of juice and whatever fruits I’m adding. Sometimes the fruits end up being on the tart side, so a bit of sugar will get mixed in too.

I love raspberries but in smoothies you’ll be sucking up a bazillion seeds.. I kid you not.

3. Got a recipe for split pea soup?
Really and truly I only like peas fresh from the garden.. or the crunchy kind (as in, still fresh) in the pod still that you might toss into a salad or oriental dish. Of all the veggies I like, I just can’t do peas any other way. No split pea soup recipes to share.

4. What’s your favorite kind of pudding?
Chocolate would be my favorite. But I like banana pudding with bananas and vanilla wafers. Cheesecake pudding is good (use graham crackers, melted butter and some sugar for a crust if you want a pie). Rice pudding and Tapioca pudding are both yummy too!

I find myself wondering more and more often… where did the time go? This whole year seems to have just flown by, but then, so did last year. I think as much as it is about getting older, it’s about having kids, extended family, work and just an all-around busy lifestyle. Regardless, this year is winding its way down to the end and as every year we go out with a bang of holidays, family time, eating, presents and hopeful many fond memories.

Thanksgiving Day is upon us. Thanksgiving in and of itself is about being thankful, giving thanks for all the goodness in our lives. While our country is on tough times, I hope we all can find something positive and good. But as much as Thanksgiving is about thanks, family, etc… it’s also so much about food!

We are lucky, regardless of the stress of holiday at times, that we have so much family to visit with.. we sometimes have a hard time figuring out how we’ll get around to see everyone.

Cas and I were just talking about food and our favorites for the holidays. At Thanksgiving, we always look forward to certain foods. And even more specific, certain foods from certain places.

For instance, Cas loves Nana’s Corn Casserole and she loves G. Cox’s turkey and potatoes. G. Cox makes some yummy green beans, but she doesn’t make green bean casserole and I love that.. so if Nana doesn’t make it, I will.. and Em loves it too. Tege loves turkey and Ry gobbles up mashed potatoes.

Our turkey day is filled with visits, so I won’t make anything special that day, but likely I will make a little turkey dinner on Friday or Saturday, so we have the goodies to nibble on for the week. Thanksgiving leftovers are yummmy! Turkey sandwiches with mayo and a slice of tomato.