Pumpkin rice pudding.

My friend shared this recipe with me the other day, and it looked so good, I decided to try it out today. It's a really simple recipe, and you don't need a lot of crazy ingredients in order to make it.

Pumpkin Rice Pudding
Adapted from notwithoutsalt.com

1 cup brown rice
2 1/4 c water
3 cups milk (I used 1 cup of rice milk and 2 cups of almond milk)
1/2 teaspoon salt – vanilla salt is wonderful here
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine the rice and water. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer covered for 20 minutes.
Add the milk, brown sugar, salt and spices to the rice. Bring back to a boil then turn the heat to low and simmer uncovered for 20 minutes. Add pumpkin and vanilla. Cook on low for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and let sit 15 for minutes. Serve warm with lightly whipped cream.
Can also be served cold for breakfast.

I felt like it needed more spices, but it tasted lovely anyway :) I can't wait to try it after it's been in the refrigerator for a few hours.


Xoxo,
         <3 ichelle

Christmas two-thousand eleven

Fog.

Tradition.

Peaceful.

Owl City.

Cookie.

Bracelet. My friend made this for me.

Picture. From my sister.

Necklace. My friend made this!

Flower. My friend crocheted this for me to wear in my hair :)

Garlic. For the mashed potatoes.

Necklace. My sister made this for me. Isn't it beautiful?

Gift.

Earrings. Given to me by my sister's sister-in-law, Keiki (Psst! She has a Facebook page where you can buy other treasures like this!)

Festive.

Necklace. We did a White Elephant gift exchange with my sister and her husband's family, and I got this necklace which is also from SO Keiki Jewelry.

Book. My sister gave to me.

Doughnut cutter. My sister gave to me.

That pretty much sums up my Christmas. I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas!

~  <3 ichelle

Christmas Baking and cooking...

  Last year, on the 1st of December, I went to my friend's house to bake and go sledding. This year my that same friend's sister and I decided to do this again this year. We tried for the 1st, but that didn't happen, so we ended up setting the date for the 5th.
  We made pesto swirl bread, pesto chicken pasta, and salad for dinner...
 

       

One day I felt like making an apple tart... So I did.

 

18 CANDLES..................

November 19th was my 18th birthday. At first I wasn't going to have a birthday party, but at the last minute (two days before to be exact), I decided to have one.

  The day before my birthday I made one layer of my cake. All went really well except for the fact that our water had stopped working the day before...so I had no way to wash dishes. Then it came to me as I was looking out the window at the snow piled up outside...So, I went out  and scooped some snow into a big bowl, then hurried back into the warm house. One of the girls we were babysitting and I did this a few more times, melted the snow on the stove, and I washed dishes with the water...I felt very hard core ;)

November Birthday's cake

A few weeks ago I went with my mom  to babysit for a friend. When we arrived, the oldest girl, P------, suggested that I help her make a cake. She had already picked out the Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake to make, so we set out to make it. After a few slight mishaps, the cake made it into the oven, baked nicely, and made it out of the oven safely.

AUTUMN leaves

There is just something about this time of year that makes me  smile. Something about sweaters, scarves, tights, and boots that makes me feel like everyday is special.

Cookies and Cream Cake

I have been wanting to make this cake ever since I got my cookbook (Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World). In the book, the cupcakes are made with the chocolate cupcake recipe, not the vanilla one. I didn't have cocoa powder, but I did have some Newman's O's....

Coconut Lime Cupcakes

Here I am again! I don't really have anything to say, but I thought I would post some pictures of these Coconut Lime Cupcakes that I made sometime in September. The recipe is from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. For the frosting, again I used regular butter since I did not have Earth Balance. They were SO good, not to mention just plain cute!

Summer's slipping away...

You might be wondering by now if I have fallen off the face of the earth. Well, rest assured, I have not. My mom's computer has been broken for who knows how long, so I have had to be content with the not-so-regular library trips to use the internet. It is on one of the aforesaid trips that I now write this post.
   Here are some baking and cooking that I have been up to since I last wrote...

Last week

My SD card with the pictures from my graduation party are is still not working... Let me rephrase that. I haven't done anything about my SD card not working yet... It's a long story, but I'll probably end up formatting the card and then using a recovery program. I'm just scared to format the card... But, I'm going to talk to someone I know and ask if he thinks that's a good idea, or if he has any other ideas.

In the mean time, I have been looking for any opportunity for things to take pictures of, so I can blog about something.  I've gotten quite a conglomeration of pictures, but our computer is broken due to a virus, so I had to wait to use my brother-in-law and sister's computer.

I also just like taking pictures :)

 Lemon Lavender Cookies
 

1 ¼ cups whole wheat pastry flour
¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons dried lavender, finely minced
¼ cup safflower oil
¼ cup sugar (I think that's how much I used. I can't remember exactly)
1 tablespoon lemon zest 

2-4 tablespoons of water (to make the dough more moist)

1. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl
2. Stir together wet ingredients in a smaller bowl
3. Mix wet ingredients into dry
4. Form ½ inch balls and press onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet
5. Bake at 350° for 7-10 minutes
6. Cool and serve

Makes about a dozen cookies

 

Adapted from Elana's Pantry.

                                       ~ <3 ichelle ~

It's June :)

 I haven't posted for much too long, but I've been super busy of late. . .  Hopefully I still remember how to write a blog post.
  Wow, June 2nd already! I remember when it was January and I thought the end of the school year would never come. But sure enough, it's almost here.

 

Good bye, May.

   At the moment I am trying to find an egg-less, low-ish-fat chocolate chip cookie dough recipe because I am going to (attempt) to make these for my graduation party on Sunday. I don't want to be stressed out by having too many things on my plate, but I think I can make them without stressing out. We'll see. . .
  I am pretty excited about my graduation party. I like planning, crafting, and picking out all the details :)  I'm just praying and trying not to stress out about things. Hopefully all goes well! :)

  Since I haven't posted anything in a bit, here's a bit of what I've been up to. . .

 

I made these veggie wraps for Mother's Day. 

 

 

 

 

 Some popovers I made. I made them in muffin tins because I don't have a popover tin. I've never made them before, and I'm not even sure that I had had them before. They were really good! I used the recipe from The Joy of Cooking cookbook.

 Then I made some huckleberry muffins using this recipe, but substituting the apples for huckleberries and adding less sugar (I used about 1 1/2 cups?). They were super good but, they sunk in the middle. Someone told me that is a sign of too much sugar? I think? I can't remember exactly. They also could have used even less sugar. I want to try making them again and see if I can make them turn out right.

 

And that's about it as far as cooking and baking goes.

I'll try to post again very soon! 

                                                                          <3 ichelle