ariel's making ... bread and rice pudding

craving dessert peeps! time to make some!

we had some leftover bread that chef sam had made earlier in the week and also some leftover brown rice from dinner. ok -- how about bread AND rice pudding!? random right? let's see how it goes!


you'll need:

stale organic bread
1 to 2 cups cooked organic brown rice
4 organic eggs
2 cups organic milk
3/4 c. organic sugar
2 T. organic cinnamon
1/2 c. organic raisins


layer your sliced bread in a baking pan. fill in gaps with rice. mix in some raisins. beat the eggs, milk, sugar and cinnamon.


pour the mixture on top and let it sit in the fridge for about 1/2 an hour. if there's not liquid on the top when you take it out of the fridge, add a little more milk and eggs mixture. this sitting time will let the stale bread get moist and soak in the egg and milk.


bake at 400* for about 20-30 minutes, or until the eggs are set and it's a golden brown on top.

dessert is served! enjoy!

kisses,

ariel

ariel's making ... banana cream pudding

i totally love banana cream pie, but instead of having to make a crust, i invented a banana cream pudding that's just as decadent and only takes about 15 minutes to make.

you'll need:

1/2 c. organic sugar
2 organic eggs
1 c. organic heavy whipping cream
2 c. organic 2% milk
1/2 a vanilla bean
3 ripe organic bananas
1 t cinnamon
2 t dissolved cornstarch (optional)
extra whipping cream for topping

in a sauce pan, slowly heat the cream, milk, sugar, cinnamon and scrapped vanilla bean. stir constantly and don't let it boil. when it starts to steam, turn it off and go beat your eggs.

to the beaten eggs, slowly add a 1/2 cup of the hot cream mixture. this tempers the eggs so they don't turn into scrambled eggs when you add them to the hot cream. now add the eggs to the large pot of cream (slowly!) and turn the heat back on low for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly and then remove from heat. to make your pudding extra rich and thick, dissolve the cornstarch in water and add to the cream mixture and mix.

whip the remaining cream (i did it by hand ... my evening workout!) and add a bit a of sugar, to taste.

line the bottom of cups with banana slices and top with your pudding! chill for at least two hours in the fridge. serve with a dollop of whipped cream and a dash of cinnamon. yum yum!

happy sunday darlings!

kisses,

ariel