Slow Cooker Rice Pudding

1. In a slow cooker whisk together the sweetened condensed milk and whole milk. Stir in the rice.
2. Cook, covered, until the rice is tender and the mixture has slightly thickened, 2 to 3 hours on high.
3. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and raisins.

Optional: add peaches, strawberries, or chocolate syrup. Enjoy!

fresh squeezed limeade

        

• Ingredients 
• 1 1/2 cup lime juice (about 6 Persian limes)
• 3/4 cup  granulated sugar
• 3 cups water
• Several sprigs of fresh mint

Juice all your limes. This is a little time consuming. 

In a small saucepan bring 1 cup of the water to a boil, slowly add the sugar. 

Once the sugar is dissolved, remove from heat and let cool. 

Mix the sugar water, the rest of your water, and the lime juice together. 

Taste it for the sweet/sour balance. If it's too sweet, add a little more water.

Serve chilled with mint leaves. 

Enjoy! 

iced raspberry green tea

this last weekend was hot. as a matter of fact, it was a record breaking heat in Utah. any piece of clothing that touched my body was immediately taken off.  apologize to any of my neighbors who saw me strutting around my house in my underwear. I am normally a lover of the high temperatures, but this weekend was too much.  it could be because it went from cold, to extremely hot over night, and my poor body could not regulate the hotness. the one thing i do know is that you have to stay hydrated. so my big glass of cold iced raspberry green tea never left my side. i think we have gone through about 4 pitchers in a matter of two days. so i am here to share with all of you this simple drink recipe that just might save you from the heat.
Grab yourself a fun 36 ounce pitcher. A summer time color always makes for a good pick.
4 green tea bags
2 raspberry green tea bags
honey
boiled water

boil the water, mix in the honey (I normally use a tablespoon, but if you want your tea sweeter you can always add more), add in the tea bags.

let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.
grab a large glass, fill with ice, pour the tea and enjoy!

you can experiment with all different tea flavors. Some of my favorites have been mango, blueberry, and raspberry. get creative, enjoy your iced tea, and have a lovely summer.

the old fashioned kind

Ingredients

1 cup sugar 

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoons nutmeg

2 eggs

1/4 cup melted butter ( i used smart balance, but eliminated the salt that the recipe calls for). 

1 cup milk

4 cups flour ( i used whole wheat flour and it worked great).

oil for frying

Step one

In a large bowl mix the sugar, baking powder, salt and nutmeg.

Step two

Add eggs, milk and melted butter. Beat well.

Step three

Add 3 cups of the flour, beating until blended. Add one more cup of flour and beat well. The dough should be soft and sticky but firm enough to handle.

Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least one hour.


Step four

2 hours later 

Remove your dough from the fridge and begin heating the oil to 360F in a large metal skillet.

Working with half the dough at a time, roll it out on a floured surface to about 1/2" thickness. Cut out circles using a doughnut cutter (I used the top of a glass).

Step five

Gently drop the doughnuts in the hot oil. Flip them over as they puff and turn then a couple more times as they cook. They will take about 2-3 minutes in total and will be lovely and golden brown. 

Step six

Remove from oil and set them on paper towels or a brown bag.

Step seven 

enjoy them. 


P.S  I was intimidated to make doughnuts. the dough, the frying... too much. I had put it off for sometime. But to my surprise, these were super easy and took very time. plus, they were delicious. it helped with my dunkin doughnut craving. 

Pumpkin Monkey Bread

Ingredients:

3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

2 Tbsp melted butter

1/2 cup warm milk

1/4 cup warm water

2/3 cup pumpkin puree 

1/4 cup sugar

2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast

Coating/Layering:

1 cup sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

1 stick butter, melted

1 block cream cheese (not softened)

12oz pecan pieces

Whisk together the flour, salt, and pumpkin pie spice.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, water, pumpkin, melted butter, sugar, and yeast. 

Add wet ingredient to the dry and mix together

Once both wet and dry ingredients are thoroughly mixed, it’s time to knead the dough. You can either turn the dough onto floured surface and knead by hand until elastic (about 8-10 minutes) or using a kneading attachment for your mixer. You’ll likely have to add flour a little at a time during the kneading process in order to get the elastic consistency that is the mark of good bread dough.

Once the dough is elastic, transfer to a bowl sprayed with cooking spray. Flip the dough over so that the top is coated and won’t dry out. Cover with a towel and allow to rise until double in size or about an hour.

While the dough is rising you can go ahead and do a little prep work for the assembly process. Cut a block of refrigerated cream cheese into tiny cubes. You’ll need to get 20-30 cubes out of one block so slice small. You can also mix together the cinnamon and sugar for rolling the dough balls and if you feel really ambitious you can melt a stick of butter.

Once the dough has doubled in size, it’s ready to be divided into small balls. 

Pinch dough into balls that are 1 1/2 – 2 inches in diameter and tuck a cube of cream cheese inside. Dip each ball in the melted butter then roll in sugar/cinnamon mixture.

Place one layer balls in a Bundt pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Sprinkle pecans on top then add another layers of balls. Repeat dough ball/pecan layers until Bundt pan is a little over half full.  A tighter packed pan makes cake-like, sliceable monkey bread whereas a lightly packed  pan (ie just laying the balls in the pan) makes for pull-apart monkey bread.

After layering is complete, sprinkle any leftover butter and cinnamon/sugar mixture on top, cover, and allow to rise again for about an hour. Once the dough has risen for the second time, bake for 30-35 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

After baking, let the monkey bread cool in the pan for about 10 minutes (no longer or it will get stuck!) then flip onto a serving platter. 

Enjoy this yummy treat. It is really good for breakfast! 

Original recipe found here.

Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients

• 3 cups sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs, lightly bean
• 16 ounces canned unsweetened pumpkin
• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon allspice
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon cloves
• 2/3 cup water

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour 2 9x5 loaf pans. Stir together sugar and oil. Stir in eggs and pumpkin. Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Blend dry ingredients and water into wet mixture, alternating. Divide batter between two loaf pans. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. 

Baking Tip: The bread bakes more evenly if it's baked in a glass bread pan. Get creative with ingredients... Add chocolate chips or nuts to add a little texture and yumminess. 

This recipe made me an awesome housewife. See, recently the amount of cooking and baking has decreased due to our living circumstances.  Husband loves baked bread and used to always ask or beg for me to bake pumpkin or banana bread. The other day I exceeded his expectations and baked scrumptious pumpkin bread.  My mom and I got together (because we can do that now that I don't live across the country)  and decided that a fall cooking/baking party was in order. And whala... that is how pumpkin bread in the Brooks home came to be! 

Almond Blueberry Macaroons

One thing that I have been fiddling around with is vegetarian and raw food recipes. Bear actually picked up an amazing cookbook, The Vegetarian Gourmet’s, which is filled with easy international recipes. We have tried a handful of them and they all have been delicious. I am also intrigued with learning more about raw food recipes. Although I could never go 100% raw, I like my warm foods too much, I would like to include more raw foods in our diet. When I started researching recipes online, I found so many tasty looking snacks and desserts that were all raw. So I am here, sharing one with you.

Bear love almonds but I must admit, I am not a huge fan of them. I will occasionally have a handful just to be healthy! So when I was researching a recipe, I wanted to make something that incorporated almonds but was also a good snack. I came across these macaroons and twisted the recipe just a little bit.  Because these are raw you don’t cook them. However, if you wanted to be a rule breaker, they would be scrumptious baked at 350’ for about 15 minutes, and then (I have not done this but in my mind it sounds wonderful, and I will be doing it next time I make these) drizzle a little bit of honey on top. These make good grab and go snacks or are yummy as a dessert.

Almond Blueberry Macaroons

■2 C Dried Coconut (Unsweetened)

■1/2 C Almonds, processed into a coarse meal (I used a little more than 1/2c.)

 ■1/2 C Dried Blueberries, chopped (you can use any type of dried fruit. The original recipe called for dried cherries)

 ■1/2 C Agave

 ■1/4 C Coconut Oil (cold pressed virgin)

 ■1 t. Almond OR Vanilla Extract*

Place almonds in food processor and process until a coarse meal texture is achieved. Add coconut, dried berries, coconut oil agave and extract*. Process until mixture starts to hold together. I use a tablespoon to scoop the mixture out and press into a ball. Place on dehydrator sheets (or wax paper) and dehydrate until desired consistency is achieved. 8 – 10 hours. 

 Makes approximately 2 dozen.

Strawberry Torte

A couple weeks ago we had a progressive dinner with some of our neighbors. We made the appetizers and dessert and they made the main dish. It was fun going from house to house. We even ended up sitting outside having a fire in our fire pit. 

Anyhow, the dessert was tastier than ever, and I wanted to share with all of you the recipe. You can Find it here. I promise you, you will eat the whole thing by yourself in one sitting. It is that good. Enjoy! 

some baking on a rainy day

we have been stuck inside all day because of the non-stop rain we have been having. i decided to bake some dog treats and have been using them for a bribe to get shento to go outside...it is only kinda working.  They were super easy to make, they are dog healthy, and they seem to be delicious because shento can't get enough of them. so i thought i would share the recipe.. enjoy

Peanut Butter Dog Treats (bribes)

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour 

1 1/2 cups white flour 

1/2 cup peanut butter (all-natural or organic) 

1 cup water 

2 tablespoons oil 

1 tablespoon of honey

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Combine oil, peanut butter, honey and water. 

Add flour, one cup at a time, forming a dough. 

Knead dough into firm ball and roll the dough 1/4 inch thickness. 

Get your favorite cookie cutters out and go to town 

Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. 

Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes. 

Makes 2 dozen cookies.

Homemade Hot Chocolate

I started making this Hot Chocolate recipe at the start of this winter season

and it has now become a staple in our household. 

I make it in big batches and keep the mix in a canning jar so is ready whenever we are. 

If you are feeling creative you can always add more cinnamon or a candy cane to the Hot Chocolate. 

and Don't forget the whip cream on top. 

This recipe make roughly 5 1/2 cups

3 1/2 cups of sugar or splenda 

2 1/4 cups cocoa powder 

1 tablespoon table salt 

a pinch of nutmeg 

a pinch cinnamon

Whole Milk for serving

In a large bowl, combine sugar, cocoa, and salt. Whisk well. Store the mixture in an airtight container. 

For individual servings, pour 1 cup milk into a mug and microwave on high just until hot. I add about 2 tablespoons of the cocoa mix, and whisk or stir to dissolve (You can add more or less of the cocoa mix, depending on how you like your hot chocolate). 

The picture was taken from here.