Rice Custard

My bronchial infection has settled into pneumonia so this is probably going to be my last post for at least 10 days…when I finish the meds.  I’m on 2 antibiotics…super strong steroids…cough pills…2 inhalers and pain meds.  I won’t have many blog worthy eats til I get some energy…and my taste back.  I’m sharing this not for sympathy but so that y’all will know why the blog is going to be quiet for a week or so.  I”ll try to keep up with any email but I will probably be slow with that too.

Before I got worse I made this rice dish I wanted to share and had already set it to post today.    Recipe is at the end of post.  

One thing I still miss a lot is Cream of Wheat.  Ever since I was little…when I’d get sick or even just super cold…Cream of Wheat was always my go-to.  I’ve been trying to find Cream of Rice with no luck.  Sister Lupiac has even been looking for it in her much larger town.  I’ve had this horrid bronchial infection and wanted something warm so I thought I’d try some Rice pudding…or in this case custard. It was good enough to share…but not good enough to compete with Cream of Wheat. 😦

There’s an extra egg in the pic.  You only need 2.

Cooked rice.  Cooked custard.  Extracts and spice.  All ready to be combined.

Dumb camera making things look off color.

Yum. 🙂

Yes… I garnished food I ate out of a measuring cup. There was a smidge of cream left in the measuring cup so I used it as a bowl.  Can’t let good cream go to waste. 😉  

Happy Motown Monday and I’ll see y’all as soon as I’m back on my feet.  🙂

Rice Pudding
1 cup (5 Minute) White Rice (uncooked)
1 cup Water (for cooking rice)
1/2 cup Water (for egg custard)
1 1/2 cups Cream (or milk)
2 Eggs
2 tsp Vanilla
1 tsp Almond Extract
1/2 cup Sugar
3 tbsp Cornstarch

Place rice in large microwave safe bowl.

Add water. Stir and cover. Microwave on high for 5 minutes. Then let sit for 5 minutes.

DON’T STIR.  

While the rice is cooking:

In a separate medium size microwave safe bowl, mix cornstarch and sugar.

Add 1/2 cup of water and stir to completely dissolve.

Add eggs and beat until completely incorporated. No strings of egg. 

Add cream and stir until completely combined.

While the rice rests:

Microwave the egg custard for a total of 3 minutes stirring after each minute.

The first time you make this you might want to stir every 30 seconds until you know for sure how your microwave is heating the eggs. You definitely don’t want them to scramble.

After 3 minutes the custard will still be kind of thin. That’s OK. It’s what you want at this stage.  It does the real thickening when combined with the rice.

Pour custard mixture over the rested rice and stir.

Again microwave for a total of 3 minutes stirring after each minute.

Add vanilla and almond extracts plus any other seasonings. I added some apple pie spice mix.  

Serve warm or cold.

I prefer it warm.  I also decided I prefer it without the almond extract but I’ve left it in the ingredient list here for those who do like the taste of almond and vanilla together.  

Enjoy. 🙂

Tortilla Soup

The Crockpot is getting a workout around here this week. 😉 

Last week I came across this tortilla soup recipe on gflife24/7.    While I don’t share Kaila’s bean phobia…I do hate beans in tortilla soup.  I told her I was putting her recipe on my to-do list for the next cold snap.  Since it’s only supposed to be 38* here today I figured I better take advantage of the cold in case it’s the last. 🙂  You never know down here.

I’m not going to retype her recipe just share my additions.  Click on the ‘tortilla soup’ link above and it’ll take you directly to her post.

I followed her measurements and subbed what I had one hand (or just like) in my tortilla soup.

I added one small chopped potato.  

Purred the onion and tomatoes. I like onion / tomato to be completely smooth in soup.  

Used chicken instead of turkey.  

Cooked in the Crockpot on low for about 5 hours.  

Then added the corn plus some Mexican rice (from our little local restaurant) and turned down to warm for the rest of the day.

I’d planned on making tortilla strips to go with it but the Lupiac household is passing around a horrible viral bronchial infection and I woke up with it yesterday. 😦   Since my lungs are already so weak from the lupus…I feel like I’m trying to cough up a lung and frying tortilla strips is the last thing I feel like doing.

Even without the tortilla strips this soup is amazing.  The perfect amount of liquid to spice.  And as you see here you can also clear out your icebox if you’ve got stuff that mixes well with the spices. 🙂  

Thanks for sharing, Kaila. 🙂

Hope y’all have a safe and warm weekend. 🙂

Such sad news that C&T are getting a divorce.  😦

Crockpot Bread

I’d never heard of baking bread in a Crockpot until I got this book for Christmas.

I’ve been playing around with different bread recipes using the bread flour blend from the Bread Book so I don’t have a recipe to share yet but I’m sharing the technique today because I found it fascinating and I think it will probably work with most shaped bread.

You take your bread dough.  Shape it.  Place it on a piece of parchment paper.  Put it in your Crockpot.  Cover and turn it on high.  It does the rise and bake in the Crockpot.  The book said the rise and bake should take about an hour.  It took mine about an hour and half but it was well worth the extra time. 🙂

The bottom and sides brown in the crock but if you want the top to brown you have to take it out of the crock and place in the oven just long enough to get it to your desired color.

I wouldn’t do this all the time but it really was a great way to bake the bread and free up the oven at the same time.

Apple Butter

Mama Lupiac loves apple butter but only one specific brand…Bama.  We can’t find it down here anymore so I started making it for her homemade.

This is so easy and you can control the sugar and spices.

It’s much better than store bought. 🙂

1 bag of Apples.  Pealed, cored and roughly chopped.  Sorry.  I forgot to take a pic before pealing.

3/4 cup Brown Sugar.

1 can Apple Nectar.  Nectar.  Not Apple Juice.

Spices of choice.  Cinnamon. Cloves. Cardamom. Etc.  Or you can do it like me and just use Apple Pie Spice for all things cinnamon. 🙂

Throw it all in a Crockpot.  Give it a good stir to coat the apples and cook on low for 6 – 8 hours or until it cooks down like above pic.

I didn’t get a picture of the next step but once it cooks down…remove the lid and turn off the Crockpot.  Let the apples completely cool and then puree them in a blender or with a blending stick.

It might seem too thin at this point but it sets up once it’s refrigerated.

I got 2 of these 2 cup jars from one bag of apples.

Hope y’all had a nice weekend. 🙂

Banana Bread / Muffin Update

Sorry the blog is kind of slow right now.  I’m in the middle of a post holiday lupus flare and the debilitating  fatigue that comes with it. 😦  I was hopeful my body would get back to ‘normal’ this week but my energy is still super low and the eats still haven’t been all that creative.

Naan from the Bread Book.  I had mine with steak and cheese.  A cheese steak ‘wrap’ of sorts. 🙂

Fried Mahi which I used for my version of an open face Fillet o Fish.

My new go-to banana bread / muffin recipe. 🙂

During the holidays I wrote about how I use butterscotch pudding in my pralines.  That’s pretty much all I ever use it in and I have a few boxes left over from the holidays so I was trying to think of something to use them in and thought why not try some in banana bread.

I took my basic recipe (recipe at the end of the post)…used  cup4cup for the flour…added some pudding…and made muffins plus one small bread pan.  They were so good Mama Lupiac asked me to make a second pan the same day. 🙂

This doesn’t have anything to do with lupus or celiac but every now and then I stumble across a site and feel the need to spread some blogg-y love. 🙂  This blogger liked one of my posts so I went to check them out and have been hooked ever since.  It’s a blog full of retro ads.  If you like old retro stuff check em out. 🙂

Retro Adverto

Hope y’all had a great week and have an even better weekend. 🙂

 

 

Banana Bread / Muffins

This full batch will make 2 pans of mini muffins plus one small bread pan.

1/2 cup softened Butter
1 cup Sugar   (I used 1/2 cup white sugar and 1/2 cup brown sugar)
2 large Eggs
1 1/2 cups Flour  (I used cup4cup)
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt  

6 tbsp Butterscotch Pudding 
2 mashed very ripe Bananas
1/2 cup Sour Cream
1 tsp Vanilla

Preheat oven to 350.
Cream butter and sugar(s).

Add eggs, dry pudding, sour cream and vanilla.

Mix well.

Add flour, baking soda and salt.

Mix until just blended.

Pour into pan(s) and bake 15 – 20 minutes.

Creme de Menthe and a Birthday

If you prefer to skip the nostalgia…recipe is at the end of the post. 🙂

Today would have been my Mema’s birthday so I wanted to do a post in her honor. 🙂

She loved the phone. Every single day from around 6 AM on…all throughout the day she could be found with a phone to her ear talking to one of her sisters. About their families. About their cousins. About their plans for the day and always always…about their ‘stories’…Y&R…B&B…As the World Turns and Guiding Light.

Side story…when I was little Papa Lupiac worked in their little town so he would take me over to their house and I’d stay with them until he got off.  You always had to be quiet while the soaps were on.  So while other kids were watching Mr. Rogers…I was watching crazy / creepy Roger on Guiding Light.  At one point during that show ‘Roger’ was running from the cops and living in somebody’s attic.  I was little and convinced he was living in Mema’s attic and wouldn’t go anywhere near the attic door even though it was close to the bathroom.  I’d always make somebody go with me.  I also learned how to tell 3:00 PM on the clock because as soon as Guiding Light was over you could be noisy again…and have a snack. 🙂

One of my favorite images of Mema is of her on her stomach in the a hallway like a teenager. Phone to ear.  Yackin’ away with one of her sisters.  ’til each of their dying days they were still as close as kids. 🙂

 
I’ve written about her figs. And her Red Velvet cake. And Thanksgiving. And Kolaches. So for today I wanted to come up with a recipe of my own but completely inspired by her.

Mema (and Pappy) were hard-core Catholic.  And hard-core Czech.  The beer used to start flowing at their house around 10:30 AM.  Not in an alch-y way…just a beer for lunch.  Which was always at 11:00 AM…pretty much on the dot.  She used to tell us that if you’d gone to morning mass (or just said your prayers) that you could have your first beer after 10:00 AM.

I’ve used this pic before but it’s one of my absolute favorites so I’m using it again here.

During daylight hours she was all about the Old Milwaukee. But when the sun went down it was Creme de Menthe and Sprite. When we were little she’d give us sprite with a tiny splash of CdM (just enough to give a green tint) in the glass and to this day I still love the taste of Sprite and mint.

So for today I decided to do a Creme de Menthe cake. I took my Dr. Pepper cake recipe and adapted it. I halved most of the ingredients and left out the Dr. Pepper / marshmallows and pecans.

This cake tasted so close to a Girl Scout Thin Mint I seriously said ‘I hope the Girl Scouts aren’t putting Creme de Menthe in their cookies.’ 😉

Everyone loved it. I will definitely make this again sometime…especially if I’m missing Thin Mints. Next time I think I’m going to try leaving in the marshmallows too.

There are so many songs I could have used today but decided to go with something fun and that I know will make the fam smile. Years after this song was out…if anyone brought it up she would still start singing it and dancing around the kitchen. 🙂

Happy Birthday, Mema. 🙂

Creme de Menthe Cake

1 1/4 cup Flour (I used Cup4Cup)
1 cup Sugar
1/4 cup Cocoa
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 cup Buttermilk
1/2 cup Creme de Menthe
1/2 cup melted / cooled Butter OR liquid Oil (I used Macadamia Oil)
2 Eggs
1/2 tsp Vanilla

Preheat over to 350*.

Grease an 8 x 8 pan.

Combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder and salt.

Add buttermilk, Creme de Menthe, butter (or oil), eggs and vanilla.

Mix until smooth. 1 – 2 minutes.

Bake at 350* for 15 – 20 minutes. Know your oven.

Remove and sit pan on cooling rack while you make the icing.

Icing

1/2 stick Butter
1/2 box Powdered Sugar
splash of Whipping Cream
1/4 cup Creme de Menthe

Melt butter on medium heat.

Remove from heat and stir in powdered sugar, whipping cream and Creme de Menthe.

Stir until completely smooth.

You can sit pan back on the heat for a few seconds at a time if needed to ‘melt’ the sugar mixture to a completely smooth texture. You can also add water a tbsp at a time if it’s too thick. This should be pour-able but on the thicker side…not liquid-y like a glaze.

Pour over warm cake…completely covering the top. Let icing set up for a few minutes before cutting.

New Toys and Eats

New kitchen toy number one…for Christmas I got this pizza stone..which I broke in with this pizza

That second pic is a quick shot of the bottom just to show how perfectly it browned / crisped.

I LOVE the stone.  Not just for pizza.  I leave it in the oven all the time and so far it’s been great for helping keep the oven an even temp.  I included the last pic so y’all can see how the dough ‘crinkled’ under the sauce just like ‘real’ gluten dough.

Kitchen toy number two…this Danish dough whisk which I broke in with some ice box dough.

Some recent eats…

Mama Lupiac’s New Year’s day pork chops, mashed potatoes and black-eyed peas.  She cooked them all with Cup4Cup and no one knew the difference.

Pot of chili.  Bowl of Frito Pie.

Oatmeal scotchies.  Cookies and milk.

Pot Roast.  Plus some Cheddar Bay’s.

Loaf of bread from the bread book.  Look at that rise. 🙂

Some new Whole Food buys.  I’m taking this Cod Liver Oil daily now.  I’d also always wanted to try this Blood Orange soda.  It’s pretty good.

My posting schedule is a little off this week.  I have to take on a trip to the out of town Dr plus packing up all of the Christmas stuff and taking it back to storage.  Next week should be back to normal. 🙂

I’ll leave y’all with this sad news…a potential Velveeta shortage. 😉

Stay safe and warm. 🙂

Jack Daniel’s Cake

As always…recipe is at the end of the post. 🙂

So…

Papa Lupiac’s golfing buddy gave him this big bottle of Jack for Christmas.  Papa L asked me if I could use some to make him a Jack cake.  I’d never made one before but figured if I couldn’t find a specific recipe I could always just use my rum cake recipe and sub the Jack for the rum.

I didn’t get a pic of the fully soaked…or cut…cake. 😦

I ended up finding a few JD cake recipes online and settled on the one from the JD site.  It’s called Jack’s Birthday Cake.  It’s behind an age ID wall so you’ll have to enter your info to pass thru to the recipe.    

I changed a few things.  I used Cup4Cup for the flour.  Added some vanilla pudding and cinnamon.  Left out the chocolate chips.  And completely changed the ‘glaze’.

Papa L LOVED…and I mean LOVED this cake. 🙂  I enjoyed it too but y’all know rum cake is my go to liquor cake.  Always has been…always will be.  I really really enjoyed the glaze though. 😉 There was a little left and I heated it up and drank it straight as a little midnight treat…or hot toddy…as my Mema would have called it. 🙂

Anyway…if whiskey’s your drink of choice this recipe comes highly rated from my whiskey drinker. 🙂   It was quick and easy to make too.  The recipe said you could use a bundt pan but since I was making half a recipe I chose to stick with an 8 x 8 pan.  I have some cute little mini bundt pans so I might use those next time.

Have a good weekend. 🙂

Gluten – Free Whiskey Cake

(adapted from Jack’s Birthday Cake recipe found here)

1 cup plus 2 tbsp Flour (125g plus 2 tbsp Cup4Cup)
1/2 package Vanilla Pudding
1 heaping tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt   1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1 stick melted Butter
1 cup firmly packed Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
1/4 cup Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey
1/2 cup chopped Pecans
Hot buttered glaze (below)

Directions
Heat oven to 325°F.
Grease a 8 x 8 baking pan.
Combine the flour, dry pudding mix, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl.
Melt butter in a large saucepan over low heat.  Remove from heat.
Stir in the brown sugar, eggs, flour mixture, and Jack Daniel’s.  Mix well after each addition.
Pour batter into the greased pan.
Bake 20 minutes. Know your oven. 🙂
Cool on a wire rack.
Sprinkle pecans on top and drizzle…or pour 😉…glaze over cake.  Let sit til all the liquid soaks into the cake.

Glaze
1 stick Butter
1 cup Brown Sugar
1/4 cup Jack Daniel’s Whiskey

Melt butter.
Add brown sugar and cook til melted.
Remove from heat and stir in JD.

Panettone and Candied Orange

Happy New Year.  Hope y’all had a safe New Year’s Eve. 🙂

I know a lot of bloggers are doing resolution posts today but I’m not a resolutions kind of girl.  If I want to do something…I just do it rather than waiting for a date on the calendar.

I do have a few goal type things…like to keep creating the gluten-free foods I CAN eat instead of being sad over those I can’t eat.  I’m going to work on my book plus…one other thing that I’m not ready to share yet but will likely take a good chunk of the year to finish and that I’ll blog about as it takes shape.

None of those are resolutions in the New Year sense though…so on with todays post. 🙂

First…the gratuitous / requisite blogg-y winter boot shot. 😉 For a day or two at least…the temp here in rural route Tejas made them actually functional in addition to fashionable. 🙂

Do you say the end of panettone as TONE or tone-eh?  Usually I defer to Cristina on most things Italian.  She says ‘tone-eh’.   But I’ve heard Giada and Fabio Viviani (who was born and raised in Italy)  both call it panetTONE.   Rachael Ray does TONE too but I don’t defer to her for anything. 😉

I love love love it either way.  It wasn’t always available in South Texas and definitely not in rural route but over the last few years Walmart has been carrying it at Christmas and Easter.  Of course it’s a no-no from the store now with the whole no gluten thing.

SO…for the first time I had to attempt making my own.  I used the recipe from the bread book but instead of currants I used raisins and candied orange.

My favorite panettone has always been one with candied orange.  A few days before I planned to make the dough I also made candied orange for the first time.

Boiling the peel to soften.  Drained.

Made a simple sugar syrup.  Added orange peel and reduced to simmer.

Simmered for an hour.

Sugaring ‘station’.  Dropped the orange in sugar.  Coated it and placed on drying rack overnight.

It was unbelievably good.  I can’t wait to make some candied lime when the seasons change to spring / summer.

Overnight rise.  The book doesn’t say to do this but I wasn’t ready to bake it right away so I threw it in the icebox and baked the next day.

Glorious glorious dough. 🙂

Baked. Rested.  And sliced into fourths for French toast sticks the next day.

Devoured. 🙂

The New Year’s Day meal is the one family meal that I don’t cook.  I do make the bread but Mama Lupiac always fries pork chops.  Plus the usual fixin’s…mashed potatoes…gravy…black-eyed peas…some kind of green for everyone else…etc.  So that’s how I’ll be spending New Years Day.  Hope yours is off to a great start. 🙂