Coconut Rice Pudding

Leftover rice and coconut milk combine to make a creamy, delicious, and vegan breakfast or dessert.

Rice is a great staple food.  It's inexpensive, easy to cook, versatile, and delicious.  Since moving to Hawaii, I eat much more rice than I used to.  A scoop or two of rice is often on the side of or the main component of many local meals.  While I don't have rice with every meal, I use it often.  I use rice in stir-fries, beans and rice, fried rice, soups, stews, and casseroles.  It never hurts to make extra rice because it will be eaten.

It never hurts to make extra rice. It will be eaten. [Tweet this]

A sweet way to use leftover rice is rice pudding.  It's such a simple recipe I always wonder why I don't make it more often.  Rice pudding makes a great breakfast or dessert and it's delicious.  Don't worry about making too much rice next time you cook.

There is no such thing as too much rice. Make Coconut Rice Pudding with leftovers. [Tweet this]

Coconut Rice Pudding

Servings:  4
Cook time:  20 minutes

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked rice (leftover rice is great)
1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk
2 Tablespoons maple syrup (optional)
1 dash of vanilla extract
Banana slices or other fruit

In a large saucepan, over medium heat, combine the rice (cold right from the fridge is fine), coconut milk, and syrup if using.

Stir and mix well breaking up any clumps of rice.  Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until thickened (about 15-20 minutes).

Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract.

Serve hot or cold topped with bananas or other fruit.  It would be great with some toasted shredded coconut too.

Makes about 4 servings.

Enjoy.

For more ways to use leftover rice check out:

Leftover Rice Pudding       -

Pork Fried Rice           -

Spicy Vegetable Fried Rice

Linked to:  Treasure Box, 2 Cup, Lou Lou, Whimsy, Tickle My Tastebuds, Wake Up, Full Plate, Freedom, Foodie Friends

Follow Joy Bee's board Joybee Whats for Dinner blog posts on Pinterest.

Read more ...

Turkey Bacon Cream Cheese Pinwheels

Soft and chewy English muffin dough rolled around cream cheese, turkey, and bacon.

Pinwheels have been very popular lately.  I decided I wanted to jump on the band wagon and give them a try too but with some changes.  Pretty much every recipe I've seen for these uses store bought refrigerator crescent roll dough.  I know that makes these little wheels super quick and easy but I refuse to use store bought dough when I can make better.  So my next challenge was to figure out what kind of dough to use.  Sandwich bread, pizza, roll... the list  is endless.  Since I was making these as a breakfast item (to eat while watching early college football) I decided to use English muffin dough. The result was delicious.  The bread was soft and chewy and the filling was creamy and delicious with a crunch of bacon.  They didn't last long.

Turkey Bacon Cream Cheese Pinwheels

Ingredients:

500-600 grams English muffin dough (1 recipe for Multigrain English Muffins or Light Wheat English Muffins)

Turkey slices

1/2 pound bacon, cooked and crumbled

1 package cream cheese (flavored would be great)

green onions, sliced (optional)

Prepare the English muffin dough up through the first rise (I used Multigrain English Muffins but did not make them sourdough by replacing the 200g of barm with equal parts flour & water and adding 1 1/2 tsp yeast).

Instead of cutting and shaping the dough, into muffins, roll it out into a rectangle about 8 X 11 inches (about the size of a sheet of paper).

Onto the dough rectangle, spread the cream cheese (I didn't have flavored cream cheese so I also added green onions).

Top the cream cheese with the bacon crumbles and then turkey slices.  Starting at the long side roll the dough up into an 11 inch long roll.

Cut the roll into 12 slices (I find this easiest to use a serrated knife repeatedly dipped in flour).  Lay out the slices on a parchment lined sheet pan, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate over night.

Or if you don't want to wait overnight allow the pinwheels to rise for about 30 minutes before baking.

The next morning, take the pinwheels out of the refrigerator and allow to come up to room temperature for about 1 hour. 

Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 15-20 minutes until browned.

Let cool then enjoy.  Refrigerate any leftovers (if you have any).

Linked to:  Best of the Weekend, Sat Night Fever, See ya in the Gumbo, Merry Mon, Two Cup, Teach Me, Lou Lou Girls, Cook Craft Share, Full Plate, Eat Create, Freedom, Foodie Friends

Follow Joy Bee's board Joybee Whats for Dinner blog posts on Pinterest.

Read more ...

Loco Moco

White rice, smothered in brown gravy and a beef patty, topped with a fried egg.  The Hawaiian breakfast of champions.

What is a loco moco?  I'm glad you asked.  A loco moco is a common breakfast food here in Hawaii.  It's white rice covered with a beef patty and brown gravy with a fried egg on top.  Usually, the egg is sunny side up (it's best when you have that runny egg yolk to mix with the gravy), but you can choose if you'd like it cooked differently.  I tried for sunny side up but of course when I try to keep the yolk intact I end up breaking it (the next day I was making scrambled eggs and I cracked all the eggs perfectly with no broken yolks...I was so mad).

Loco Moco: the Hawaiian breakfast of champions.  [Tweet this]

I first had this delicious meal when a Hawaiian friend made it for me in Minnesota (where she now lives and I lived for a few years).  I don't know any of the history behind the loco moco, but I do know it's delicious.  It's super filling and a great comfort food.  I like to think of it as a Hawaiian version of biscuits and gravy (see those are my southern roots talking...but I actually don't like the white gravy on biscuits and gravy I would prefer brown gravy).

A Hawaiian version of biscuitsandgravy | Loco Moco  [Tweet this]

Loco mocos make a great  breakfast for those early morning football games too.  You can even make this while out tailgating (I imagine that locals here in Hawaii do) you just need to have a rice cooker then everything else can be cooked on the grill.  It's easy and pretty quick too.

Loco Moco: great for football tailgaiting in the AM.  [Tweet this]

Loco Moco

Ingredients:

White rice, cooked
Beef patties (mine were precooked and frozen but fresh grilled are the best)
Fried eggs (sunny side up is preferred, but I broke my yolks...still good though)
*Brown gravy

*Brown gravy:  1/4 cup butter, 1/4 cup flour, and 2 cups beef broth.  Cook the butter and flour in a skillet over medium heat just until it turns a nice brown color (this is a roux).  Then pour in the beef broth and stir or whisk well.  Allow to come to a boil then lower heat to a simmer.  Allow to simmer until desired thickness.  Lastly, season with salt and pepper to taste. (makes 2 cups)

In your bowl/plate start by adding the rice.  You can use 1 or 2 scoops (as much as you like).

Top the rice with your fully cooked beef patty (I simmered my frozen patties in the gravy to thaw and warm them) and plenty of gravy.

Lastly top with the fried egg.  You can add a bit more gravy on top of the egg but if you have a good sunny side up egg you don't need to because you'll have that nice runny yolk.

Serve immediately. You can add sriracha if you like it spicy (if you look close in the 2nd picture you can see my husband's bowl smothered with sriracha).

Enjoy.

Linked to:  Best of the Weekend, See ya in the Gumbo, Merry Mon, Two Cup, Teach Me, Lou Lou Girls, Tasty tue, Tickle my Tatebuds, Whimsy, Wonderful Wed, Yuck Stops Here, Wed Roundup, Cook Craft Share, Full Plate, Eat Create, Freedom Fri, Foodie Friends

Read more ...

Bananas Foster Pancakes

Whole wheat pancakes topped with sweet bananas in syrup.

Hey it's Friday the 13th.  I love Friday the 13th mostly because I can usually find a Jason (Friday the 13th) movie marathon on TV and I love slasher/any horror films.  Tonight is even more special because it's also a full moon.  That means even more strange things may happen tonight...cool.

Anyway...

I had never had bananas foster before this breakfast.  I thought of the idea when I saw someone make crepes with bananas foster, on another blog.  I decided it would also be good on pancakes.  I searched online for bananas foster recipes and found a general consensus of brown sugar, butter, bananas, and dark rum.  The amounts all varied depending on how many servings the recipe made so I just made a small batch for two.  The pancakes can be your favorite recipe I used my whole wheat pancakes to make this a little bit healthier (and they are my favorite). It was good but I still prefer maple syrup on my pancakes.  I wonder if you could do all of this in maple syrup....hmm I've got something new to try (but my husband hates warm maple syrup; maybe it would be ok in this instance).

Bananas Foster Pancakes

Ingredients:

1 recipe of Whole Wheat Pancakes
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter
4 small bananas, sliced thick
1 oz dark rum
toasted pecans, chopped

Make pancakes according to directions.  Set aside to keep warm.

Meanwhile heat a skillet over medium heat.  Add the butter and brown sugar mixing until it becomes syrupy and starts to bubble.

Add the bananas to they syrup and stir to coat well then add the dark rum and flambe.  I just lit the rum with a long lighter and stood back until the flame died (be careful make sure there is nothing flammable near your stove).  You probably don't have to flambe this just let it cook for a few minutes to burn off the alcohol but it's so much fun.

Pour bananas and syrup over pancakes, top with chopped pecans, and serve.

Makes 2-3 servings.

Enjoy.

Linked to:  Best of the Weedend, Pretty Pintastic, Saturday Night Fever, Share it Sunday, See ya in the Gumbo, Two Cup, Lou Lou Girls, Teach Me, Brag About It, Tasty Tuesday, Whimsy Wednesday, Wonderful Wednesday, Eat Create Party, Freedom Friday


Follow Joy Bee's board Joybee Whats for Dinner blog posts on Pinterest.

Read more ...

Leftover Rice Pudding

A creamy pudding made with leftover rice, milk, sugar, and raisins.

(Updated 1/19/16)
We have a lot of meals that include rice in my house.  I frequently make stir fries and curries that are always served with rice.  I didn't grow up eating much rice at all but now I find that I crave it.  If I go a week or two without serving rice with a meal I have to make a stir fry or other rice accompanying meal immediately.

One of the reasons I think I love rice so much is that it so easy.  A friend bought us (my husband and me) my first ever rice cooker as a Christmas present about 5 or 6 years ago and that fueled my rice infatuation.  Yeah, cooking rice on the stove top really isn't difficult but rice cookers make a consistently good rice and all you have to do is "set it and forget it"...that phrase reminds me of an infomercial. I'm an infomercial nut. I never buy the product(s) but I always am intrigued and say "I want that".  Anyway back to the rice cooker.  They are awesome.  Our original rice cooker broke not too long ago and now we have an even bigger one that has more functions and best of all a timer setting.  I can add the rice and water and program it so the rice is ready whenever I want it.

Extra rice is easy w/ a #ricecooker. Make #LeftoverRice Pudding  [Tweet this]

With using rice often, a consequence is that we often have leftover rice.  This isn't a bad thing I just have to think of more ways to use it.  This rice pudding is a different, non-savory, way to use leftover rice...and it's delicious.  It makes a great breakfast or even dessert.

#LeftoverRicePudding is a great use for #leftoverrice.  [Tweet this]

Leftover Rice Pudding

Ingredients:
From Allrecipe's Old Fashioned Creamy Rice Pudding by Jenn Bechtel

1 1/2 cups cooked white rice
2 cups milk, divided
1 pinch of salt
2/3 cup raisins
1 egg
1/3 cup sugar
1 Tbsp butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
cinnamon

In a large saucepan, over medium heat, combine the rice, 1 1/2 cups of milk, and salt.  Cook and stir until thick and creamy.

In a small bowl combine the rest of the milk, egg, and sugar.  Beat well.

Temper the egg mixture by adding a spoonful of the rice mixture and stirring well to combine.  Then pour the egg mixture and raisins into the saucepan and cook, while stirring, for another few minutes until the egg is set.

Remove from heat and stir in the butter and vanilla extract.  Serve immediately with cinnamon dusted on top.

Makes 2-4 servings.

Enjoy.

Linked to:  Best of the Weekend, Show Stopper, Saturday Nigh Fever, Share it Sunday, See ya in the Gumbo, Much Ado, Two Cup, LouLou Girls, Brag About It, Tasty Tuesday, Whimsy Wednesday, Wednesday Roundup, Full Plate, Freedom Friday, Eat Crete Party

For more recipes using leftover rice check out:

Kimchi Fried Rice      -

Coconut Rice Pudding    -

Spicy Vegetable Fried Rice

Follow Joy Bee's board Joybee Whats for Dinner blog posts on Pinterest.

Read more ...

Egg and Cheese Crepes

Protein packed crepes filled with more protein of eggs and cheese

Crepes are surprisingly simple to make and, no, you don't need special equipment.  A regular 8-10 inch nonstick frying pan works just fine.  I was hungry for breakfast but hadn't gotten groceries in a while so my fridge was pretty bare. I had eggs, American cheese, and milk. I have mentioned before that I don't really like eggs unless they are hidden by other flavors so I decided to use them in crepes and smother them in cheese. This turned out to be a very eggy breakfast because crepes are mostly eggs and then my filling was also eggs but I loved it. It was very tasty and very filling.  This was a meatless and protein packed breakfast.

Egg and Cheese Crepes

Ingredients:

Sourdough crepes batter or your regular crepe batter
3-4 eggs
American cheese slices or shredded cheese of your choice
Milk
Salt & pepper
1 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed (optional)
Hot sauce (optional)
Assorted spices (optional)

Mix together the crepe batter and set aside.

In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and some milk (about 1/4-1/2 cup) until thoroughly mixed.  Season with salt and pepper and add any optional ingredients you like.  (I always add hot sauce to my scrambled eggs, and onion and garlic powder. The spinach gives this a little more nutrition but it's fine without.  If you have left over ham or chicken you can add that too.) Set aside.

Heat a non stick frying pan over medium heat and rub with butter or oil.  Pour one ladle full of the crepe batter on to the center of the hot pan.

Pick up the pan and rotate it spreading the batter into a wider circle until the batter no longer moves.  A great picture tutorial, from About.com, is here.  Place the pan back on the burner.

Gently run a spatula along the edges of the crepe to loosen.  When the batter is set and no longer shiny lift and flip the crepe.

Once crepe is flipped, pour about 1/4 cup of the egg mixture on to the crepe and top with some cheese.  Wait for the egg mixture to get mostly set and the cheese to slightly melt, then, fold the crepe in half.  Slide out of the pan onto a plate and fold in half again.

Repeat the process until all of the batter and egg mixture is used.  Makes about 5-6 crepes.

Enjoy.

Linked to:  Random Recipe Roundup, Much Ado About Monday, Two Cup Tuesday, Tasty Tuesday, Brag About It, Whimsy Wednesday, Eat Create Party, Freedom Friday, Best of the Weekend, Show Stopper, Shine a Spotlight, Saturday Night Fever

Follow Joy Bee's board Joybee Whats for Dinner blog posts on Pinterest.

Read more ...

Homemade Maple Brown Sugar Oatmeal

Warm and creamy oatmeal sweetened with maple syrup and brown sugar is a great winter time breakfast.

I've never been much of a breakfast eater.  I know it's the most important meal of the day but I rarely feel like eating before 10 or 11am.  

When I was growing up we always had plenty of cereal because everyone else in the family ate cereal every morning.  I like some cereals but not at 6 or 7 in the morning when you had to be up for school.  I also liked to sleep until the last minute so I didn't have time to eat before being hustled out the door.  My usual breakfasts consisted of granola bars or instant shakes that didn't require any prep and I could down in a rush.  

Weekends were a different story.  While my parents didn't let us sleep all day, we still got to sleep in a bit more.  My usual weekend breakfast was maple brown sugar instant oatmeal, occasionally with hot cocoa.  Both were easy just add hot water and I think my mom was happy I was eating so they were always on hand.

Now that I'm all grown up my weekly breakfasts are still granola bars but I like to make a more substantial breakfast on weekends when my husband and I can eat  together.  With it being winter something warm and creamy is always nice so I decided to make oatmeal from scratch.

Homemade Maple Brown Sugar Oatmeal

Ingredients:

1 cup rolled 5 grain cereal (or rolled oats)
2 1/2 cups milk
pinch of salt
1/4-1/2 cup brown sugar
1-2 Tbsp maple syrup

Combine rolled grains and milk in a large sauce pan, over medium high heat, with a pinch of salt.

Stir occasionally and allow to come to a boil.  Once boiling stir continually for about 10-15 minutes until thick and creamy to your liking. 

Remove from heat and add brown sugar and maple syrup to your liking and serve immediately.

Makes 2-4 servings

Enjoy.

Follow Joy Bee's board Joybee Whats for Dinner blog posts on Pinterest.

Read more ...