Happy May Day everyone! This is my month! YEAH! Well.. more like my birthday is in 20 days. WOOT! Beyond that, I was in the mood yesterday to have some homemade rice pudding. I found a couple of recipes, but most of them called for an egregious amount of Half and Half. Last thing I wanted was 3 cups of Half and Half in my rice custard. I also wanted to use brown rice over white rice to change it up a bit. This weekend was mostly dedicated towards my garden area and celebrating Arbor day late. So here is a simple and delicious recipe for Vanilla Brown Rice Custard.

You will need:

• 13.5 ounces of milk (coconut milk, soy, or almond would be delicious too)
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup sugar for step 1 of the recipe
• 2/3 cup sugar for Step 2 of the recipe
• 1 cup brown rice
• 1 1/2 cup of half and half
• 1 1/2 cup of vanilla non fat yogurt or greek yogurt
• 5 eggs
• 1 Tbs of Vanilla Extract

1. Heat oven to 325° F. Bring the milk, water, and 1/4 cup of the sugar to a boil in a small pot. Stir in the rice. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer gently until the rice is tender and the liquid is absorbed, about 20 minutes. I needed a little bit longer for my brown rice. So mostly go by the tender and absorption.

2.  Warm the half-and-half and yogurt in a small saucepan over medium heat (do not allow it to boil). Whisk together the eggs, vanilla, and the remaining sugar in a medium bowl.

3. Whisking constantly, slowly pour the warm half-and-half and yogurt into the mixture in the bowl. Skim and throw away any foam that rises on the surface. Add rice after.

4. Put into an 8-by-8-inch baking dish. Put the dish in a larger deep pan or baking dish and put onto the oven rack. Add hot water to the larger pan to reach halfway up the sides of your 8X8. Bake for 1 hour or until it is set.

You can serve this warm or cold. I loved it right after baking with some nutmeg and fruit. My friend Amanda and I were talking about trying to make it with Bailey’s Irish Cream instead of the half and half. OR make it almost like a White Russian version. It would be called “The Dude”.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So I finally got the chicken wire for my garden. My dad was awesome and helped me put it up.

We also planted a plum, peach, cherry and apple tree near my garden. We have to go back and get another one of the apple trees if we ever want fruit. I honestly don’t care if my parents don’t live here for a long time to see them fruit, I just adore the idea of them being there. Granted the peach tree already has fruit growing on it.

I was going to plant my other grown seedlings, but we had a freeze warning on Sunday night. I’ll just wait until this weekend.

May is also wicked important because I hear back from Food Corp about if I made it to the second application. I’m crossing my fingers and really hoping for great news. Wish me the best please!