Dreamy Lemon Rice Pudding

In my recent quest to find foods that agree with my stomach, I found this book and this recipe in the book. Because I'm eliminating certain foods right now, I used rice milk, even though it warns that it won't be as creamy. It was delicious, but runny. So I tweaked the recipe a little, and I'm in love! I've never been a rice pudding fan, but I like my version of this recipe because it's smoother, more like tapioca, and I love the lemon instead of traditional cinnamon.

3 cups rice milk
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon canola oil
1/4 cup granulated sugar
5 organic egg whites, whipped until they just barely hold soft peaks
4 cups cooked brown rice
Zest of 1 lemon, grated or minced (do NOT use lemon juice)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat the egg whites in a crock pot. In a blender, combine the milk, water, sugar, salt, and rice. Blend for 30-60 seconds. Add to egg whites and stir. Stirring every 15 minutes, cook in crock pot for 1 1/2 hours or until temperature reaches 150. Add the lemon zest and vanilla.

Green Sugar, Shamrocks and Fudge Frosting

Shamrocks (or any other shape you want):
I googled "shamrocks," found one I liked, and then printed a page of various sizes of them.
Then I taped this page to the table, layered wax paper on top, taped that to the table, too, and then "drew" the shamrock shapes on the wax paper using melted chocolate chips in a frosting bag. You could use white chocolate or almond bark. Sprinkle with colored sugar before the chocolate sets up.

Colored sugar (on the cheap!)
I just made this up as I went, but these are approximately the proportions I used:
~3 Tb. regular sugar
~8 drops food coloring
Shake well.
Then add ~1/2-1 tsp. corn starch to make it not clumpy.

I put it in an empty salt shaker. It worked really well.

Fudge Frosting
This recipe is one I adapted from Better Homes & Gardens.
1/2 cup butter
~1/2 cup chocolate chips (this turns out so much tastier with the chocolate chips)
1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/3 cup water
4 1/4 powdered sugar, divided
1 teaspoon vanilla

Melt butter, chocolate chips, and cocoa powder together in a saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring often. Remove from heat.

Add 2 cups powdered sugar.  Mix well. Add water and remainder of powdered sugar. mix well. Add vanilla; Mix.

The Best Apple Pie Muffins Ever

Ingredients

      Topping
          o 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
          o 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
          o 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
          o 1 teaspoon cinnamon
      Muffins
          o 1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
          o 2/3 cup vegetable oil
          o 1 eggs
          o 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
          o 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
          o 1 teaspoon baking soda
          o 1/4 teaspoon salt
          o 1 cup buttermilk
          o 2 cups diced peeled firm tart apples (such as Spy, Granny Smith)

Directions:

Note: cinnamon could be added to the batter (about 1 teaspoon or less).

Topping: In a small bowl toss together sugar, flour, butter and cinnamon until crumbly; set aside.

Muffins: In a large bowl whisk together brown sugar, oil, egg and vanilla until smooth. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, soda and salt.
Stir oil mixture into flour mixture alternately with buttermilk.
Fold in apples, mixing just until combined.
Spoon into greased muffin cups filling 3/4 full.
Sprinkle topping over evenly.

Bake at 350̊F for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and tops spring back.

Prep Time: 20 mins
Total Time: 45 mins

original recipe: http://www.food.com/recipe/the-best-apple-pie-muffins-ever-110506

My Substitutions:

I only use 1 cup brown sugar, instead of 1 1/2 cups.
I use 1/3 cup oil; 1/3 cup applesauce instead of 2/3 cup oil.
I make my own buttermilk by putting 2 tsp. lemon juice into the milk.
For the apples, I've been using crushed up dried cannery apples, which I rehydrate with boiling water (I only do this to eliminate the chore of peeling and chopping apples)
Soy or almond milk can be used to make them dairy free.