Slow-cookin’ Sundays: Rice Pudding

It was only a matter of time before I decided to try a dessert in the slow cooker. I was iffy about the idea because I wasn’t sure about which types of desserts could even be made in one. Then it hit me: rice pudding!

I’ve never made it before so this was an experiment all around.

 

What you need:

3/4 cup white rice

3 cups vanilla almond milk

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup melted butter

1 tspn cinnamon

1/2 tspn nutmeg

1/2 cup bourbon soaked raisins

 

What To Do:

Rinse your rice with cold water. Spray your slow cooker with non-stick spray. Combine all your ingredients except the raisins in the slow cooker. Stir together and set on high for 2 1/2 hours. Once you’re nearing the end, check on the pudding just to make sure you don’t need to add more time. Now is the time to add in those boozy raisins that offer a sweet but tangy contrast to the pudding. It’s not the most beautiful dish I’ve made, looks a lot like porridge lol, but it’s super tasty and so simple to make! @LifeandDimSum

The Great Vegan Cupcake Challenge

The idea of vegan baking scares me. Full out frightens me. But last week, I put on my big girl panties and faced the vegan challenge!

My go-to cupcake batter recipe is already butter free, so I just had to find a suitable replacement for the eggs and milk. I decided to go for unsweetened vanilla almond milk as a substitute, to keep the cupcake moist. To make sure I had great flavors, regardless of the lack of dairy & eggs, I chose to make a strawberry cupcake with lime frosting.

What you need:

1 1/2 cup cake flour, sifted to eliminate clumps

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 tspn baking soda

1/2 tspn baking powder

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk

1/2 tspn vanilla

1/2 tspn white vinegar

1 cup diced fresh strawberries

Pre-heat your oven on 350 degrees. Combine all of your dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside. Add your vegetable oil, and almond milk to your mixing bowl and mix together. Slowly add in your dry ingredients and allow them to incorporate. Lastly add int he vinegar, vanilla and the diced strawberries. Pour your batter into your cupcake pan and allow the cupcakes to bake for 21-23 minutes or until the centers are baked through.

The fresh diced strawberries not only add great flavor and sweetness, but also help to make the cake moist.

Before I started this recipe, I didn’t even think about what I would use to replace the butter in the icing but then I thought about the coconut oil my mom purchased from Whole Foods – ah ha!

The icing only took 4 ingredients: juice from two lines, the coconut oil, powdered sugar and just a touch more of unsweetened almond milk.The icing was nice and creamy with the strong lime flavor that I love!I surprised myself and those who tasted them, by how good the cupcaks were! I seriously didn’t miss the animal by products one bit and the consistently of both the cake and icing were pretty similar to “regular” cupcakes. Without a doubt, I’ll be making these again.

@LifeandDimSum