Cinnamon Rice Pudding

This week I've been lying low, slowly recovering from gum grafting surgery. I have very thin gum tissue around four front teeth on my lower gum line, and it has been gradually receding over the years to expose the roots of some of my teeth. So I decided to take care of it before it got worse. Last Friday I had a minor surgery done where a rectangle of skin on the roof of my mouth was taken and sewed over the exposed roots and thin area of my lower gum line. Sounds gross but it's very cool!

It was a quick and easy surgery but came with a 10 day recovery time that limited my ability to eat (I'm so hungry!).  Being restricted to a soft food diet, I needed to come up with some creative ways to eat substantial food without chewing. I had the added challenge of my lactose intolerance so ice cream, smoothies, milkshakes, etc. all had to be dairy free.

Here is a delicious rice pudding recipe I made for a breakfast option. Besides being easy to eat it has the added bonuses of being dairy free, gluten free, and low fat/low sugar! I used Very Vanilla soymilk, but any dairy free milk could be substituted. If it's not vanilla then I recommend adding an extra teaspoon of vanilla extract to the recipe.

The sweetness can also be varied to taste. I used exactly 1 tablespoon of SPLENDA packet sweetener, which is sweeter than the granulated SPLENDA. The estimated equivalent in SPLENDA granulated form or white sugar is a 1/2 cup. But I haven't tried this measurement yet so I can't be sure of the equivalent sweetness. I would start with a 1/4 of a cup and add more if needed. You can also substitute with Agave syrup or Stevia sweetener. I would start with a 1/2 cup for these as they are not as sweet as white sugar or SPLENDA.

Ingredients:

2 cups water
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup white rice
3 cups Silk Very Vanilla soymilk
1/4-1/2 cup SPLENDA granulated sweetener
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

1. In a medium size saucepan, bring water to a boil. Add rice and salt, stir. Cover, reduce heat and simmer until water is absorbed--about 10 minutes.

2. Add Very Vanilla Soymilk, SPLENDA, and cinnamon. Cook uncovered over low heat, stirring occasionally, until most of the soymilk is absorbed--about 15 minutes.

3. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Serve warm. Easy for someone recovering from surgery!

Summer Plums

The family I work for gave me a huge bag of red plums from their backyard tree last week, so over the weekend I found some delicious plum recipes on the internet.

I discovered plum bread. I never knew there was such a thing as this and I was skeptical about how it would turn out, but I'm glad I tried it. Forget pumpkin and zucchini bread, this sweet bread is my new favorite.

It's easy to make it dairy free by using Smart Balance Light and soy yogurt. You can also substitute applesauce for the yogurt. If you use greek yogurt (I did), there is much less lactose in it so it shouldn't be bothersome unless you are highly sensitive. I'm sensitive to lactose but I can eat about a cup of greek yogurt with a lactaid pill and be okay.

You can also cut the sugar by using half sugar and half SPLENDA, or use all SPLENDA. I recommend using a sweetener even if your plums are very sweet, but this would still be a good bread with less sugar.

I also made a balsamic plum reduction sauce to go with a pork tenderloin. Since my husband hates anything with vinegar, I reduced the two tablespoons of vinegar the recipe called for with a teaspoon of vinegar. It smelled just right and tasted amazing to me, so I didn't want to add any more than that.

Eric and I took some pictures of our dinner with our new camera. I'll get better and more creative with it as I keep practicing!

Plum Bread

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups pitted, chopped plums--keep the skins on!
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
1/2 cup Smart Balance Buttery Spread Light, softened
1 cup sugar--I used 1/2 SPLENDA, 1/2 white sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs--you can use 4 eggs whites, or a combination, for less fat
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup of plain or vanilla soy yogurt--actually, any fruity flavor will do!
Sprinkle of brown sugar (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a loaf pan with olive oil spray or Smart Balance.

2. After chopping your plums, sprinkle them with 1 tablespoon of flour and toss to coat then set aside.

3. In a large bowl, beat the sugar, butter, vanilla, and eggs with a wire whisk until smooth. Add the yogurt and mix until well combined.

4. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Slowly stir the dry mixture into the egg and sugar mixture.

5. Once smooth, fold in the chopped plums and pour batter into the loaf pan. Sprinkle with brown sugar.

6. Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing. Let cool for another 30 minutes before slicing, but enjoy that first warm slice before it cools completely. Bet the taste will surprise you!

What it looks like right before the oven.

Pork Tenderloin with a Balsamic Plum Reduction

Ingredients:

1 pork tenderloin
sea salt and black peper
1 tablespoon olive oil
2-3 small plums, pitted and chopped
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons blueberry juice--I think a berry jam would work here. I used the blueberry fruit and syrup from the fruit on the bottom yogurt.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with foil.

2. Rinse the pork tenderloin then pat dry and season each side with sea salt and black pepper. Heat olive oil in a non-stick skillet until hot, then sear the tenderloin for three minutes on each side before transferring the pork to the lined baking sheet. 

3. Roast the tenderloin for 15-20 minutes depending on the size. Once cooked, let stand for five minutes before slicing.

4. While the pork is cooking, begin the reduction sauce. Add the plums, vinegar, brown sugar, honey, and juice or syrup into a small saucepan and cook over medium low heat, until ingredients are well blended and plums are soft, about 5-10 minutes.

5. Transfer the sauce to a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Return the sauce to the saucepan and simmer until reduced and thickened, another 5-10 minutes depending on how much liquid you have added. Spoon the plum sauce over the sliced pork medallions and enjoy with Herby Quinoa. Share with your hungry Chihuahua!

Mia's favorite spot--right by the stove.

Balsamic Plum Reduction

Missing Fall-Not Fat Pumpkin Bread

Here is a deliciously healthy pumpkin bread recipe that is more like a true bread rather than the cake-like version that is served in coffee shops. The 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour gives it some substance, while the 1/2 cup of Splenda replaces half of the sugar, and the extra pumpkin eliminates the need for lots of oil. Though I don't recommend using all whole wheat flour, go all out and use all Splenda, more pumpkin to replace the 1/8 cup of oil, and all egg whites if you want; but this combination is a good one. It remains moist and flavorful--try for yourself! After many attempts at creating the perfect healthy pumpkin bread, I have come up with a recipe I will use year after year.

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup Splenda
1 tsp baking soda
1 15ounce can of pumpkin puree
1/8 cup olive oil
1 egg, 2 egg whites, beaten
1/4 cup apple cider
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup chopped pecans

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a medium bowl mix together flour, salt, sugar, Splenda, baking soda, and spices until well blended.

2. In a large bowl, combine pumpkin, oil, eggs, and apple cider. Add dry ingredients into this mixture, and stir until combined and completely moistened but do not over mix. It needs to stay spongy.

3. Carefully fold in raisins and nuts.

4. Pour into greased loaf pan--even if it is non-stick you need to oil it. Bake 50-60 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Once finished, let cool for up to an hour before removing from pan. Enjoy at your holiday event!

This bread is best stored in the refrigerator.

Non-Dairy Creamer, or a replacement for Half and Half

I used to drink half and half in my coffee every morning. No sugar, just cream. It really made the perfect cup of coffee. And I am a huge coffee drinker. When even a little bit of half and half made me feel sick, I had a hard time handling it. At first I just dealt with it, then I tried to find other methods. I'm really crazy about the way my coffee tastes--working at a coffee shop will do that to a person.

Plain soy milk in coffee was just disgusting. Even Very Vanilla Soymilk didn't really cut it for me. I tried Coconut Milk Creamer--totally gross. I didn't want to do it, but for a long time I started using Coffeemate non-dairy creamer. That stuff is really terrible for you--it's like drinking trans fat. I tried all different flavors, and they were tasty. My favorites were the sugar-free vanilla, which tasted like marshmallow to me, the peppermint mocha, and original, which was the closest taste to half and half that I could find. But they completely covered the taste of the coffee as well, which is okay if you are drinking ground Foldgers, but not okay if you bought a new bag of fresh, whole bean Caribou Blend. What can I say? I love my coffee.

Then I realized that when I ordered a soy mocha or soy latte at Starbucks it tasted amazing. So why didn't my coffee taste amazing when I added vanilla soy milk? The answer was in the steaming. I don't really know why, but heated soy milk in coffee tastes ten times better than cold soy milk in coffee. Especially when that soy milk is very, very sweet. The sweeter the better.

So after all of my experiments and attempts to find the perfect healthy replacement for half and half I have finally found the answer, and I wanted to pass along my knowledge, which is actually a small recipe.

Ingredients
8ounce cup of coffee
1/3 cup Silk Very Vanilla Soymilk
1 packet of Splenda

Directions
1. Mix the soymilk and Splenda in a microwave safe mug and heat for 30 seconds.
2. Pour in the fresh, hot gourmet coffee and find your happy place.

New Tip
You can also substitute vanilla soy milk with soy vanilla ice cream-it's also a great cream alternative to your coffee, and helps it cool down as well.

Summer Vacation Peach Cobbler

Even busy girls like to cook something more involved now and then, which is why I am supplying the full from-scratch recipe to my mom's unparalleled peach cobbler. Putting this recipe together is fairly simple, but you can make it much easier on yourself by using already sliced frozen or canned peaches and a premixed flour mixture such as Bisquick Light. Just add the sugar, lemon, milk, egg, and oil blend. I do recommend that you make the dough from scratch, however, because the premix version just isn't the same.

This is not the exact recipe--I've altered it to fit the dairy-free lifestyle and made it healthier by eliminating butter and substituting the sugar with Splenda. One cup Splenda instead of one cup sugar = a lot fewer calories. Likewise, 4 tablespoons of a non-hydrogenated solid oil blend like Smart Balance or Earth Balance eliminates an entire cup of unhealthy fats. You can use one cup of sugar and 1 cup of shortening (which is what the original recipe calls for), but my version is amazing and much less fattening. With the suggestion of my mom, I've also substituted peach schnapps for almond extract to give it a summer vacation twist. The result is divine. This dessert is not complicated and will never interfere with your ability to wear a string bikini, which is why it's perfect for summer vacation!

Ingredients
3 cups sliced peaches
1 cup granulated Splenda
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest (optional)
1/2 teaspoon of peach schnapps (optional)

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
3 tablespoons sugar, divided
4 tablespoons oil blend
1/2 cup vanilla soymilk
1 beaten egg

Busy Girl Preparation for Peaches:

1. Open bag of sliced, skinned, frozen peaches. Rinse three cups worth under water to remove ice and set in bowl containing one tablespoon of lemon juice. 

If using fresh peaches, which is the tastier way to do it, the easiest way to skin them is by parboiling:

Click to zoom in and see the "X."

More Time Consuming Preparation for Peaches:

What you will need:

• 6 large ripe yellow peaches
• Large bowl filled with ice water
• Large pot with enough water to cover peaches
• Slotted spoon
• Cutting board
• Knife
• Lemon Juice

Directions for Parboiling

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Meanwhile, rinse the peaches. Slice an "X" on each peach to create an easy opening for skin removal. Place peaches in the boiling water for one to two minutes depending on ripeness. Remove with a slotted spoon and immediately place in ice water to stop them from cooking. After they are cool enough to handle you can remove them from the bowl. Drain the ice water and replace it with one tablespoon of lemon juice. The skin from the peaches should come off easily as you start removing from the X. If you have trouble, just get the rest of the skin with a peeler. Peel the skin and pit the peaches, slice and add to the bowl with lemon juice. Ready to make your cobbler!

Remaining Peach Cobbler Directions

1. To your bowl of sliced peaches and lemon juice, add Splenda, lemon zest, and peach schnapps. Stir peaches until evenly coated. Pour mixture into a 9inch square baking dish.
2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and place the peach mixture in the oven to warm while you mix the dough.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and one tablespoon of real sugar. 
4. Melt your 4 tablespoons of oil blend such as Earth Balance in the microwave for 20 seconds.
5. Combine soymilk, oil blend, and lightly beaten egg in small bowl, then add to flour mixture and stir until smooth. The mixture should be light and fluffy.
6. Take the peaches out of the oven, and spoon the dough on top, forming as even a layer as possible. Sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar on top.
7. Bake for 35 minutes, or until brown. Enjoy your peach cobbler warm by itself or with vanilla ice cream! Mmm.