I love desserts. Oh, how I envy you people who don’t have a sweet tooth. Really, how does one become like that? I love sugar in all it’s various forms. You know those sickly sweet icing roses on store bought cakes? Love them. I could eat them by the spoonful until my teeth turned hideous shades of bright pink or green from the dye.
My problem…I don’t bake. So much of everything I love requires baking. And really I guess it is good that I don’t bake, what if I did? And what if I knew how to make those sickly sweet roses? My fridge would be filled with everything needed to make that happen, forget veggies and fruit.
So, instead, I make Almond Brown Rice Pudding from Whole Foods. This was perfect, not to sweet, just right, and fairly healthy. Except for the fact that two days after I made this, I read about arsenic in rice. But I figure there is bad stuff in everything. Everything. So, I will make this and eat it whenever I feel like it.
The only changes I made to the recipe was I skipped the date syrup step, omitted the vanilla and almond extract and just used sweetened vanilla almond milk instead.
Almond Brown Rice Pudding
- 1/2 cup pitted dates
- 1 cup uncooked brown rice
- 4 cups unsweetened vanilla almondmilk
- 1/2 cup raisins
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup toasted, chopped slivered almonds
Place dates in a bowl and pour 1/2 cup boiling water over them. Let soak 15 minutes, then transfer dates and water to a blender and puree until smooth to make a date syrup. Meanwhile, bring rice and almondmilk to a boil in a medium saucepan. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until rice is cooked and has absorbed most of the almondmilk, stirring occasionally, about 45 minutes.
Stir date syrup, raisins, vanilla extract, almond extract, cinnamon and almonds into rice and serve warm.
Serves 6
Rachel Cotterill says
October 15, 2012 at 8:35 pmi’m addicted to baking but it’s my husband who has the sweet tooth in our house. I love rice pudding and this sounds great – aresnic or no! 🙂
grace says
October 15, 2012 at 8:21 pmi, on the other hand, feel sorry for people who don’t delight in desserts! think of what they’re missing! 🙂
Marjie says
October 15, 2012 at 6:46 pmI’m the only person in my household who loves almond flavored everything. It’s awesome. I make something, they eat “some”, and there are leftovers for me the next day! And I love sweets, too. I don’t understand how anyone could not just adore desserts. I’ve never tried brown rice in rice pudding; it sounds interesting.
Couscous & Consciousness says
October 15, 2012 at 2:36 pmI love the sound of this – all those almonds & almond flavourings, raisins, dates, vanilla & cinnamon – divine. Only problem, I simply cannot do rice pudding. There’s is something about rice, as soon as it becomes sweet, that activates my gag reflex – just can’t help it. On the other hand I know that I could substitute quinoa instead & love it. Can’t wait to try – I would love it for breakfast.
Catherine says
October 15, 2012 at 12:01 pmThis looks really yummy ~ and healthy!
I usually go for sweet rather than salty so I guess I have a sweet tooth too!
xo Catherine
Pam says
October 15, 2012 at 3:34 pmIt looks and sounds delicious.
Joanne says
October 15, 2012 at 10:41 amAs someone who seriously DOES have a sweet tooth and DOES bake constantly…I can tell you to be happy that you don’t! Although I’m quite the sucker for rice pudding also…and this one sounds extra delicious!
Amy says
October 15, 2012 at 12:30 pmWhen asked this morning on Facebook “what’s your favorite snack?” My answer was sugar. Those icing roses wouldn’t stand a chance in my house.
Barbara says
October 15, 2012 at 11:37 amI figure there’s something bad in just about everything we ingest and frankly, if we knew about all of it, we’d never eat or drink anything. I’m not going to worry about it and eat all the rice I want. 🙂 Starting with this recipe, which I’ve never seen before and looks easy to make and very comforting.