day#16: twofer tuesday for the gluten free peeps

this first dish was a dish that could have been a disaster, but i didn't give up hope. i hate wasting food. i wanted to make a gluten free dessert without chocolate-(a super challenge for me) and thought, hmmm--it's been a while since i've had rice pudding. i think i'll make some. i looked over tons of vegan rice pudding recipes on the web. i moaned: i did NOT want to wait 4+hours to make it. i had an idea. what about putting the rice+milk in the rice cooker? it should work, right? it made the whole house smell like christmas, but the rice didn't cook. fail.

instead of tossing it all in the compost pile, i put the dish in a tupperware container and added more milk, and i let that soak overnight. the next day i reheated it in a pan with some smashed bananas, topped with some homemade raisins-(made by my own rabbi) pecans, a dot of EB, and just a touch of agave nectar. this turned out to be a better than average save! i brought some to work and had my omni and vegetarian employees try it. they both liked it quite a bit.

i'll call that little treat a cup of hope rice puddin' for mittenmachen, one of the ppk gluten free girls. her blog is really cute, and her food photography is wonderful!

here's how i made the pudding--feel free to make the rice first so you can avoid the failure.

in the rice cooker:
1 c sushi rice +2 c water. set your cooker to "cook" and walk away

• 2 c non dairy milk
• 2 t cinnamon
• 1/4 t cardamon
• 1/2 t ginger
• pinch of nutmeg
• 1 t vanilla
• 3 overripe bananas

mix cooked rice with other ingredients under low/med heat until nice, thick, and sticky. garnish with raisins, pecans, dot with EB-(or not), and a touch of agave nectar. this makes a great breakfast.

i have a limited range when it comes to seafood. i never had much exposure to it growing up so i can't tell you what crab really tastes like. fishy? i guess so. i wanted to make a stuffed mushroom with mock crab sort of thingy, and this is what i came up with. i tried these out on some omni friends that thought they were really good. i don't think these tasted crab like at all, just like spicy-quinoa-cheezy goodness!
these are called titty babies, for the great and illustrious kittee. she's the kind of person that oozes so much cool, all you can really do is stutter around her. i wish i were independently wealthy so i could hire her to be my personal creative assistant, because she's such a smart gluten free cookie.
here's the recipe. i love you, kittee!

titty baby mushroom whores d'vores:
you'll need:

• a bunch of button mushrooms, medium to large in size. wash 'em and scoop out the caps n' junk.
• 1 1/4 c. cooked quinoa
• 1 t powdered seaweed
• 2 big T veganaise
• 1.5 t red pepper flakes
• juice of a lemon
• pinch black pepper
• 1 t bragg's
• 1/2 c. daiya cheddar cheese-set aside

preheat the oven to 350. got yer mushrooms ready? grease a cookie sheet or rub some olive oil on a glass baking dish. mix the cooked quinoa and everything else-(except that cheese) and stuff that mixture lovingly into the caps. be gentle so you don't break the mushrooms. now, set these tittie babies in the baking dish/on cookie sheet take little bits o' the cheez and top them all. if you want to really go big, top 'em with fakin' bacon, but most bacon bits have wheat in them, and that would negate the whole GF thang.

cook uncovered for about 15-20 minutes. if you like a soggy mushroom cover with foil. enjoy!