Creamy Vanilla Risotto Rice Pudding

It is no secret that I have a mild fetish for rice pudding. If I come across a new recipe for rice pudding, whether it be Blueberry Brown Rice Pudding, or just Old Fashioned Rice Pudding. All puddings of rice are good by me. So when baking angel Joy the Baker posted a new Rice Pudding recipe, that was not only a delicious looking pudding, but a completely new method of making a rice pudding, how could I possibly resist.

Rice pudding is just a comforting eating experience. Its like a warm duvet, fluffy socks, or soft pyjamas. Its like a velvety, creamy, delicious hug. And I am in dire need of hugs and warm comfort at the moment so I feel totally justified in making rice pudding for dinner.
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Grand Marnier Marshmallows

I currently have a little more time on my hands than usual, and so I have been looking over all the things I have never made that I always meant to, and have been watching the Food Network (its dangerously addictive) and being even more inspired. So I have started Rum and Raisin truffles, and this morning I have completed Adults-only Grand Marnier Marshmallows.

I saw the Marshmallows in a copy of the Delicious Magazine earlier this year, and I always wanted to make them, but I never quite got up the courage. After my impressive failures with sugar-based treats such as fudge and nougat, I was not ready for yet another pile of goo to be chucked in the bin. But I was reading over the recipe again and thought I'd take the plunge. I mean, I have to get lucky once in a while don't I?
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Super Natural Brocolli Gribiche

Last month I discovered Heidi Swanson and her latest book Super Natural Every Day. I have been trying to make my lunches and dinners a bit on the health side lately, and that is how I came across Heidi's site. Her focus on primarily natural, whole foods and ingredients that can be used and prepared at home. Now I cannot pretend to be giving up butter, sugar or chocolate, but I do believe that balance is important an in order for me to get away with baking as much as I do, I need to balance all the indulgent baked bounty with some nutritious, good for you, give your arteries a hug healthy stuff. The good thing is that I do really enjoy healthy food. I love vegetables and quinoa and brown rice (even when its not in pudding form) and I am quite happy to often cook vegetarian.

So when I got hold of Heidi's book and started reading about the virtues of quinoa, tofu, soba noodles and chickpeas, I did start making an mental inventory of what is in my brimming cupboards at home. I do have white flour and sugar, and I could certainly make an effort not to eliminate these as a lot of baking demands these components, but to mix things up a bit. Start mixing in whole flours and brown sugars and even more nuts and fruits and good stuff. I can do that :)
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Lemon and Blueberry Birthday Cake

I am always on the look out for an excuse to make a big bad behemouth of a cake. Sky High by name and by nature is how I like my cake. Don't get me wrong, I know that size isn't everything, but nothing quite compares to the splendour of a 3-tier monster. So whenI heard it was our graphic designer's birthday this week, and his girlfriend's birthday as well, I jumped at the chance to make him a cake. And not just any cake, a big, beautiful one. I do love causing a ooohs and aaahs and smiles. And I got some this time :)

I was trying to think of what kind of cake to make and what he would like. I looked at a vanilla latte cake (he likes coffee), tiramisu cake (who doesn't like tiramisu?), big chocolate fudge cake (cant go wrong with chocolate), but when I found the triple lemon blueberry layer cake, I was sold. I know he likes a lemon cake, and this one is packed with beautiful big blueberries, layered with terrifically tangy lemon curd and smothered with sultry smooth lemon buttercream. Yum with a capital Y!
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Pumpkin Biscotti

When my dear friend Sandra left the Manchester for the altogether warmer & sunnier city of Dubai, I inherited some useful and interesting baking ingredients. None of these came close to making up for the fact that she was leaving, that is a very sad fact ( :( ), but a little baking with interesting ingredients does do a little to soothe my sadness.

You don't get canned pumpkin puree in the UK. You can buy it online for an exorbitant price of course, but that is just not worth it. I could just buy a whole pumpkin and massacre it myself, but I am not feeling quite enthusiastic enough for that. And its not the right time of year for fresh pumpkin anyway (thats my excuse and I'm sticking to it). So when I gleaned a tin of pumpkin puree from Sandra's cupboard, I started to mull over all the potential uses. I have made pumpkin brownies before, and I did not want to be quite traditional enough to go with a pumpkin pie, so I settled on biscotti for my first half of the tin of pumpkin.
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Raisin Oat Pancakes

I do try to eat healthily, I really do. I buy kale by the huge bagful and tomatoes by the branch. I have bushes of herbs outside my back door. I stock up on bananas, strawberries and blueberries to accompany my granola and muesli breakfasts. But sometimes, just occasionally, one needs pancakes for breakfast.

I do believe all things in moderation are ok. A glass of wine, not a whole bottle. A couple of chocolate truffles, not an entire boxful. Pancakes for breakfast now and again, not every day. Besides, these pancakes have oats, and raisins so they aren't all bad and indulgent. And you're allowed to indulge occasionally, thats ok. Just make sure you go to the gym afterwards. Or go for a run. Or get on your exercise bike/cross-trainer that I know has been acting as a glorified clothes horse in your house for the last year.

 
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Coffee, Pear and Amaretti Drizzle Cake

A good pear is hard to find. And when you do find one, one that smells sweet, feels soft, but not too soft, and tastes like manna from heaven, it is very, very hard not to gobble it up straight away. It is hard to peel it, cut it up into little pieces, resist devouring those, and then put it into a cake.

I rarely buy pears as more often than not, they are rock hard when you buy them, and they stay rock hard for about 2 weeks, and then they begin to rot. They never actually ripen. So I tend to save myself the anguish of being teased with the promise of pear loveliness that ends in rotten disappointment. Last week I found some good pears.
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