Leftover rice

They say that when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Better yet, I'd say that when life gives you leftover rice and you're out of other things to eat for breakfast, make rice pudding. Much less elegant, but  much more filling.

No bread, no cereal. This morning, the situation looked grim. I made tea, worked for a bit, and avoided the thought of making breakfast. I googled "rice breakfast," thinking I might do something Asian with the leftover rice from last night, maybe throw a poached egg on top of some fried rice. The first results turned out to be rice pudding, which I was lucky enough to have the makings for.

I threw together what amounted to be probably a cup or so of leftover rice, a cup of milk, and a hand full and a half of raisins into a pot, cracked one egg, and stirred it well. For sweetness, I dripped in a few tablespoons of maple syrup (though honey or white sugar would probably do the trick), and sprinkled in a bit of cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. I brought it to a boil, stirred some more, and let it simmer for maybe 5-7 minutes. This is a really satisfying breakfast for very little work. Sweet, hearty, and it warms the cockles. Great for the winter, especially if it happened to be winter outside!

Steel Cut Oats

I've been reading Mark Bittman's blog daily, and I'll probably reference him regularly. He's a great journalist, food writer, and cook. I'm looking forward to reading his newest book Food Matters about food and climate change. Today's featured recipe is steel-cut oats for breakfast, a favorite of mine. These take a little longer than your humble Quaker oats, but they're way better for you and exponentially more delicious. The possibilities for toppings are nearly endless. Most mornings, I load mine up with with raisins, bananas, brown sugar, ground flax seed, and a little warm milk. It's like your dream breakfast cereal come to life with fresh ingredients: sweet, fruity, and a little nutty from the oat's natural flavor and the flax. Fresh fruit is also a nice addition when you have it. I find that raisins are a healthy, cheap mainstay for 2 bucks/bag at Trader Joe's. This is the breakfast equivalent of a steak.

The water-to-oat ratio is 4-to-1. A man-size serving is about a 1/3 cup. A two-man-size serving is 1/2 cup (if you know you've got a busy day ahead, this can tide you over until dinner) .