Make Something New -- Arroz Con Leche

Me encanta el arroz con leche. Es delicioso.

I love arroz con leche. My husband and I have an ongoing "discussion" about it. He likes it soupy. I like it more like a pudding consistency. When I was in Spain I had it frequently -- it was cold and it was delicious -- and it was pudding-like, as arroz con leche should be (I think).

Actually, I prefer it warm, but that doesn't matter.

I made arroz con leche for the first time as a treat for my Spanish class. Here's the recipe:
(I googled it, but made some changes.)

4 c. milk (whole milk is optimal, but if it scares you, use the highest fat milk you are comfortable with... the recipe will still work)
1-1/4 c. water
1 c. rice (it's true ... you don't use much rice at all)
2 cinnamon sticks
1/4 teas. salt
1/2 can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 c. raisins, soaked in water to plump 'em up
2 teas. vanilla

Bring milk and water to a light boil. Stir in rice, add cinnamon sticks and cover and cook on low for about 30 minutes. Then, remove the sticks and add all other ingredients. Continue cooking on low heat for about 10 minutes.

As the arroz con leche cools, it will become more solid. We had it last night and it was a soupy consistency. By morning, it was solid and I had to add more milk.

It's delicious as a dessert or for breakfast. Raisins are optional but delicious. Some recipes say to add butter or a spoonful of brandy before serving. No need -- it's wonderful as is.

The best thing? Another cheapo magnifico food. I made a double recipe for about 5 dollars. If you don't have cinnamon sticks it doesn't matter -- just put a little cinnamon in. Even nutmeg will work in a pinch - I looked at many different recipes. The classic presentation uses cinnamon sticks, however.

Then, you sing:
"Arroz con leche
me quiero casar
con una viudita de la capital.
Que sepa coser
que sepa bordar
que ponga la mesa en su santo lugar."

And you are glad that we have moved on in priorities :)

Mac and Cheese

A couple of years ago I was vegging out watching Alton Brown do a whole episode on how to make macaroni and cheese. I didn't write down the recipe, and I'm certainly not going to buy the expensive cheese he used, but I did learn how to make a mean mac and cheese.

I'm home with the little one today, and we wanted a quick lunch. Sliced fruit and mac and cheese. I grew up on Kraft, but it seems to be getting more and more expensive (around .80 a box.... seems extreme, considering what it is). I bought 3 boxes of the store brand on sale -- 3 for a dollar. Let me just say... BLECH!! (In case you're wondering, the store brand is from HEB. Their Hill Country Fare macaroni and cheese is punishment food).

Not wanting to toss the box or, God forbid, punish someone even less well-off than me, I decided to doctor up the Mac and cheese. Use the mac. Toss the gross "cheese sauce mix". Enter Alton with a simple bechamel sauce.

Usually this is the part of cooking shows where I start to laugh. Right... a "simple bechamel sauce". Has a French name -- can't be simple. Ah, but it is. And delicious.

Start with some butter and a little bit of flour. Melt the butter and stir in the flour, making a roux ( I think this is the correct spelling.)

Add some milk, stirring in between little pours. It will thicken as you stir. If it gets too thin, just stop adding milk, or sprinkle a LITTLE flour in. (Not too much, or it will get clumpy).

Add your favorite cheese, grated, or sliced thinly.

Alton and I like to put in some pepper and a little nutmeg. The nutmeg really makes the dish.

Pour this scrumdidilyicious cheese sauce over some macaroni. If you're feeling fancy, you can sprinkle additional cheese on top and pop it under the broiler for a minute or so. I don't usually (ever) feel fancy. This mac and cheese is delish on its own. The other beautiful thing about it is that I almost always have all the ingredients.

Bechamel sauce is one of those classic sauces that works for a lot of recipes. Want alfredo? Put in parmesan instead of cheddar. Use cream instead of milk if you want it to be creamier.

image from inmagine.com

Pad Thai can save the world

Last summer I read a book which I of course can not remember the title to. The book was about 7 things that we can do to save the planet (or change the world? Something like that.) If you know what book I'm talking about, please send me a comment so I can stop rambling.

Anyway! One of the things was Pad Thai. Huh. How can Pad Thai save the planet? Well, the idea is that we should eat vegetarian meals. According to the Vegetarian Guide, going meatless is the "single most powerful action you can take to save energy and reduce pollution." Wow. I have had my students read an article about this, and most of them think it's hooey. Maybe because it's Texas. I'm not sure. But I have seen this message more and more and the numbers (again, from the above source) seem believable.

• It takes 54 calories of energy to produce 1 calorie of energy in beef. That's insane. (Numbers on this vary, but they're all really high. Some sites even say that if you get all your energy from beef, you pollute more by walking than by using the car. The message here is not that we should drive, but that we should not eat so much meat.)
• Water pollution -- it takes 5214 gallons of water to produce one pound of meat. This is something that I had not really thought of before. You use 5200 gallons in a whole year of showering, so you could save that by giving up one pound of meat.
  
• Land -- meat requires more land than plants. It takes 16 pounds of grain to produce one pound of meat. That's just not efficient.

Never mind animal welfare, smell, worries about contamination, price, etc. It is better for the planet to eat vegetarian as much as possible. It's also less expensive (especially if you only buy happy meat, which has REALLY decreased my meat consumption).

Today I used my beautiful mung bean sprouts to make Pad Thai. (Last week I started the sprouts). They expanded, filling a large yogurt container -- next time I won't use so many beans. So, for 15 cents, I got a ton of organic sprouts and a botany lesson.

I used a Martha Stewart recipe for the pad thai, but it was ridiculously complicated and dirtied a bowl and 4 pots and pans. Crazy. So, I simplified it a little. It was delish! My friend said it was like eating in a restaurant :)

Pad Thai to Save the World

8 oz. rice noodles (maybe use more, b/c we needed more noodles)
1/4 c. sugar
3 T white vinegar
3 T fish sauce
2 T + 1 teas. molasses (it calls for 1 T tamarind paste, but I don't have this lying around. This is a substitution. The 1 teas. is to make the white sugar into brown sugar b/c I ran out of brown)
1/4 teas. ground red pepper
1/2 lb. string beans
1/2 lb. sugar snap peas
2 T canola oil
2 minced shallots
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 c. fresh mung bean sprouts (use more -- they're so good)
3 scallions, dice green part
chopped roasted peanuts for garnish

Soak noodles in warm water for 20 minutes.
In large skillet or wok, heat oil. Add shallots and garlic & stirfry. Add string beans and snow peas. Stir fry (don't burn garlic!) Add sugar, vinegar, molasses, fish sauce and red pepper. Add noodles and 1/2 c. bean sprouts. Warm everything.

Serve with bean sprout, peanut and scallion garnish.

Serves 4

I was really happy with this recipe. The ingredients cost a total of 6 dollars to feed my whole family, and that's including the fish sauce, which was 2.99 (there's a ton left over). It might cost you less because I bought all the ingredients at WF (but I did use all my own bags, gleaning a 50 cent bag credit.)

Richard Barrow give a similar recipe here.

Whole Foods has started Composting!
I have been jealous of other people who can compost their food waste, and so far my worms are being a little slow in the eating department, but on my visit today I saw that WF in Austin is now composting paper and food waste. Wow.

Where does the compost go? If you know, post a comment.

Image from myrecipes.com