November | 2015 | I Crashed The Web

I’m not gonna lie, it was a pretty uneventful weekend. Yes, it was Halloween, but I was getting over a cold (thanks, air travel!), and feeling tired and not too in the mood to do anything exciting.

Friday night included Souper Market takeout and catching up on Netflix. No photos needed – I mean, don’t you know what soup and old How I Met Your Mother episodes look like?

Saturday morning, B had signed us up for a Halloween themed 5 mile race. B dressed up as Ron Burgundy and I dressed up as a dinosaur. I still can’t believe B ran 5 miles in a turtleneck, blazer and grey slacks. That’s commitment!

20151031_094920

After the race, we decided to do our typical Saturday routine. We hadn’t been in town in a while, so it was great to go to the Market and grab some tea. Warm ginger tea and honey with a cold = amazing.

20151031_115104

Saturday afternoon, I did some baking and B did some cooking. We had plans to go to Dave and Anson’s house for trick-or-treaters and scary movie night. B made amazing deep dish pizzas to bring – they were so good I forgot to take a photo until we had eaten half of them.

20151101_083728

20151031_204358

For our annual scary movie night, we opted to watch Saw. It’s a movie I’ve seen a few times, but Dave and Anson hadn’t seen it and since it was going off Netflix Nov. 1, we decided to watch it.

Sunday morning, thanks to Daylight Saving, we got up pretty early and decided to get some brunch at Phuel. I’m a big fan of their yogurt and granola parfait.

20151101_092545

After brunch, since it was 60s and gorgeous, we decided to get in a long walk in the Metroparks. The fall colors were looking beautiful and I enjoyed a free Starbucks beverage on the walk. It was pretty much a the perfect fall scene – and the RED CUPS are out already! I’m not ready for red cup season yet.

20151101_103837 20151101_121808

After the walk, B and I watched the Browns game and may have taken a nap. That’s two naps for me in one weekend – a new record! I’m taking advantage of getting sleep when I can, especially with this cold.

Family dinner on Sunday night ended with a great dessert – B’s mom made carrot cake and it was AMAZING. I’m not a huge cake person (I prefer cookies and ice cream) – but carrot cake. Oh my. And this one was delicious!

carrotcake

And that was it! See, a pretty uneventful weekend.

Some questions for you:

What’s your favorite type of cake?
Do you have a favorite scary movie?
Do you like naps?

Have I mentioned I’m a Meatless Monday blogger? I am! And while I’m not a vegetarian, I do enjoy the occasional meatfree dish.

That’s why when I was provided a package from Lotus Foods with a few different meatless, carbalicious (rice and ramen) yum yums, I was super excited to try them out and share the recipes with you. I had also recently gotten some coupons from Silk and was interested in seeing what I could make from the both – what could I do to combine Silk’s dairy free milk with Lotus Foods package?

goodies from Lotus Foods!

I’ll have some savory meals coming soon, but first off, I knew I had to try making some rice pudding. My mom always made such good rice pudding growing up. It was creamy, soothing, warm, and so so so delicious. Inspired by memories of her dessert, I bring you Almond Milk Volcano Rice Pudding. Probably a little better for you than the version I had growing up, but still pretty good!

Almond Milk Volcano Rice Pudding

Almond Milk Volcano Rice Pudding

2 cups almond milk – I used Silk unsweetened original
1/2 cup rice – I used the Lotus Foods Organic Volcano Rice
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/3 c. maple syrup

the ingredients – so few and so simple! (minus maple syrup. it was camera shy)

Here’s what you do:

Place the almond milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a gentle bubble and lower the heat to simmer.
Add the rice and season it with the cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom. Stir until the spices are evenly coating the rice and almond milk. Cook for 10 minutes until milk is starting get absorbed.
Pour into an oven-safe pan and cook for 20-30 minutes at 350 degrees until nearly all of the milk is absorbed. Serve warm or cold, topped with additional cinnamon and maple syrup if you like.

Some questions for you:

Have you ever had volcanic rice? What did you think of it?
What’s your favorite rice dish? I need new recipes!
Do you have a favorite childhood dessert?

Disclosure: While I was not compensated for this post, product was provided to me by Silk and Lotus Foods. My views and comments are solely my own and do not represent those of Lotus Foods or Silk.

For more Meatless Monday posts, check out some of my past recipes or visit the linkup below!