Mexican Restaurant Rice

Just that simple tasty rice you get with dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Perfect for a home dinner with tacos and beans.

1 cup long grain rice

2 cups water or chicken broth

1 TBS tomato bouillon (such as Knorr brand)

2 TBS vegetable or olive oil

In a skillet, heat the oil over medium heat.

Add rice, and cook and stir until rice is a nice golden brown and smells toasty. Do not burn!

Add the water and then the tomato bouillon.

Stir to combine.

Reduce heat to simmer, cover, and allow to cook about 20 minutes.

You may add a small amount of peas, diced carrots or onion, if desired, during the cooking time.

Vanilla Bread Pudding

Aunt Fae's recipe - soooo good! Hope I can make it anywhere near as well as she does!

4 cups soft bread cubes

1/2 tsp. salt

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 TBS vanilla

2 cups milk

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 cup slivered almonds (optional)

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Place bread crumbs in lightly greased 8" X 8" baking pan. Mix together eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, sugar and milk. Pour over bread cubes and top with slivered almonds, if desired. Bake in 350 degree oven 50 - 60 mins. or until a knife comes out clean. Serve with nutmeg sauce.

Nutmeg Sauce:

1 cup sugar

2 TBS butter or margarine

1/8 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

2 tbs. cornstarch

1 tsp. vanilla

2 cups water

Dissolve cornstarch in cold water and place in saucepan. Add other ingredients and cook until thick and smooth.

It is yummy!!

**Note: since I don't really like the flavor of nutmeg, I'm going to try making the sauce with cinnamon instead.

Hot Chocolate

My mom always made hot chocolate from scratch... SO delicious! I use my cocoa cup for measuring the milk, and a regular teaspoon (not a measuring spoon) for the cocoa and sugar.

For each cup of hot chocolate:

1 cup milk

2 heaping teaspoons of Hershey's unsweetened cocoa powder

2 - 3 teaspoons sugar or the equivalent of sugar substitute (I know it's a lot, but hey, this is an indulgence!)

a tiny pinch of salt

I just place all the ingredients in my Cocomotion machine, and it does the rest.

If you don't have a machine:

Mix the cocoa powder, sugar, and salt together.

Add to warmed milk and stir with whisk to combine and continue heating.

Serve piping hot... with marshmallows if desired!

NOTE: When making 3 or more servings, I add a little (a little!) vanilla extract -- this gives it an extra rich and yummy kick. But be careful with the vanilla because it can take over the flavor of the cocoa. I find that when making just one or two cups, it's almost impossible to get the vanilla right, so I just leave it out.