Mango Rice Pudding

Jen, Lynnette and I were all given a Thai cooking class by our husbands, for Christmas last year.  It was a really fun class, with delicious food to make and eat, plus we got a lot of new recipes that hopefully someday we'll try again!  One of the recipes I did try pretty soon after, and it was just as delicious as it had been in the class.  Mango Rice Pudding is one of my favorite treats, and this recipe is so easy and so much cheaper than buying it at a Thai restaurant.

Mango Rice Pudding
by: Meiling Dawson

4 c. cooked short grain white rice
2 cans coconut milk
1 can sweetened condensed milk 
fresh mango, cut into small chunks (to equal 2 cups of mango chunks)

In a large pot, combine the rice, coconut milk and sweetened condensed milk.  Cover it and cook it on low heat for about 20 minutes.  Let it cool for 10 minutes, and then stir in the mango chunks.  You can eat this warm or cold, and store the leftovers in your fridge.  When it is chilled, it will become more firm, and you can add milk to make it softer again.

Kalua Pork (Gluten Free)

My mother-in-law is in town again.  That means that I have to think Gluten Free in my cooking.  Which is actually pretty hard for me to do.  My friend, Jacque, was also in town and told me to try this recipe, given to her from her sis-in-law, who does all gluten free cooking.  She actually has a great website: www.eatingglutenfree.com.  Anyway, this recipe was super easy (in fact, it was ridiculously easy) and very tasty.  And, of course, gluten free.

Kalua Pork (or is it Khalua?)
from: Jacque

1 2-3 lb. pork roast
1/2 Tbsp. salt
4 Tbsp. liquid smoke
1 c. water

In a crockpot, pour the salt, liquid smoke and water over the pork roast.  Cook it on high for 6-8 hours.  When it is done, shred it with a fork and serve it over rice.  You can add pineapple to the top of it, which I thought added so much to the taste.  But I do love sweet with salty.  You could also get creative with veggies, or cheese, or whatever you wanted to spice it up a bit.  But it was delicious simple, too!

Super Moist Almond Poppy Seed Bundt Cake (Which Can Be Done Gluten Free!)

My mother-in-law is gluten intolerant.  She is in town this week and so we tried out a new cake one night.  This is a semi-homemade cake, and it is really only gluten free because of the gluten free cake mix that she bought.  You could make the cake non-gluten free by using a regular old cake mix.  And it would probably still be delicious.  But, if you can't do gluten, this ended up being easy, moist and delicious.  My mother-in-law says she will never make gluten-free cake any other way now!

Almond Poppy Seed Bundt Cake
adapted from: allrecipes.com

1 yellow cake mix (we used a gluten free cake mix)
1 package instant vanilla pudding (the small box)
2 Tbsp. poppy seeds
1 c. water
1/2 c. oil
4 eggs
2 tsp. almond extract

Almond Glaze
I didn't really measure my ingredients for this glaze, but I used appoximately:
2 c. powdered sugar
2 Tbsp. milk
1 tsp. butter
1/4 tsp. almond extract
1/2 c. sliced almonds

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour a bundt cake pan.  In a large mixing bowl, stir together the cake mix, pudding mix and poppy seeds.  Make a well in the center and add in the water, oil, eggs and almond extract.  Mix it for 30 seconds on low speed and then 4 minutes on medium speed.  Pour it into the cake pan.  Bake it for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Let it cool completely before removing it from the pan.
In a small bowl, mix together the powdered sugar, milk, butter, almond extract and stir it until it is smooth. Drizzle it over your cooled cake.  In a small frying pan, toast the almonds over medium heat until light brown.  Then sprinkle them on your cake.