Granola Bites

I have a mild obsession with bento boxes. I love how cute they make food look. I've been following a couple of bento blogs for awhile now and it finally hit me that bentos are perfect for Weight Watchers. Everything is pre-portioned out in small serving sizes and it makes boring lunches a little more fun.

So, I started making my own bento-like lunches. I don't have all of the cute egg shapers, sandwich cutters, and garnishes that typical bentos use. I don't even have a real bento box, I just use Rubbermaid Snap & Store containers. Once Max starts school in a few years, I'm sure I'll get all of the cutesy stuff to make his lunches with but until then, I'm ok with my plain food stuck in containers.

It has been a tremendous help in keeping my lunches within points limits, healthy, and fun. I forces me to think about what I'm going to have to eat and how much I'm going to eat. I have to prepare my lunches the night before, so it also helps me pre-plan my points for the following day.

I found that I was having trouble finding a good dessert/sweet snack for my lunch that was fairly low in points buy still filling. So, I did what I usually do and went searching on my favorite blogs. I found an awesome granola recipe that can be made in mini muffin cups to make them bite-size! The points are pretty low and could be even lower if you wanted to use liquid Splenda instead of honey and/or omit the chocolate chips. I think they are good the way they are.

Granola Bites

From Another Lunch

Ingredients
2 1/2 Cups Quick Oats
1/2 Cup Crispy Rice Cereal
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar, packed
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 Cup Canola Oil
1/4 Cup Honey
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
1/2 Cup Mini Chocolate Chips

Optional (not in points calculation):
3 Tablespoons Ground Flax Seed
3 Tablespoons Wheat Germ

Directions

1. Liberally grease mini muffin cups with cooking spray.
2. Preheat oven to 350F.
3. In a large bowl, mix all ingredients except for the chocolate chips.
4. Take your time mixing so the dry ingredients can really soak up the wet ingredients. If it seems too dry, add in a teaspoon more oil.
5. Continue to mix until the ingredients begin to form small clumps or balls.
6. Add in the chocolate chips.
7. Fill each muffin cup with granola and pack down firmly.
8. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until golden brown.
9. Remove from oven to cooling rack.
10. IMPORTANT: Do not remove the bites from the pan until they are completely cooled! This will take several hours. Removal prior to cooling will result in crumbly granola.
11. Once completely cool, remove from the pan and store in an airtight container.

Yields: 30 bites

Creamy Non-Dairy Rice Pudding

I love rice pudding, tapioca pudding, chocolate pudding, pistachio pudding...well, just about any kind of pudding really. I love the texture in rice and tapioca puddings. The creaminess of the custard pudding combined with the soft rice. Yum.

My problem has always been the amount of time it takes to make. I also didn't want to have to use a half gallon of milk to make it. Once I get the craving for rice pudding I want it now, not in 2 hours. This recipe takes a total of 40 minutes, and that includes the time to cook the rice. I usually just use leftover rice so that cuts the time down to 20 minutes.

Typical rice pudding calls for regular white rice. I have used Basmati and Jasmine to make this recipe. I think using these fragrant rices really adds to the sweetness and flavor of the pudding. The medium and long grain rices will also give a creamier pudding because of the starch content. I've also seen recipes that use Spanish yellow rice along with Spanish seasonings to make Cuban Arroz con Leche. I plan to try it with brown rice as well but I think I'll need to make a few adjustments for sweetness and texture. I'll update if I ever get around to trying it out.

Creamy Non-Dairy Rice Pudding

Ingredients

3/4 Cups Uncooked Rice (or 1 1/2 Cups Cooked Rice)
1 1/2 Cups Water
2 Cups Unsweetened, Unflavored, Soy Milk (you could also use vanilla soy/almond milk for more flavor and sweetness)
2/3 Cups Sugar
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
1 Large Egg, Beaten
1 Tablespoon Margarine
1 Tablespoon Vanilla
1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1 Teaspoon Nutmeg
Optional: 2/3 Cup Raisins (some people like to soak the raisins in rum prior to adding)

Directions

If you are using leftover rice, skip steps 1 & 2.

1. Boil the water in a sauce pan.
2. Add the rice to the boiling water and cook for 20 minutes, until all the water is absorbed.
3. Add the sugar, salt, and 1 1/2 cups milk to the rice.
4. Cook over medium heat until thick and creamy, about 15 minutes.
5. In a small bowl, beat the egg with 1/2 cup milk.
6. Add the egg/milk to the rice pudding.
7. Add the raisins.
8. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
9. Remove from heat and add the margarine, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Serve the pudding warm. If you choose to serve the pudding cold, you will have to add about 1/2 cup more milk since the pudding thickens as it cools.

Yields: 6 servings

Quick, easy, and yummy. This recipe even won over Vince, who was convinced that rice pudding was a bland and flavorless glob.