Swedish Rice Porridge

What makes rice porridge different from rice pudding? It's not as sweet and isn't made with traditional custard ingredients, such as milk or cream and eggs, as some recipes do. The recipe I use comes from an old American Girl cookbook. I used to make it twice a month, but stopped a few years ago. I thought about it again during the end of my run on Sunday because I was hungry, tired, and wanted something filling to eat. The only downside is that it takes an hour or longer to prepare, but I had no problem nibbling while I waited.

To begin, jasmine rice gets cooked with butter, a cinnamon stick, and water. As that mixture simmered, I prepped the remaining ingredients. I measured out 4 cups of milk, chopped an apple, and measured the brown sugar and dried cranberries.

I've really been loving the pinch bowls I got from Wayfair.com. They're nice for snacks because there are measurement markers, so you can easily figure out how much you're portioning out. For backing and cooking, I can dump ingredients right in according to the lines.

Once the rice is ready, milk is added and heated just until it begins to simmer. The rest of the ingredients are stirred in and the porridge is cooked for 30-45 minutes, until the consistency is of a thick pudding. You can cook it a bit less if you want a somewhat runnier consistency.

I always have trouble with this step. Milk isn't supposed to boil because it will curdle. The recipe tells you to reduce heat to low and cover with a lid, stirring occasionally. Even after doing this, the liquid still sometimes boils! I guess I should leave the lid off next time. However, it didn't get too curdled, though it took just 25-30 minutes instead of 45. I can deal.

This rice porridge is comforting, delicious, and lightly sweetened. You could drizzle the top with honey or stir in more brown sugar, if you'd prefer. It might not be the most nutritional start to the day, though if you used brown rice it would be better for you.

Recipe after the jump.

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Swedish Rice Porridge
From American Girls Cookbook

If you would rather use brown rice, try preparing it the day before, proceeding to step 2.

ingredients -

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 cup white rice
1 cup water
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1 cinnamon stick
4 cups milk
1 large, firm apple, chopped
1/2 cup dried fruit, like raisins, cranberries, blueberries, or cherries
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla or lemon extract
Addition milk and sweeteners, if desired

directions -

1. Rub the finger onto the bottom of a 3-quart saucepan. Put the rice, water, cinnamon stick and salt in the saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Lower the heat to a simmer. Cover the pot and simmer for 10-15 minutes, or until all the water has been absorbed.


2. Pour the milk into the saucepan. Over medium heat, bring to a simmer. When the milk begins to simmer, turn heat down to low. Carefully add the apple, dried fruit, and brown sugar. Stir gently.


3. Cover the pan and simmer the porridge for 30-45 minutes. As it cooks, it will thicken. Stir occasionally.


4. When the porridge is the proper consistency, take the pot off the heat. Remove the cinnamon stick and stir in the extract. Serve with additional milk and honey.

Fiber One 90 Calorie Brownie Prize Pack Winner

Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway! The winner is commenter 12:

Sarah @ The Pajama Chef, 18 July, 2011 17:23

right now my fave healthy snack is fruit.

.

Congrats, Sarah! I'll be contacting you shortly for your info. Stay tuned for another giveaway coming soon.

Celebrate 75 Years with Goya Foods

Goya Foods is the leading Hispanic-owned companies, specializing in authentic Latino foods and ingredients. They distribute over 1,500 high-quality food products from every region of Latin America and Spain. Thanks to Goya's dedication to quality, you can be assured that using their products will liven up any meal you make.

To celebrate its 75th birthday, Goya has created a birthday extravaganza - Match Your Birthday! Game. It consists of an online game, on-pack game, mail-in sweepstakes and Goya's Greatest Fan video/photo/essay contest. In total, there are ten different opportunities for participants to potentially win $75,000! Consumers can also receive a special Goya 75th Birthday Gift Pack just by playing either the online or - on-pack game. Click the link to learn more.

Goya gave me a complete boxed set of six (6) Special Edition, 75th Anniversary Series Goya® Recipe Booklets. Each booklet features a different Latin cuisine and is written in both English and Spanish. The recipes look fantastic, and I can't wait to cook something from one of them soon.

Meanwhile, f you'd like to try a recipe with Goya now, take a look at my Baked Sweet Potato Taquitos.

Fiber One 90 Calorie Brownie Review + Giveaway

If you're looking for a sweet snack that won't break the bank, Fiber One has come out with a new line of 90 calorie snacks, this time in brownie form. The premise of the Fiber One line is in the name. Fiber helps keep you feeling full longer while keeping snack attacks away, and with 5 grams of fiber per bar, you get 20% of your daily fiber in the form of a delicious brownie. Each bar contains 90 calories, 5 grams of fiber, 3 grams of fat, 17 carbohydrates, and just 7 grams of sugar. It's a light snack, for sure, but it is tasty.

I was sent two boxes of Fiber One brownies, along with a fitness pack, from MyBlogSpark to review.

The Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownie is my favorite. The peanut butter flavor comes from peanut butter chips and icing, and "partially defatted peanut flour". The peanut butter didn't overpower the chocolate in the brownies, which I liked. At times, the peanut butter tasted almost like caramel. The texture surprised me. I figured, based on how it looked, that the brownie would be more cakey than fudgy, but it landed somewhere in the middle.

The Chocolate Fudge Brownie has a deep cocoa flavor that would be nice when eaten with a cup of coffee. Flavor wise, I like them both and while I typically stay away from reduced-calorie foods, in this case I'm happy because the sugar content has also been lowered.

I wouldn't call this a natural bar. While there aren't many additives, there are a few thickening ingredients and other stuff not normally present in homemade baked goods or brands that use whole ingredients. It does make for a good snack on the run, though, especially if you're a fan of chocolate and peanut butter.

Now, would you be interested in a giveaway? Along with the 90 calorie brownies, you'd also receive a fitness prize pack to aid your fitness goals. The prize pack contains a resuable water bottle, a jump rope, a headband, a fitness bag, a bracelet thing, and a nifty snack bowl with a freezable lid to keep foods chilled.

Isn't that cool? Pop the bowl (or just the lid) in the freezer, then fill the bowl with your snack and screw the lid on when you're ready to leave. The lid contains a freezer-safe gel that turns to ice when frozen. I like it.

Time for some giveaway rules! Here is how to enter the Fiber One 90 Calorie Brownie giveaway:

1. Leave a comment and tell me what your favorite healthy snack food is.


2. For a second entry, Tweet this giveaway and leave another comment with the link to your tweet.


3. For a third entry, like She Runs, She Eats on Facebook if you haven't already done so. Comment again to let me know.


4. And for one more chance to win, blog about this giveaway on your blog, linking to this post. Leave another comment.

This gives you up to four chances to be entered into the giveaway.

To be eligible, you must reside in the United States.

Giveaway ends Wednesday, July 20 at noon. Winner will be posted after noon. Good luck!

Gatorade G Series Fit

Hey guys, I'm back! I have a few fun giveaways and product reviews for you all coming up. Today, I'll be reviewing Gatorade's new G Series Fit products. I was contacted by a representative asking if I'd like to try them out. I said yes, and received the three items shown above. However, I've tried each flavor in each category before this review, so my knowledge extends beyond the three varieties above.

Relatively new from Gatorade, the G Series Fit target audience is the everyday athlete like you and me. The line has a prime, perform, and recover product that you eat or drink before, during, and after a workout to fuel workouts and maximize recovery. Overall, I liked the entire line, but the downside to everything is the price. I can recreate my own versions for much less, and I'll explain why and how I came to this conclusion throughout the review.

The first product is the Prime Energy Bites, consisting of four individually wrapped mini bars. Depending on the intensity of your workout, you eat just one or all four bars. The ingredient list is pretty short, and for the most part are ingredients you probably already eat, like almond butter, oats, fruits and nuts. There are a few other preservative type ingredients as well. Each bite has 50 calories and about 6 grams of carbohydrates. There are three different flavors to try, Cranberry Pistachio, Banana Chocolate, and Raisin Flax. The flavors were all good and they aren't too sweet. The texture reminds me of a nougat.

The downside is the price. Unlike an energy gel (containing about 100 calories per serving) or energy bar, each Prime pack costs $2.50, not very practical if you're on a budget. One might as well eat a handful of almonds and dried fruit. Considering that each bite has only 50 calories, you really aren't going to receive much benefit from one bar alone. For whatever reason (like, dyslexia), I thought each bar contained 200 calories. I was pretty excited until I read the serving size info more closely. Unless I found these on sale, I'm not sure I'd buy them again.

The G Series Fit Perform line offers flavors unique from the traditional Gatorade we all know, such as Acai Blueberry, Mango Passion Fruit, and Melon Pear. Unlike the other Gatorade, I don't have to dilute this one. It's light, flavorful, and each 16 ounce bottle tops out at 20 calories.

Like the bars, though, the downside is the price. Coming in at $1.79 a bottle, it's pricy compared to traditional Gatorade. I can buy a bottle of the regular 32 ounce Gatorade and dilute it, getting more per serving than from one bottle of the G Series Fit Perform.

Lastly, we have the Recovery protein smoothie. Each 11 ounce serving has around 110 calories, 2 grams of fat, 13 grams total carbs, 10 of which come from sugars, and 12 grams of protein. I like the protein content, which is equivalent to two eggs, and the sugar is relatively low. So are the calories. I usually try to get a bit more post workout, but if you're watching your caloric intake you will like it. The three flavors are Strawberry Banana, Mango Pineapple, and Mixed Berry. The texture is thin, and you might find it a little watery.

I felt that the packaging on this was a bit deceptive. It says natural flavor and has a percentage of real fruit juice, but those juices are apple and banana, not the actual flavor of the smoothie. It would be like making a mango smoothie, only with apples, bananas, and mango extract. Each bottle is $3.79, making it the priciest item of the lot. These would make for a good post workout drink to have on hand if you're busy, though.

Overall, I like the concept of the line. I felt the flavors were good, and might occasionally pick up the items if I saw them on sale. It's always nice to have another option available to try when you're at the store.

To try them out for yourself, you can find the G Series Fit line at Walgreens.