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PANOJohn never liked rice much, until we
started using the brown kind, and he
never liked it at all for dessert, until
the day inspiration hit him: He’d make
good old rice pudding, he thought, but
with a few minor substitutions.To prepare John’s version, use brown
rice instead of white (he usually startswith about 2 cups of cooked grain).
Then add about 1½ cups of milk, right
into the pan in which the rice was
just simmered.Substitute about^1 ⁄ 2 cup dates — more
if you have them and want a sweeter,
fruitier dish — for the usual raisins. And
replace the sugar with honey — about¼ cup (less if you don’t want the
dessert very sweet or if you used a lot
of dates; more if the reverse is true). Stir
in a splash of vanilla for good luck.Cook the mixture over a low flame for
about 1 hour, and give it more milk if it
seems too dry. I sometimes grate in just
a little nutmeg, but John never does.✽ Date Bread with Honey ✽
For an out-of-this-world honey-sweetened bread,
add lots of dates.
John, our household date specialist, developed a good bread
recipe that uses the fruit.In 2 cups of water, heat 3 cups of pitted and cut-up dates.
Add^2 ⁄ 3 cup honey,^1 ⁄ 3 cup oil (John likes sunflower oil, but any
good, fairly light-flavored vegetable oil is fine), and 2 eggs.
Beat the mixture well with a wooden spoon.Sift together 3 cups of whole-wheat flour (if you get a lot of
bran when you sift, add it back to the sifted flour); 1 cup of
soybean flour (if you don’t care for the taste, use less, and
add more whole-wheat flour and dry milk);^1 ⁄ 2 cup nonfat dry
milk (if you have it; if not, just leave it out); 2 teaspoons of
baking soda; 1 teaspoon of salt; 1 teaspoon of double-acting
baking powder; and^2 ⁄^3 cup of wheat germ or chopped nuts
(or a combination of the two). Mix well.Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and stir well
to combine.Grease two 5-by-9-inch loaf pans. Line the bottoms with
waxed paper, and grease the paper. Divide the batter
between the prepared loaf pans, and bake at 325 degrees
Fahrenheit (or 300 degrees if using glass pans) until a tooth-
pick inserted into the center of the loaves comes out clean.
Continue baking for another 5 minutes, and then turn the
finished bread loaves out onto racks to cool. Remove and
discard the waxed paper immediately.This date bread may be eaten hot or cold, and it keeps well.
We especially like it sliced and topped with a mixture of
cream cheese and honey.✽ Rice Pudding with Honey ✽
For a wonderful and comforting dessert, try combining rice and natural honey.