March 31, 2020

Cream of Rice: Homemade Vegan Gluten Free Cereal

Smooth, silky, and perfectly creamy, this gluten free cereal option can be made with just one essential ingredient that you likely have in that stocked pantry of yours- rice! It’s homemade cream of rice, the even silkier and creamier cousin of cream of wheat. It’s the perfect DIY breakfast option for when you don’t have great breakfast foods, don’t want to leave the house, and don’t want to do a lot of work. Simple, versatile, allergen-friendly, and delicious, breakfast just got a little better!

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You Know Your Girlfriend is a Food Blogger When…

You know your girlfriend is a food blogger when you eat 13 slightly different batches of bran muffins in 2 days. You know your girlfriend is a food blogger when you can only eat your food after it’s been photographed and is totally cold. You know your girlfriend is a food blogger when she moves on to the next recipe, leaving a huge mountain of dishes in the sink for you to clean. You know your girlfriend is a food blogger when you have a special cabinate full of single plates and cups, that are off-limits for daily use.

There are a lot of quirks about having a girlfriend as a food blogger, including the one that inspired this recipe. It’s COVID19, and we’ve been stuck in the house for a couple weeks. We haven’t been grocery shopping in almost two weeks now, to cut our chances of spreading the disease. And despite having a fridge stocked with homemade tempeh, delicious leftovers, and all sorts of other odds and ends, my boyfriend “wasn’t feeling it” and only wanted to eat cream of wheat. I think he was mostly just griping, but his girlfriend is a food blogger so CHALLENGE ACCEPTED. We don’t have cream of wheat, but I could make something a lot like it- half a cup of rice later, and a little fiddling with a blender, and a bowl of vegan homemade cream of rice appeared.

You know your girlfriend is a food blogger when she can make whatever food your craving magically appear, and then call you out for griping on the internet.

Looking for Pantry-Friendly Breakfast recipes? Try one of these!

COVID Cuisine

I’m not trying to make light of the times we’re in right now- I imagine there are a lot of really hard days to come, and likely hundreds of thousands of people are going to die in the US alone. Hospitals will be totally overrun, and the economic state of our country after is sure to be grim. But I am honestly really enjoying what I am calling “COVID cuisine”- creative meals that can be made with primarily shelf-stable ingredients. I’ve been seeing so many people doing things like making their own bread, or creating more elaborate meals at home. It’s nice to see people having the time to really cook with their families, and get creative in the kitchen. I think this recipe is a great example of COVID cuisine- it takes a really simple, basic pantry ingredient, and transforms it to suit an entirely different purpose from how it’s originally done. It’s flexible- you can make it with vegan milk or water, and top it with any toppings you have around. Or no toppings- use what you have, get creative, and appreciate what you can create.

What is Cream of Rice (or Cream of Wheat)

Cream of rice is a gluten free cereal that spun off of the original, cream of wheat. Cream of wheat was first produced in North Dakota in 1893, and was a porridge designed to be a creamier, smoother version of grits. Emblazoned on the front of every box of Cream of Wheat was “Rastus”, a fairly problematic depiction of a stereotyped black chef- I’m not really going to get into that here, but if you want to read a little more about Rastus, try this brief article or this longer one. Cream of wheat and cream of rice can be made with water or (vegan) milk- the vegan milk option is creamier, but water will be totally satisfactory in a pinch. Cream of rice a fantastic option, because it’s super cheap to make at home (I believe the rice in this dish cost me about 4 cents), and allergen friendly- depending on the vegan milk (or water) you use, this dish is free from the top seven allergens (wheat, eggs, soy, milk, fish, peanuts and tree nuts).

Looking for Rice Recipes? Try one of these!

Making Homemade Cream of Rice (A Great Gluten Free Cereal!)

To make this homemade cream or rice, you need to have a blender or a spice grinder (a food processor would also probably work, although I haven’t tried it. It order to make the rice cook into a thick, creamy porridge instead of normal run of the mill rice, use your blender to grind it into a gritty flour, sort of the texture of cornmeal. It’s perfect if there’s a little variation, with some of it more powdered and other pieces in larger chunks. Go slowly, stopping and checking frequently so you don’t over blend it into all powder, and also don’t have any full grains left either. You can do this step ahead of time, or in larger batches and store it in an airtight container for later.

After the rice is ground, you can make up the cereal. If you have vegan butter, add a little to a pot. The fat adds a delicious creaminess, but if you don’t have it guess what- you don’t need it. Same goes for the soymilk- you can use any type of plant based milk you have, and if you don’t have it- use water. Add the rice to the pot, and add the water or vegan milk in slowly, stirring until it’s perfectly thick. After about 15 minutes of cooking, your cream of rice should be ready. Just taste occasionally while you’re cooking after the first 10 minutes, and once it’s totally smooth and soft you’re good to go!