Christmas is over. I didn’t cook as much as I had planned on, we were going to do cookies, ice cream, and a few other things. At the last minute I decided to make Figgy Pudding. That was all I had time for with a busy day of people coming and going. After hearing “Bring us some figgy pudding.” a few times in the past weeks I decided I wanted to know exactly what it was and if it was really good enough to demand “Bring it right here”.

It is.

As with other British puddings it is actually a cake with a sauce to accompany. Very figgy, very spicy with cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon and I made a brandy sauce (with 1/2 cup of brandy not cooked after adding) that made it very tasty. I didn’t take any pictures for those who have a thing for food images, sorry. I’ll post the recipe in the recipe section of the messageboard. I used a standard dairy filled recipe and adapted it, nowhere could I find a veganized one already. So, there will be one now.

Call it Ice Cream, call it Soy Cream, call it the best stuff ever.

Peppermint Ice Cream

2 cups soy milk
2 cups soy creamer
2 TBS arrowroot
½ cup evaporated cane juice
1 TBS vanilla extract
4-5 peppermint sticks, crushed

Whisk 1/4 cup of the soy milk with the arrowroot. Heat the remaining soy milk and soy creamer to a simmer. Add the evaporated cane juice to the soy mixture and stir until completely dissolved. Add the arrowroot and stir until thickened, about 2 – 3 minutes. You are not looking for a “pudding” consistency, just a light thickening.

Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Add vanilla and cool completely in refrigerator.

Prepare accordingly using your ice cream maker.

When the soy cream reaches the point where it is almost finished add the crushed peppermint and turn the ice cream maker back on/keep cranking/etc for 3 – 4 more minutes.

RELATED:  If you don’t have one of the Cuisinart Ice Cream Makers, then go now and get one.  It makes recipes like these too simple to finish up.

I don’t really have a name for this dish but we made it a couple nights ago and it turned out great.

–
2 Cups Brown Rice
2 Cups Spicy V8
2 Cups Water
2 15oz cans Black Beans
1 15oz can Whole Kernel Corn
1 Clove Garlic (minced)
1/4 cup Onion (finely diced)
1 small green Chili Pepper (diced)
1 Tomato (diced) (you can use a 15oz can of diced tomatoes if you don’t have fresh)
1/2 Teaspoon Cumin
1/2 Teaspoon Chili Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Salt (more or less to taste)

Bring water and V8 to a boil and add rice, chili powder and cumin. Stir so rice will not clump and bring back to a boil then add all other ingredients. Cover and turn heat on low. Cook for about 45 minutes. Serve with tortilla chips or wrapped in tortillas.

This recipe makes alot. We had enough left over for lunch the next day and then some.