Coconut Rice Pudding | Eat. Run. Do Yoga.

Meatless Monday Mania is sweeping the nation! Even Mario Batali is doing it!!

In case you haven’t heard, “Meatless Monday” is an international non-profit initiative in association with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health to reduce meat consumption by 15% to improve personal health and the health of our planet.

And while I personally believe that not just Monday but EVERY day should be meatless,
and not just for personal and planetary health reasons,
I joined the Meatless Monday movement and you can too!

Just go to the Meatless Monday website and sign up. You’ll get delicious meatless recipes sent to you each Meatless Monday.

I know it’s VERY challenging to go meatless when you are not used to it. So to help out I’m offering a vegan dessert recipe today that is, well meatless sort of by definition (“dessert!”) and happens to be dairy-free too! So it’s Meatless and Dairly-Less Monday here at Eat. Run. Do Yoga!

Vegan Coconut Rice Pudding

Ingredients

1 cup rice
2 cups water
salt
2 cups coconut milk
cinnamon
agave nectar
vanilla extract
optional: coconut extract, almond extract, orange essence, lemon or lime rind, nuts, dried fruit, other spices like ginger or nutmeg.

Method

In a medium sized sauce pan, bring the water to boil. Add the rice and a dash of salt and simmer on low until the rice is starting to get tender – about 10 minutes or so.
Add in the coconut milk. Stir frequently until the rice gets soft.
Add in the cinnamon and any other spices you are using, along with agave nectar. I started with just a bit of agave and then kept adding until I got the sweetness I wanted. Continue to cook on low and stir for about 5 more minutes until you get the consistency you want.
Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract, and / or any other extract you are using, along with the dried fruits or nuts if using.
Enjoy hot or cold!

Adapted from How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman