Banana Raspberry Pudding

Just a little thing I invented with some fruit that needed to be eaten.

2 bananas
1 cup raspberries
3-4 egg whites

Mix everything in a mixer until it is fluffy and pink (takes about 10 minutes, maybe a bit less). Pour into 4-6 individual ramekins (don't fill them up too much or they will explode). Set the ramekins on a cookie sheet or a cake pan. Bake at 325F for about 10 minutes, until they puff up a bit and the edges turn slightly golden.

Cinnamon Raisin Rice Pudding

Ingredients:
Leftover cooked rice (any kind, white, brown, jasmine, basmati, whatever)
Milk
Sugar
Salt
Cinnamon
Butter
Raisins

Take about 2 cups of leftover rice and put it in a saucepan with enough milk to cover it. Add a pinch of salt, about 1/4 cup of sugar, and a generous amount of cinnamon. Simmer until most of the milk had been absorbed by the rice. Then add another 1/2 cup of milk (enough to give it a pudding-like consistency), a couple of tablespoons of butter, and the raisins. Cook for about 5 more minutes. It's good warm or cold.

Brown Sugar Toffee with Chocolate

People are so impressed when you show up to a party with homemade candy, but it's actually really easy to make. Wear long sleeves so you don't burn yourself if you have a disaster with the sugar syrup, but be really careful not to splash it on yourself and use a pot that's much deeper than the amount of sugar you're using. Burning yourself with sugar syrup is about the worst thing you can do in the kitchen.

Ingredients:
Brown sugar
Butter
Salt
Semi-sweet chocolate chips

Note: You will need a candy thermometer for this. Don't leave the melting sugar unattended!

Before you get started, like a cookie sheet or baking pan with parchment paper and cover the parchment paper with chocolate chips. When you pour the hot sugar over the chocolate, it will melt the chocolate and make a chocolate coating on top of the toffee.

Put some brown sugar in a sauce pan with a pinch of salt, a few tablespoons of water, and a little bit of butter. The precise ratio of butter to sugar real doesn't matter, it's just for flavor. Using a candy thermometer, heat this mixture to 280 F, stirring frequently. Make sure to use a large enough pan that bubbling molten sugar can't get up over the sides. When the sugar is at the right temperature, pour it into the pan over the chocolate. Let it cool completely in the fridge or freezer. When it is cold, you can use the parchment paper to lift it out of the pan, then peel the parchment paper off of the chocolate side, and break it into small pieces.

Apple Butter

Not butter at all. Make this in the fall when the farmer's market is overflowing with apples.

Ingredients:
Apples
Brown sugar
Cinnamon
Salt

Peel, core, and chop about two pounds of apples into small pieces. Place the apple chunks in a slow cooker and cover with about two cups of brown sugar. Add a pinch of salt and some cinnamon to taste. Cook on high for about half an hour to an hour, then cook on low for about 10 hours (overnight is good time to do this). Take the lid off. You will have a melted sugar-apple juice mixture small apple chunks floating in it. Using a hand blender (and being careful not to splatter hot sugar stuff on yourself), blend until smooth and no apple chunks remain. Leave the cover off and cook on high until the apple butter has thickened to a spreadable consistency (this may take 2-3 more hours). Refrigerate or freeze. You could also seal it in jars for long-term storage. You can use this like as a spread like jam, as an ice cream topping, as a filling for pies or tarts, as a compliment to meat and fish, as a dip for celery sticks, etc.