I am somewhat incapable of making breakfast at the appropriate time. This weekend, for example, by the time I decided I really wanted olive bagels for breakfast it was already 11am. Then I had to motivate to mix up the dough, let it rise, boil the bagels, and then bake them. I didn’t have breakfast until, like, 2:30 pm, technically brunch, which is pretty standard for the weekend version of me. The problem is I get really hungry by about 9 so the laziness isn’t really an asset in this case. That is why I love leftovers for breakfast. My favorites are gallo pinto and polenta rancheros.
Sometimes I want something a little sweet and warm for breakfast and in this case leftover brown rice is the perfect thing to have.
I spice brown rice the same way as I make oatmeal, with cinnamon and sugar. First I put the cooked rice in a little pot with some hemp or almond milk. Then, once the rice starts to plump up I add brown sugar, a little cinnamon and sometimes even chai tea spices like cloves and cardamom. Sometimes I top it with maple syrup, if I have maple syrup which is pretty rare, but you could also add apples or bananas or really about anything you can think of. The best part is that it takes about 5 minutes to do and uses something I almost always have on hand, cooked rice.
Remember how I said my plan was to go camping over the weekend? It totally didn’t happen, it was way too cold for sleeping outside and there was a lot of stuff I wanted to do in town anyway, like the EAST austin studio tour, the Thanksgiving sampler party at Wheatsville, and brunch at Counter Culture. Would you believe I did none of it! If you know me at all, actually, it probably isn’t very surprising. Anyway, the laziness was kind of helpful because I ended up being somewhat productive. In a Vegan Girl’s Guide to Life, there are project instructions for a cross stitch project and I was totally inspired to try it. I ended up spending the weekend making a couple of cross stitch projects and watching Twin Peaks….and then making cherry pie.
This is the one from the book except I changed the text, it was supposed to say “Flesh is for Zombies Go Vegan” but I remembered something I saw at the Renegade Craft Fair that said “I love you more than zombie brains” and made that instead.
It was so much fun, I haven’t made once since I was a tiny kid and now I have so many ideas now I want to make them for everyone I know.
Lazy Smurf's Guide 
What a wonderful idea to make this instead of oatmeal. My son would love this for breakfast.
This sounds amazing! Sort of like a rice pudding. I happen to have some leftover rice in the fridge right now! Maybe this will be tomorrow’s breakfast.
i love the zombie cross-stitching! kick booty on the craftiness! that’s too funny that you didn’t go camping and skipped out on all the in town fun you wanted to get to. i do the same thing all the time. there are just days when you need to veg out and relax. sounds like twin peaks watching, cross-stitching & cherry pie baking was super fun – and i love your morning spiced rice. such a tasty way to start your morning and use up leftover rice. yay!
sweet rice… i would have never thought of it. i guess rice krispy treats would be the closest thing i could associate, but i imagine this tastes more like sweet oats?
super cute cross stitch project!
oh, so great! I tend to just have black coffee for breakfast on most days, but on the weekends, rice of this type is my absolute fave! What a perfect picture of such a perfect bowl of food.
…and cross stitching+twin peaks+cherry pie= superawesome weekend!
I’ve never thought of using rice instead of oats for breakfast before–I love how easy & quick it is with leftover rice. Sounds like you had a rockin’ weekend!
That sounds like such a delicious thing for breakfast! That cross stitch is adorable.
Whenever I’m planning for a camping/backpacking trip, breakfast rice is always there on paper…but i never do it. I know once I try it it’ll be great–just gotta do it. Thanks for the kick in the ass.