Healthy Rice Pudding

Rice pudding is one of my favorite desserts, and with the weather chilly and overcast, Katie and I decided that this would be a great day to make some with some of the leftover rice from last night and a few other additions so I could feel better about her nutrient intake for the day (she enjoyed a whole wheat bagel with cream cheese during our errands and had grits for breakfast...that's a lot of plain carbohydrates, y'all!) It turned out SO much better than I had anticipated, so we decided to share it with you. Rice pudding doesn't photograph well (like, not at all), hence the grid of photos I lifted from the internet. =)

A little truth: it is rarely, if ever, a good idea for me to make what I really, really want to eat unless my entire family is home to share it. Today proved to be no exception, seeing as how I successfully maxed out my My Fitness Pal calorie allowance for the day by noon. But it was SO worth it. =)

So this is what you need (it will go without saying that all of this is organic, yes?):

2 tbsp coconut oil
2 large carrots, peeled and grated as finely as you can
2.5 cups leftover cooked brown rice (not parboiled like in the pic above, of course)
4 large eggs
2 granny smith apples, cored and grated, peels on
3 tbsp maple syrup (or honey if you must, but the flavor will be different)
2 tsp cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice mix
Options we didn't try this time: add in walnuts, pecans, raisins, cranberries, chopped apricots, etc.

So first...warm the coconut oil over medium heat and sautee the carrots for a few minutes to soften them up.
Then......stir in remaining ingredients and keep stirring, over medium heat, until the eggs are cooked completely. Adjust seasonings and serve topped with almond or coconut milk and enjoy!

Just maybe don't enjoy as enthusiastically as I did...