From me to Q on his birthday

We just celebrated Quentin's birthday this past weekend. It is a tradition that I make him a meal and dessert of his choosing. This year though, I didn't let him choose his dessert. He kept wondering what I was doing, but I told him over and over again not to worry because I knew he would love it! For the longest time, he's been asking me to make rice pudding, so he was delighted to have this for breakfast.

I put some in a crystal bowl and sprinkled cinnamon and nutmeg on top. I left out the raisins since he's not a big fan of them. Here's the recipe in case you want to try it out yourself...

Creamy Rice Pudding (from Allrecipes.com)

3/4 cup uncooked white rice (short grain makes for a creamier consistency)

2 cups milk, divided

1/3 cup white sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg, beaten

2/3 cup golden raisins

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. In a medium saucepan, bring 1-1/2 cups water to a boil. Add rice and stir. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

2. In another saucepan, combine 1-1/2 cups cooked rice, 1-1/2 cups milk, sugar and salt. Cook over medium heat until thick and creamy, 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in remaining 1/2 cup milk, beaten egg and raisins. Cook 2 minutes more, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, and stir in butter and vanilla. Serve warm.

After a lunch of eggs, bacon, toast and fruit, I presented this gift to him:

This was his main gift wrapped in a blanket! We sometimes joke around about wrapping presents in blankets because one his first gifts to me was actually wrapped in a blanket. I just had to do this back to him.:)

Inside the blanket were these three books. Q has been reading a lot on how to be self-sufficient and he's been teaching me some things along the way. He is currently enjoying these books: The Urban Homestead by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen, Just in Case by Kathy Harrison and The Backyard Homestead edited by Carleen Madigan. I found all of them on Amazon.com.

I wanted to give him something hand made so I tried quilting for the first time in this simple project. I made a set of juggling squares for my Q. I will tell you where I got the instructions and how I did it in my next post. You can do it, too!:)

Stay tuned....