How to use a gallon of milk in 20 minutes or less

Woke up one morning afternoon thinking about the week ahead and how desperately lame the thought of cooking during these gorgeous days of summer can be and decided to throw together a few big bowls of stuff to make it through the week.

Still too sleepy to do much of anything about it, I flailed myself down the stairs in my underwear to grab some kind of fruit for breakfast. My "ripen up" bowl was full of goodies - apricots, pears and tomatoes.  

 So, I grabbed a couple apricots and stood in front of the open fridge trying to pick some carbs. That's the nice thing about being a grown up and owning your own house - no one can nag you to shut the fridge door...well except that voice in the back of your head that sounds vaguely like your mother, reminding you about the lack of money bearing trees in the city.


So back to the carbs. I have a gallon of skim milk in the fridge, about to expire and about 1/2 cup of it was ever used. On what, I still can't remember. What to do?  Rice pudding and ice milk, that's what!

Rice pudding is easy, it goes a little something like this: 1 cup rice, 6 cups milk, 1/2 cup of sugar, salt, vanilla & cinnamon in the crock for 3-4 hours on High. DON'T FORGET THE SALT! I did this time and it came out flat tasting. It can be added before serving though so don't stress.

Ice Milk is similarly simple: 6 cups of milk, 1 cup of sugar, vanilla. Dump it in an ice cream machine and whirl it for 30 minutes or so. I like to put mine in a rectangular pan and freeze it totally solid so I can cut it into chunks to serve later.

Just as I was turning on the heat to the crock pot I hear a key being pushed into my lock! Then feet scraping on the mat (yeah it's deadly quiet in the morning here). So, my first thought was, "someone at the wrong house?" My next thought was. "NO! it's my parents and I'm in the kitchen in my undies!!!"
So, I ran up the stairs as fast as I could and grabbed the first shirt and shorts I could find to throw on. It is moments like that I'm am super thankful I'm not too neat!
Lest you think my parents are completely rude, the door bell did ring twice during this mad dash, then the door opened and the hollering commenced.  Nonetheless, the whole thing probably played out in less than 2 minutes and makes me rethink letting them have an emergency key! I am an adult and as such would like the convenience of wandering around less than presentable in my own house at any hour, even if it is 2:00 in the afternoon.  And no, just because you've been calling all day and I didn't answer doesn't mean you can pretend it's ok because you thought I might have fallen dead.  

I have the right to be dead in the privacy of my own home too.  Ok...so maybe if I don't call back in 24 hours and you've made it clear to my answerer that you're coming over to see if I'm dead and I still don't pick up you can use that excuse. OKAY?!?