Risotto-style Coconut Rice Pudding

Thanks to my sister, I've become obsessed with these:

If you see these little Dove holiday chocolates, snatch them up with a quickness.  And don't blame me when you eat the whole bag.  I warned you, but I'm totally encouraging you to get them.  At first I thought "Well these are probably okay so I'll try one."  Then it melted in my mouth and was wonderfully full of peppermint and chocolate and Christmas spirit.

Speaking of obsessed because of my sister...

He's like "'Sup, y'all."  He is not okay with those pants by the way.  He definitely prefers to be pantsless.  I've been in Columbia for the past week and a half helping my sister out.  Her company gave her an extra six weeks to basically work from home, so I've been baby wrangling while she works.  From the blogging perspective, I have an incredible amount of respect for mommy bloggers. On the reals, I'm more or less lying completely flat while G-man sleeps on me right now.  Serious business.

I have no pretty segue into this rice pudding.  So let's just go at it.  I'd never had rice pudding until I made it.  I'd been planning this recipe for weeks until I finally made it.  It's got a serious coconut flavor and wonderfully sweet.  Using arborio rice makes it extra thick and creamy.  Let's get on this!

Starch Is Friend, Not Foe

The seasons are a funny thing in the South.  It's almost September, and I feel like I should start transitioning into fall.  But you see, fall in South Carolina doesn't mean cooler temperatures and pretty falling leaves.  It's hot.  I've seen Thanksgivings with temps in the upper 70s.  Of course I've been to Carolina games in October and frozen my behind off (no easy task, mind you), so there's just no guarantee what the weather will be like on any given day.  I don't think that's a complaint, just how it is.

I thoroughly enjoy fall flavors.  Pumpkin, sweet potatoes, warm spices, pumpkin, squash, pears, pumpkin.  It's a wonder I don't turn orange by November.  I feel like we're in a transitional period, so I wanted a dish that reflected moving from summer to fall.

Mushroom-corn risotto.  Ta-da!  Baby portobellos give the risotto an earthy quality that's reminiscent of autumn.  The white corn is one of the last vestiges of summer.  Together, they make an interesting risotto that's not quite fall, not quite summer.