I've always loved rice pudding as a dessert but never really thought of it as a breakfast selection that could serve as fuel to power me through a round of golf. A while back I found a few recipes online and made homemade rice pudding for the first time, without all the sugar, and found it really gave me a lot of energy and kept me full throughout the morning.
When you sit back and think about it for a second, it makes sense that rice could provide the energy needed to drive your ball down the fairway. Cooked rice provides plenty of complex carbs, potassium, protein and it's low in fat and sugar, so there is no quick crash after eating it.
Now, the downside to making rice into rice pudding usually involves adding lots of flavor & sweeteners to make it taste like something better than just plain rice. I don't do a lot of white sugar, but I have discovered some ways to make the rice more palatable and to keep the sugar low. Add honey or maple syrup as a sweetener. Then add any number of flavorings like vanilla extract, cinnamon or cocoa powder.
One evening after a workout, I was making up a batch of rice pudding with some leftover Basmati rice from dinner the night before. While I was cooking, I was drinking a protein shake to aid with recovery after my workout, and, BAM, it struck me! Why not combine the two?! I could use the protein powder to up the protein content of the rice pudding, add a palatable flavor, reduce the sugar content and have more balanced carb/protein ratio. GENIUS!!! (I'm sure someone has probably already thought of this, but I am not going to Google it and bruise my ego right now.)
So, without further ado, here is how I make my high protein rice pudding breakfast. First off, you can use any type of rice you like: Minute, Jasmine, Basmati or even brown rice if you want to go a step healthier. You make the rice, let it cool, and then make the pudding. Or better yet, if you have leftover rice from last night's Chinese restaurant, just throw it in a pan on the stove and start from there.
You want to pour enough milk to just cover the rice, preferably a 1:1 ratio of milk to rice. Bring the mix to a boil over medium heat. You can use skim, 2%, whole, almond or coconut milk. Whichever floats your rice. Stir the mixture often preventing the milk from burning and to keep your rice from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
Once the mixture comes to a low boil and the pudding comes to your desired thickness, turn the temperature down to low and add a large scoop of your favorite protein powder. While vanilla is a no brainier here, I use Trutein Red Velvet Cake powder, which really tastes not so much like red velvet cake, but more like red velvet cake batter. You can add more or less to suite your taste. Once the protein is thoroughly mixed into the rice, remove the pan from the stove and transfer to a glass bowl. Leave on the counter to cool. Depending on how you like your rice pudding, you can serve it warm, at room temperature or, my favorite, cold right out of the fridge.
I tried to calculate the nutritional information below based on 1 cup of Basmati rice, 1 cup of whole milk and 1 scoop of protein powder. I am neither a dietician nor a nutritionist so please take these values with a grain of rice.
And there you have it, a tasty dessert reconfigured as a high protein breakfast to give you the energy you need for 18 holes of bliss.
Cheers!