Octopus Hotdogs

Hmmm.... That plate of octopus hot dogs looks vaguely obscene. We had my nephews overnight on Saturday and made mac&cheese with octopus hot dogs. It was fun because my boys are too old for fun food such as this. (You know how to make these, right? Slice up 8 legs, hot tub treatment in the macaroni water?) They used to like lots of "fun food". Nate's favorite was lunch in a cupcake pan. I used a 6 muffin pan and filled 5 holes with cut up food like cheese, grapes, pretzels, lunchmeat, baby carrots, an oreo. The last hole was for a cup of milk. He loved it! Nick liked little pb&j pies made with that pampered chef tool that seals the bread of sandwiches together. Very wasteful on bread, though.

Last night I went to a potluck meeting. We were all to bring our favorite Christmas foods. To me, it's not Christmas eve without rice pudding. So I made some. Unfortunately, I had to leave to get to the meeting (I couldn't be late, I was co-hostess) before it was done cooking. Have you ever tried to transport boiling milk? In a casserole dish without a lid? "Hi, it's Kellet, please open the door, I'm dripping milk on your porch. Because it's 20 below the milk will be here until spring!" Very nice. I wonder why I don't get invited out much?

The rice pudding finished cooking there and was almost all gobbled up, so it must not have been too bad. I'm the only one who eats it in my house. I think only one of my siblings will eat it. Brother Gene says it is a sick thing to do to nice rice. He doesn't like cheese either. (more for me!)

Rice Pudding

1/2 cup rice
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Betty Crocker says to cook this for an hour in a double boiler, but I just bake it in the oven at 350. Should be done in an hour or so. Serve with butter, cream and cinnamon sugar. Serves 6-8.