Horchata

Woah, it's been almost 2 months since my last post- sorry! 

Have you ever had horchata?  I had always heard about how awesome it was, but never tried it...until about 2 months ago.  Dave and I were having some lunch at a Mexican place outside of the city, and I saw it on the menu-so of course I had to try it!

It tasted kind of like liquid rice pudding- and I loved it!  It has been on my recipe to-do list ever since, and I think I finally found a winner!

Ingredients:
1 cup uncooked white long-grain rice
5 cups water
3 cinnamon sticks
1/2 cup milk (I used 1%, but whole is probably best)
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
approx 1/4 cup white sugar (add this to taste...I used just over 1/4 c)

Directions:

• Pour the rice and water into a blender.  I had to do this in batches because we have a lame Magic Bullet rip-off.  (if anyone feels like spending hundreds of dollars, please buy us a Vitamix!)
• Blend until the rice just begins to break up, about 1-2 minutes.

 blend, baby, blend!

• Transfer to a sealable container, add cinnamon sticks, and let mixture stand at room temperature for 3 hours.

• Refrigerate overnight (this is optional, but helps infuse more flavor!)
• Strain the rice water into a pitcher and discard the rice and cinnamon stick.

• Stir the milk, vanilla, and sugar into the rice water until all of the sugar has dissolved.

 We poured the horchata into this cool pitcher we got at Whole Foods.

 Of course, Dave wanted to see how high he could pour the liquid without spilling.  He got about 5 inches higher than shown below :)

• Serve over ice

Directions:

1. Pour the rice and water into a blender. 
2. Blend until the rice just begins to break up, about 1-2 minutes. 
3. Transfer to a sealable container, add cinnamon sticks, and let mixture stand at room temperature for 3 hours.
4. Refrigerate overnight (this is optional, but helps infuse more flavor!)
5. Strain the rice water into a pitcher and discard the rice and cinnamon stick. 
6. Stir the milk, vanilla, and sugar into the rice water until all of the sugar has dissolved.
7. Serve over ice

recipe adapted from allrecipes