Thinking about making donuts

I made some congee for the first time.

I remember my mom feeding me something like it as a toddler, and even then I didn’t like it.

The flavor of the rice is made different. Like, I can eat a bowl of white rice. I can eat a bowl of white rice with water. But cooking the white rice to mush in the water? Nope.

The texture and the flavor, it’s not my favorite.

I tried some congee plain, and it was really not for me, even with side dishes added to every mouthful. The jellified rice and the thick, oozy rice water don’t bring me any fond feelings.

I did put some sesame oil and fish bouillon in a small amount, and that was very tasty. The consistency still isn’t my favorite, but I could see eating a bowl of flavored congee for an emergency meal.

There was a bit of rice leftover from dinner and I didn’t want to put it in the fridge or throw it away. So I added some water and set the rice cooker to the Oatmeal function.

I think that even if I myself don’t like the consistency, I can see turning the leftover spoonfuls of rice into dog food.

Leftover rice, a few shreds of leftover meat, some water or broth, then let it cook on the oatmeal setting.

It seems like a good way to get a senior aged dog to eat enough food and water. They could just lick it up.

I could see adding a cracked egg and stirring it in; some pieces of carrot, broccoli, peas, squash; meat bones that can later be fished out after they release their flavor; and/or cooked fish skin and bones that will disintegrate for added calcium.

Plain congee is not my favorite.

But having tasted it, I could see eating it if I was hungry and unable to get different food.

I like oatmeal. Though I don’t really see oatmeal as a "dinner" food, though there are plenty of recipes out there for "savory oatmeal."

A big canister of rolled oats or quick oats can be used to…

• make oatmeal
• make muffins
• make bread
• ground up as replacement flour
• make oat milk
• make granola
• make cookies
• crumbled up and used in meatloaf or meatballs in place of wheat bread crumbs
• ground up and added to the liquid used in a smoothie
• make dog biscuits

Rice, oatmeal, flour, self-rising flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, honey, vanilla extract, salt…

I saw someone mention that mixing equal parts self-rising flour and plain greek yogurt will give you a dough that can be used to make donuts. You could just mix the flour and granola together, and fry/air fry the donuts as rings or balls. Then roll the cooked donuts in powdered sugar or cinnamon and sugar or dip them in a chocolate or maple glaze.

Or you can mix the self-rising flour and greek yogurt and add different donut-type ingredients to your dough like…

• cinnamon and sugar
• vanilla extract
• chopped/grated pieces of apple or pear
• cocoa
• lemon juice and lemon zest
• lemon and poppy seeds
• blueberries–dried, frozen, fresh
• maple syrup

I have the Dash Mini-Donut maker–which I always forget I have–so I might just make some donuts tomorrow.

Even without a donut maker, making donuts can be really easy. And it’s inexpensive.

You just have to accept that nothing you make at home is going to taste as mouthwatering as a greasy grocery store donut you eat directly from the grocery bag while putting on your seatbelt after climbing into the car.

That sense that you’re doing something wrong, but you went out and gathered supplies so now you deserve a little treat.

The flavor of an earned donut is so much different from picking a day old dried donut out of a pink box someone left at work.

So as long as you accept that nothing you make at home is going to taste exactly the same as what you can buy… Making donuts is a fun thing to do at home. If you screw it up, you can change up your recipe next time. You can experiment and work through to make a donut you think is good, and for the same cost as a dozen store bought donuts you can get the ingredients to make three or four batches.

I’ve even bought one of those microwave donut makers before. I didn’t like that it’s made out of some kind of hard plastic, and my donuts came out more steamed than donut-y, but I like that the idea of the technology exists. Maybe if it was glass or ceramic and it fully enclosed the donuts rather than being a half-tray, it would have had better results.

So maybe somewhere out there is The Perfect Microwave Donut Maker.

I have a Dash Mini-Donut Maker so I’m not desperate for a microwave pan. But if I were traveling around the country and staying at different motels that have microwaves in the room, a microwave donut maker would be a nice little gadget to have on the go.

And all this babble is to say that I’m thinking about making some donuts.

And I’m not very fond of plain congee.

And maybe I’ll look to see if there are recipes for donuts using leftover rice. The congee had a well-stirred yogurt consistency to it. So maybe there are congee donut recipes out there. And with the addition of some chia seeds, I could make a donut that has a full serving of fiber.

Cooking is an adventure. As long as you don’t make too much at one time, if you screw up a meal or two it doesn’t have to be a disaster. And at least you can prevent the boredom of eating oatmeal for 6 out of 10 meals.

~Harper Kingsley

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