A Kitchen Victory!!

Last night we had chicken stir-fry for supper.  It was delicious!  I made waaay more rice than we needed for one meal, so I decided to make rice pudding today to go with chicken soup for lunch.  (Yes, it's the middle of July and HOT, but it's what was in the house and I love comfort food any time of year!)  I had about two cups of brown rice, and since More With Less's recipes for rice pudding called for uncooked rice (and a couple hours of cooking time, which I didn't have) I Googled a recipe for rice pudding made with cooked rice.  I found this recipe  at The Hungry Housewife.  (That looked like a promising site, since I was a hungry housewife!)  The recipe called for two cups of brown or white cooked rice, which was exactly what I had, and I happened to have just about three cups of milk.  Here's my slightly adapted recipe:

2 cups rice (white or brown)

2 3/4 C milk (I used whole milk because that's what I had)

1/2 C sugar

pinch of salt

teaspoon of vanilla

Bring the above ingredients to a boil.  Watch CAREFULLY and stir often to keep from boiling over.  (I learned this the hard way.  I used a 2-quart saucepan; I'd recommend a bigger one if you're making this much pudding.  It boiled over.  I now have a sticky mess under the electric coil to clean up.)

Once mixture boils, turn heat down to low and stir occasionally.  Let mixture cook for half an hour to forty-five minutes, or until it reaches desired consistency.   Add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon.  (That's all I put in it.  You could add other flavorings, raisins, nuts, etc, according to your taste.)  Serve hot or cold.  Makes about four servings.

For us, it made two servings with a little left over.  My husband said last night that he didn't care much for rice.  He wasn't all that thrilled when I announced we were having rice pudding for lunch.  I figured I'd have to eat it all myself.  Well, I gave him a small helping so he could taste it.  He took two bites and exclaimed "Whoa!  That's good!"  and asked for another helping.  I rejoiced.  (Except that now when I make rice pudding I know I'll have to share...oh well, it's totally worth it for a happy, well-fed husband!! :D )  He actually had a total of four (small) helpings; I had two and a half bigger ones.  I might have finished off the potful if I wasn't already full!

And...I would have posted a picture, but we were too busy enjoying the stuff for me to take a picture of it! :)