Rice Pudding

So last week we had a couple meals with rice as the side. As usual, I made way more rice than I needed. We all like rice, so that isn't ever a problem, but this time I did it on purpose, because I had a hankering for some rice pudding. Yes, I just said hankering.

I have a rice pudding recipe that I have used before, but I haven't made it in so long, that I decided it was time to try a new one. There are lots of recipes out there, using all kinds of rice and taking all different amounts of time. Most of them have the same general list of ingredients (rice, milk, eggs, extract/flavoring of some variety), just in various proportions. None of them were speaking to me.

Then I saw this one. This one intrigued me for two reasons - first of all, it specifically called for leftover rice. Secondly, there are no eggs in the recipe. Interesting! Oh, and it didn't require the oven, which was a good thing, since the oven was fully booked that day. Bonus.

The great thing about this recipe was how easy it was - all of the ingredients are combined in a pot and simmered for a while. That's it. One pot, one spoon, no eggs - how easy could it be? Little miss could help me measure, pour and mix everything before it went on the burner. Decision made.

I only made a few alterations to the recipe as it is written. I wanted extra vanilla flavor, so in addition to the vanilla extract called for, I split a vanilla bean, added the seeds to the pot and even let the pod steep in the milk while the mixture simmered. I also replaced one of the four cups of milk called for in the recipe with heavy cream. Because why not? Lastly, I used a combination of raisins, craisins and dried apricots instead of just raisins as the recipe called for.

I was a bit curious as to what the texture of the pudding would be like without the eggs, but was pretty sure that however it turned out, it was going to be delicious, because the kitchen smelled SO good when this started heating up. And after about 15 minutes, I was amazed to see how well the pudding was thickening up. Little miss loved to peek in the pot every few minutes to watch the progress, too.

After 25 minutes, it was time to transfer the pudding to a bowl and let it cool down for a little while. I loved the colors of the different fruits and was amazed at the smooth, creamy texture. I couldn't wait for dinner to be done so that we could dig in.

I have to say, this will now replace my other rice pudding recipe as the "go-to" one here. Between how easily it came together and how delicious it was, there is no downside to it.

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