So the hubby’s been on a huge rice kick lately. Every other trip to the store, he buys a 2.5 pound (for those of you who use a real system of measurement: ~1.12 kg) bag of rice.

Rice, rice, rice, rice. All we have is rice. And this stuff called “stir-fry sauce”. And occasionally steak strips–all of which he expects me to make into beef fried rice for him. Well after I make him what he thinks fried rice should be, I still have lots of rice left over. So, what to do with all that left-over cooked rice?

Enter my mom, who used to make this bomb-ass rice pudding when I was a kid. It’s not exactly low-fat, but it’s pretty damn tasty. Even my husband–who is possibly the finickiest eater on the planet–gives it a thumbs-up.

No-egg No-bake rice pudding

3 cups cold cooked rice
~2 cups milk or half-and-half
sweetener of your choice (to taste)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Crumble the rice into a saucepan set over a low flame and add ~1c milk. Stir the rice to make sure that any clumps are broken up, then cover and let gently simmer for a few minutes (stirring occasionally to make sure that there’s nothing deciding to stick to the bottom of the pot).

edited to add: The thickening is provided by the rice, which should ideally be allowed to sit in a very loosely covered (with a tea towel) bowl for a day to let some of its moisture evaporate. So the rice will absorb the milk and turn nice and creamy.

When the rice looks creamy and won’t absorb any more milk, it’s ready to roll. Stir in some sweetener of choice–I use honey or Splenda, but that’s just me–and give it a try. When the sweetness level is to your liking, stir in the vanilla and add raisins (if you have them) or other accoutrement and serve. I dig raisins, craisins (dried cranberries), dried cherries, and every once in a while I go for canned mandarin segments that I’ve washed (to get rid of the syrup, which I’ve never been fond of). Whatever’s left can be put in the fridge in a tupperware container of some sort, and keeps for about a week (as if it’ll last that long).