After a fun but exhausting day of being a mother 4 small children, (which involved everything today from  potty training,  5-6 warm bottles for the baby, diaper changing, playing dolls for 3 hours, nap time, story time, driving to and from the bus stop several times, a preschool picnic lunch, laundry, dishes, breakfast,  lunch and snacks, finding and cleaning out a dead mouse behind the dryer (Eek!),  rescuing a Cinderella kite from the springs of our trampoline etc…)  My wonderful husband saw how tired I was tonight and decided to make dinner.  Lucky for him, we had cooked rice in the freezer.

Mark has two specialties, Stanger surprise or rice pudding.  Stanger surprise is when Mark  mixes together any leftovers we have remaining in the fridge and then adds pineapple tidbits, BBQ sauce and spices. I always turn up my nose (and sometimes gag) at his creations, but surprisingly when he forces me to take a taste it always tastes pretty good.

Rice pudding on the other hand is starting to become a family favorite.  Even the girls (ages 6, 4, 2 and 7 months) are starting to request it on a monthly basis, and two of them are very picky eaters.  I just know that some day when they are off at college and come home on the weekend, they will want their dad to make rice pudding.  My favorite is when we Mark shaves chocolate from a Symphony bar into the pudding.  Mmmm, comfort food at its best.  You can add anything to it from berries, to nuts, to caramel syrup.

This rice pudding recipe is very fast to make because it is made with rice that is already been cooked and bagged up in your freezer.  (I cook 6-8 cups of rice (brown or white) in my rice cooker every few weeks and then I bag up 2 cups of rice in each sandwich sized baggy.  Squeeze the air out and freeze the rice flat, stacked like bricks.  To warm the rice, you can just put it in the microwave for 4-5 mintues on high and the bag acts as a steamer, or you can remove the wrappings and place the frozen rice in a microwavable steamer for 4-5 min. on high. The ice crystals in the rice add just enough moisture to fluff the rice up while it warms.  The rice tastes as if it were freshly cooked.  Brown or white rice, even bulgar wheat works great.

Creamy Rice Pudding:

Yield:  Serves 6

3 cups frozen cooked white rice

4 cups milk, divided

2/3 cup white sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs, beaten

2 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Warm 3 cups of frozen cooked rice in the microwave (4-6 minutes on high).  In a medium sauce pan, combine the cooked rice with 3 cups milk, sugar and salt.  Cook over medium heat until thick and creamy, 20-25 minutes.  Stir in remaining 1 cup of milk, with 2 eggs beaten.  Cook 2 minutes more, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla.  Serve warm with chocolate,  nuts, fruit or sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.

Aren’t these pictures or rice pudding fantastic?  Emily Hobbs from www.visionsofsugarplum.com gave me permission to post them for this blurb about rice pudding.  Our rice pudding is always gobbled up before I can think about taking a picture of it.  Thank you Emily.  Emily is an amazing food photographer.  I hope to be as talented as she is with food photography some day.