No TWD this week - Instead Mom's rice pudding

Hi all. I am passing on this week's recipe, Dulce de Leche Duos, which Jodie of Beansy Loves Cake chose. While I absolutely love caramel and anything that remotely resembles caramel, my hubby hates it. And, making cookies that he won't eat, and, that I will have to eat by myself, well, I just can't do that. :) Besides that, I have been working every day since Monday of last week, either at Starbucks or cleaning houses and today I am taking it easy. Please do go by Jodie's site. She decorates cakes and has several posted. She is extremely talented at it! And, she not only posted the recipe for this week, she took lots of great step by step pictures and even included a picture of her darling daughter. Do go by and see. And, drop by TWD to see who else baked this week.

So, as I mentioned, I am off today and staying home to take it easy. Sort of. So far today I have done three loads of laundry. Gone to the county's treasury office and purchased our county tags and the dog's license. Gone to the grocery store. Unpacked and put away the groceries purchased at the grocery store. Picked up and straightened up around the house from where the hubby has been home alone, and while he tries, he just doesn't seem to be able to put things back where he finds them. Surfed the web a little, and, made my Mom's rice pudding.

Back in 2006 I planned a family reunion for my Dad's 70th birthday. We ended up with a houseful of family over a two day stretch. It was a wonderful time, seeing cousins I hadn't seen for years. Seeing their children. Listening to the aunts and uncles catch up with each other. My folks and siblings stayed here with us while the rest of the relatives stayed in Blackstone, which is only about 15 minutes from here. While Mom was here, I got her to write down her rice pudding recipes (there's two and I made the stove top one today) and her Peach upside-down cake recipe. I later laminated those so I will always have them, in her writing, and can pass them on to my daughter one day.

 I have been craving Mom's rice pudding for quite a while now. I kept telling myself to try and make it, then something else would come up and I would put the recipe aside for another time. Cakes, cookies, pies, they have all been great lately, but I have still had a hankering for the rice pudding. Today, when I got back from the grocery store and got my kitchen back in order I decided to make up a batch. It's really simple to make and doesn't require a lot of ingredients. I think it took me less than 30 minutes to have a potful cooling on the counter. I would love to tell you it makes "x" number of servings, but (hangs head sheepishly) I usually end up eating spoonfuls of it as it is cooling and it seldom makes it into serving bowls. :} I am going to guess 4 to 6 servings since there were 5 of us growing up (Mom, Dad, myself, my sister and my brother). When it's warm, I eat it as is. Once it cools I have been known to add a little milk to it. You can also add a dollop of whipped cream to it. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

My Mom's Rice Pudding

1 cup instant rice

2 1/2 cups milk

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup raisins

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Combine rice, milk, salt, cinnamon, sugar and raisins in a heavy bottomed saucepan. Bring to a rolling boil, over medium heat, while stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer slowly for 15 minutes, stirring often.

Pour a small amount of the hot mixture into the eggs and mix well. Then, add the eggs into the pan and mix well. Add vanilla. Bring back up to a simmer again and turn off burner.

Cool in pan 10 minutes.

When served you can add freshly grated nutmeg, or a little cinnamon. 

This can be made with long cooking rice. Increase milk to 5 cups and cook for 45 minutes until rice is done.