Breakfast Rice Pudding

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What do you do with all that leftover rice from dinner? Some people toss it. My friend Michelle freezes it. Then there is the stalwart never-let-it-go-to-waste sort of cook who serves it to her kids by the tablespoon with their lunch for five days straight.  This morning I woke up and rummaged through my fridge and cupboards looking for breakfast. It was forty-four degrees outside and the tiled floor in my kitchen felt as cold as the sidewalk. I pulled out the leftover brown rice from the fridge that I had shoved in there after dinner a few days ago, abandoning it to the category of we'll figure out what to do with this later. 

Here is a simple recipe I found on food.com. It is amazing. 

Breakfast Rice Pudding

3 cups cooked brown or white rice

1/4 maple syrup

1 cup milk (rice or soy works too)

1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

1 tsp cinnamon

Bring it to a low boil and stir occasionally for five to eight minutes, or until it reaches desired consistency. 

The only draw back to this recipe is that my kids licked their bowl clean after they finished eating, and then I felt obligated to deliver my "we are humans not dogs" speech, which gets old. I like this recipe with chopped apple and toasted pecans, or skip the cinnamon step and stir in pumpkin pie spice instead. It's definitely one of those Be Your Own Wizard in the Kitchen recipes and adjust it to your liking. I am steaming another batch of brown rice as I write this post, so that we can make more rice pudding tomorrow morning.

Wear your fuzzy slippers in the kitchen to keep your feet warm and bon appetit!