Rice Pudding

It's not uncommon for our fridge to be full of leftover rice by the end of the week.  Leftovers are wonderful and convenient but they can get a little ridiculous.  Often, I'll look in the fridge and it's like there's a little village of white bowls with matching Saran wrap roofs.  Who thought it was necessary to save the last few leaves of salad from last night's dinner?  Yes, wilted greens completely saturated in dressing are always my snack of choice, but three bowls from various meals throughout the week, really?  My family is pretty good about being practical and trying to save only what's likely to be eaten, but even still, when analyzing the fridge a little, there's bound to be something that makes you wonder what exactly the person was thinking who decided to save half a pancake.  (That person?  Probably me).  
Well anyway, yesterday I made good use of leftovers.  Rice is probably one of the better things you can save, at least in our household.  We eat enough dishes that call for rice so that having leftovers is often convenient.  Also, I'll occasionally use rice to make chazuke for lunch.  If you haven't had it, chazuke is just a really quick and easy Japanese dish that involves puring hot water or green tea over rice and then adding whatever you want to it like nori, or stirring in an egg.  We actually have these little instant packets that are pretty good.  I feel like next year in college without a meal plan, I'll be having chazuke a little more frequently than I'd normally prefer. Yesterday, however, I was thinking of other things you could do with old rice, and remembered rice pudding!  I was never really a huge fan of it when I was younger, but over the last year or so I've started to like, or at least take an interest in, pretty much anything you'd label as food.  I looked up several rice pudding recipes online and found that all of them were about the same, so I tossed the common ingredients together and it turned out pretty good!  Here's what I used:

2 cups cooked, leftover rice
3 cups soy milk
1/3 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
a bit of nutmeg
1 teaspoon of cinnamon


Add the rice, soy milk, and sugar to a pan and place over heat.  (You could use other kinds of milk, but I've been really into soy lately.  Even if you're not a fan, try it in cereal and you just might change your  mind).  Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down, add the vanilla, and simmer for about 35 minutes (could be longer or shorter so judge by consistency).  When most of the milk has been absorbed, add the spices.  You could also throw in some raisins or other yummy additions while it's cooking.  I would recommend adding more milk if it looks a little too thick or if you plan on serving it cold because it thickens a little in the fridge.  You can serve the pudding right off the stove, nice and warm, or chilled.  Either way, it's bound to be tasty.  We topped ours with a little fresh fruit.
If you want a cinnamony, delicious, cool treat for a summer afternoon, definitely try this out!

-Syd