Up until Tuesday we were a one car family. It never really bothered me much. I don’t mind scheduling things for one day when we can drop my husband off at work and take the car for the day, and even that was a rare occurrence. There really isn’t anything that exciting going on in the town we live in anyways, and anything that is going on we can walk to. That’s right… By town, I mean four stoplights.
Now that it’s been so spring-like, sunny, warm and awesome we’ve been walking all over. In the last couple weeks we’ve been walking like crazy. Walking with my mother and sisters in law, by ourselves, for long walks, short walks, walks just for the sake of walking. I couldn’t help it, we just had to get out of the house, and it’s great. But now for the few days it’s been raining pretty much all day and now we have a vehicle. We could decide on a whim that we want to go to the park on the other side of town, or to the swimming pool, or all sorts of things. We could suddenly decide we wanted something else for dinner and go to the grocery store to buy all the ingredients. But really? Let’s just stay inside and built forts out of bedsheets till it stops raining. That sounds like more fun to me 🙂
And the perfect snack for a day inside filled with fort making… Rice pudding sounds good. I was never much of a rice pudding fan. Or maybe I just said I didn’t like it as a kid because my dad didn’t like it and if he said so it must be gross. I can’t remember why I eventually tried it, but maybe it was the smell of my mom making brown rice pudding. White rice pudding I’m not sure if I like, but this stuff is amazing. And the smell of it cooking… I won’t even go into it…
For something a bit sweeter for breakfast, try thesecinnamon roll muffins!
Brown Rice Pudding
Ingredients
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup short-grain brown rice
- 1/2 cup cooked wheatberries
- pinch of salt
- 4 cups milk of choice
- 1/3 cup honey
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- generous 1/2 C raisins
Instructions
- Cook rice in 2 cups of water with a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil and then cover and simmer 40 minutes. Remove rice from the heat. Add the wheat berries(if you have some and want to use them, they add a great chew to the pudding, but it's not necessary - just what I had on hand this time), milk, honey or other sweetener, vanilla and cinnamon to the pot with the rice and stir well. I always add a little more honey at the end of the cooking so don't be afraid to do that. If you taste it right away keep in mind it will cook down quite a bit so the sweetness will be concentrated. Also, we usually only have full fat milk in the house for the kids so I use half dairy milk and half almond milk or even slightly more almond milk to dairy. This way is still incredibly filling and rich.
- Bring to a low boil over medium-low heat, stirring often. Cook for about 30 minutes till the rice becomes very creamy adding the raisins in the last 15 minutes of cooking. At the end you'll need to stir more frequently to prevent it from scorching on the bottom of the pot, be very careful. Once thickened turn off the heat and leave on the stove for 10-15 minutes. Then you can either serve warm or chill in the fridge and serve it cold. Either way is good, but it's best served warm on a cold rainy day 🙂
Comments & Reviews
Priscilla says
I was searching for a healthy version of rice pudding (what to replace the sugar with) and ran across your website. I was wondering if you’ve ever tried adding all ingredients (including rice uncooked 3 talbs per 4 cups of milk. that is correct just 3 talbs of rice) to the milk and then baking it in the oven. I found a recipe in my Fanny Farmer Cook book that was exactly like the one my Grandmother used to make. It bakes in the oven for 3.5 hours at 300 degrees F. You do need to stir it for the first hour (about every 15 minutes) to keep the rice from settling to the bottom. This turns out so wonderfully creamy just like what my Grandma used to make. My grandparents were dairy farmers and we had the blessing of growing up on an abundance of whole raw milk. Of course that is what Grandma used for her rice pudding. I look forward to trying your recipe with the wheatberries and honey.
Cariann says
This looks so good. I was just given a 10lb bag of short brown rice so I am searching for recipes. Going to try this (gotta pick up some raisins first)
Food Obsessed says
OMG! I have never been much of a rice pudding fan myself, probably for similar reasons than yours… but your recipe has convinced me to give it another fair try. This looks so unbelievably good, rich and creamy, and best of all, healthy! Added bonus, it will be a good occasion for me to try wheat berries. Thanks so much for the inspiration. I now really really want to like [brown] rice pudding! 😉
Heidi @ Food Doodles says
I hope you like it! It’s quite different than regular rice pudding, so maybe you will 😀
Heide M says
Thanks for posting this. Never thought about using brown rice for the pudding. Where can one find wheatberries.
Heidi @ Food Doodles says
Usually you can find them at a health food store and sometimes you can even find them in the bulk section at a grocery store. It’s not necessary if you can’t find them though, they just make a nice addition. Feel free to leave them out.
Lisa @ Sweet as Sugar Cookies says
Mmm, that definitely looks like a comforting dessert. I have a sweet treat linky party going on at my blog and I’d like to invite you to stop by and link your rice pudding up. http://sweet-as-sugar-cookies.blogspot.com/2011/04/sweets-for-saturday-11.html
blog by tina says
yummmmmm… I want to eat this wrapped up in a blanket watching the sunrise. I’d also settle for just eating it regular style 😀
Cassie says
Definitely love to see a recipe for brown rice pudding. I am always hesitant at trying to make rice pudding, because I’m not a huge fan of dairy milk and I wonder how non-dairy alternatives would work, I’m glad to see almond milk is good!
Heidi @ Food Doodles says
I haven’t tried using all almond milk so you’ll have to let me know if you do try it. You can always scale down the recipe too.
Honestly Good Food says
Wow, I just rocked some brown rice pudding on my blog last week. I never thought of doing it with a little wheat mixed in. That would make for a super nutty goodness. Nice photos.
Heidi @ Food Doodles says
Thank you! It was really good actually. I’m happy I had a little bit left over in my fridge to try it out 🙂
ThE DiVa DiSh says
Yummy! 🙂 your pictures are beautiful too!
Heidi @ Food Doodles says
Thank you!!
emily says
My family eats rice pudding every Christmas…Swedish Tradition. I like that your version uses brown rice, though. 🙂
Love your food photography, too!
Heidi @ Food Doodles says
Wonderful tradition 🙂
Thank you!
Maris (In Good Taste) says
Your rice pudding looks so good. I commend you for walking instead of driving!
Leanne @ Healthful Pursuit says
I haven’t built a fort in years! My sister was so good at it growing up. She had a bunk bed that we converted into a fort every weekend and then had sleepovers on the floor on Friday and Saturday. Great memories! I am in love with rice pudding right now and this looks delicious!
Heidi @ Food Doodles says
So much fun! I’ve been building forts for my son for ages now. I think when I first started it was more for me than for him, lol!
Thank you!
saravixen says
Hmm, that pudding sure looks delicious! I always liked ricepudding, but I’ve never made it myself, that sure something I need to try out soon. Thanks for sharing the recipe 🙂
It truly is handy to have everything you need in a walking distance. I’m living in a big city at the moment, and there really is a shop around every corner. In my hometown it’s not easy to find everything you need in walking (or even biking) distance, so most of the time we take the car. Though when it’s sunny the bike is an option too, it only takes longer. Eventhough, I prefer my hometown, where it’s peace and quiet and lots of trees and greens 😉
Heidi @ Food Doodles says
Thank you!
It’s so handy! It does take us a bit of time to get to the grocery store and back, but at least it’s a possibility. And it’s so nice to get outside. For most of my life I lived in a big city and I prefer the trees and greenery and peace and quiet too 😀
Maryea @ Happy Healthy Mama says
Your rice pudding looks seriously amazing!! I love that where you live you can walk all the places you need to go. That is my dream. Unfortunately where I live I can walk a few places but mostly you need to drive to get anywhere.
Heidi @ Food Doodles says
Thank you 🙂
It is very nice to be able to do that. We do live at the bottom of a huge hill and that scares me off sometimes but I always remind myself it’s so worth it to get out and do things and not drive everywhere when I don’t really need to.
Lauren @ Healthy Food For Living says
Your rice pudding looks beautiful! These gorgeous photos remind me that I really should make my rice puddings again for a re-shoot… those posts were published such a long time ago, and deserve updated pictures ;).
Heidi @ Food Doodles says
Thank you! I’ve had that recipe for quite a while now. I secretly always make way more rice that we need just so I can say a couple days later “hmmm, what should I do with all this rice…” 😀