Brown Rice Pudding with Cranberries & Maple Syrup

The other night I turned leftover cooked brown rice into rice pudding.  I’m not sure how the idea popped into my head in the first place.  I had never actually made rice pudding before.  Perhaps it was reading The Poky Little Puppy to my son.  “I smell something…..rice pudding!  And home they went as fast as they could go…”

I found an easy brown rice pudding recipe at Food.com

Creamy Brown Rice Pudding

I used unsweetened almond milk, maple syrup and a scant cup of dried sweetened cranberries (Craisins).  Otherwise I made it as directed.  I ended up with this:

I have no idea if it turned out correctly!

When it was finished Benzo and I each took a few bites and decided it would be better for breakfast than dessert.  We stored it in the fridge until the next morning and then popped it in the microwave for a couple minutes.  It made a really delicious and filling breakfast for all three of us.  I had to trick my toddler a little bit though.  He would not touch it and I KNEW he would love it if I could just get him to try it.  So when he wasn’t paying attention I snuck a tiny spoonful in his mouth.  At first he made a face but then he said “mmmmmm” and tore up the rest of the bowl.  Perhaps not the best parenting there but it worked.

I will say that this was much too sweet for me and next time I will decrease the maple syrup to just 1/4 cup.  It may have been the addition of the sweetened cranberries that pushed it over the edge.

Overall this is a great way to use up extra rice.  I have added it to the meal plan for breakfast next week!