Caramel Rice Pudding

Rice pudding is comfort food to me.  It brings back memories of sitting in my grandma's kitchen, eating a big bowl of warm pudding with the smell of cinnamon in the air.  I can hear grandma singing a tune as she often did while she cooked.  I loved sitting in grandma's kitchen and I loved her rice pudding.  When I had leftover rice from dinner the other day, I thought of grandma and I wanted to make rice pudding.  I just had one problem.  My family doesn't like traditional rice pudding.  So, I searched online for a version that I thought they would like.  I finally found this recipe on LoveToKnow.com.  I thought everyone might like this rice pudding, because it seems creamy, sweet and it uses dried cranberries instead of raisins (I don't have many raisin fans in my house).  Plus, it cooks in the crock pot (it is July).  Here's hoping we will all like this version...

Ingredients 

3 cups white rice, precooked

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1 tsp vanilla

14 oz. sweetened condensed milk

12 oz. evaporated milk

1 tbs. brown sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

Directions

Turn your crock pot to low to preheat. Line the inside with a cooking bag or use cooking spray.

Add the rice, cranberries, vanilla, and milks to the crock pot and stir thoroughly.

Cook on low, covered, for 3 hours.

Add the seasonings and serve.

The directions are simple.  I used cooking spray and preheated the crock pot before I added all the ingredients (except the brown sugar and cinnamon).  I thoroughly stirred it and let it cook for a little over 3 hours.  I did check and stir it occasionally while it cooked.

After 3 hours it looked like this.  I added the brown sugar and cinnamon just before I served it.

The Results...
Everyone did like this rice pudding!  This isn't exactly like my grandma's rice pudding, but I wasn't expecting it to be.  Grandma's pudding was more custard-like with raisins and she baked it in the oven.  This caramel rice pudding is very sweet, rich and creamy.  This is certainly not low-calorie, but who eats a rice cake when they're feeling low?  This is 'stick to your ribs' and 'straight to your hips' comfort food.  If you're having a bad day, this pudding can make it better.