A Crockpot of Comfort

 

"The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found." Calvin Trillin I admit it; I love cooking with leftovers. I often cook more than I need, just so I'll have leftovers to turn into something else. For instance, turkey leftovers become enchiladas, several kinds of soup, crepes, and various casseroles, all of which I love more than the original roasted turkey. I often cook two or three times as much rice as I need for a meal, just so I can have it for other recipes. All this plan ahead cooking should give me more time to write, right? I've toyed for years with the idea of coming out with a cookbook called Serial Cooking, which would be filled with recipes that piggyback off of other recipes - a series of meals much like Trillin's mother made. One of the times all that extra rice comes in handy is cold mornings, when I like to wake up and know that I've got something warm and comforting to entice me out from under the covers. One of my favorite go-to recipes for those kind of mornings is rice pudding. The Pokey Little Puppy ate rice pudding for desert, but for the Bohnhoffs, it's usually a comforting replacement for breakfast cereal. Now that it's just my husband and me at home, I make it in a little crock pot that, I suppose, was intended for queso and other warm dips. I load it up after dinner and plug it in when I go to bed. In the morning my rice pudding is cooked and ready for me to spoon into a bowl. I pour milk over it and sprinkle sugar on top, then eat it like cereal. If your family is larger, you can easily double or triple the recipe and use a standard sized crock pot. Little Crockpot Rice Pudding 1 cup cooked, leftover rice (white or brown will work!) 3/4 cup milk (I use nonfat, but you can use whole milk for a richer taste.) 1/3 cup brown sugar 2 eggs 1 1/2 T melted butter 1 T vanilla 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon 1/4 cup raisins, crasins, or other small dried fruit (cherries are good!) Mix all together and pour into a lightly greased crock pot. Cover and cook on low overnight.