Let’s talk comfort food. You know, the food that you eat when you’re happy, sad, stressed…when you just want to sit on the couch with the entire bowl of rice pudding and spoon it into you mouth with one of those beach shovels.

Well, that’s where I have been recently. No, I have no actually been sitting on my couch shoveling in massive amounts of pudding with a child’s play shovel…but that does not mean that I haven’t been thinking about it.

I have two weeks left in my collegiate undergraduate career. I cannot wait for it to be over. I mean, I can wait for the whole job-searching thing to start and I can wait for the whole packing up the past year of my life and moving it back home; but I’m still excited. But all this excitement and anxiousness has me craving some serious comfort foods. Last week, I could not get enough cheese.

This week, I’m all about rice pudding and tapioca. If I had the patience, I would be making some right now. But I wouldn’t trust myself with an entire batch. I fear that I would find myself tucked away in the kitchen, watching either Titanic or The Little Mermaid and I will consume the entire thing. Which, with the amount of cheese I have been consuming, probably would not be that great of an idea. But hey, at least I’m getting my calcium, right?

And you know, if I do make this rice pudding, it requires a lot of stirring which equals a really great arm workout. I’ll make sure to switch arms halfway through so it’s even :)

Rice Pudding

1/2 gallon milk
1 c. rice
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 can evaporated milk

Combine the milk and the rice; cook, stirring constantly in a pot on medium heat. Continue to cook until the rice has absorbed milk and is thick. Take off the heat and add sugar, vanilla and cinnamon; stir well. If you want the pudding sweeter, you can add 3/4 sugar and if you dislike cinnamon, feel free to omit it! Lastly, stir in the can of evaporated milk.

I like to sneak a few bites while hot but it is a dish usually served cold.