Yummy Maple Cinnamon Rice Pudding

Yesterday evening, I was craving rice pudding.  It has been a comfort food kinda week, ya know?

I had some leftover brown basmati rice from our latest curry night, but not really enough to make a decent sized batch of rice pudding.

What I wanted was a creamy, maple-y, cinnamon-y bowl of goodness.  Maybe two bowls.

I got the idea for the recipe from The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook : 250 No-Fail Recipes for Pilafs, Risottos, Polenta, Chilis, Soups, Porridges, Puddings and More, from Start to Finish in Your Rice Cooker, but didn't exactly follow the recipe precisely because I wanted a little more than it would have made so I could have some for breakfast this morning, too.

So I did the following:

Chicken Tikka Masala And The New Rice Cooker Miracle

My new rice cooker arrived today in the mail.  So, of course, I've already cooked rice in it for tonight's dinner.

Is it possible to fall in love with an appliance?  Can you know after only one meal?

Is there truly such a thing as love at first bite?

Because I am in heaven.

We ended up buying a Sanyo rice cooker (the ECJ-HC100S): a fuzzy logic one that has a porridge setting, a brown rice setting, a fabu timer and is a 10-cup size.  It also comes with a steamer insert for veggies to steam along with the rice (nifty, eh?), a tofu-making insert (which won't get a lot of use here, I expect), and a special bowl for slow-cooking in case I need to use it that way, too.

I figured the bigger size would be better when we had company or folks over for dinner. 

So what did I make today for dinner, you ask?

Rice Cooker Recommendations?

We have been making a real effort to eat more whole grains at our house as part of a push to eat healthier overall.

One of the things I love most is steel-cut oats for breakfast in the morning.  Nummy stuff, but they take forever to cook, so I've been starting them in our slow cooker the evening before.

The problem?

The slow cooker must work at a higher temperature for some reason, because no matter how much extra liquid I put in the pot it still scorches and sticks in a nasty way to the bottom and sides.  Ick.

The Peanut and I went to the local library this week, and I found a wonderful book on rice cooker recipes and uses that I am loving:  The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook by Beth Hensperger.  It includes some great information about types of cookers and features.

Which led me to dig around online for some product reviews.  After lots of research, I'm leaning toward the Zojurushi NP-HBC18, but its hefty price tag makes me hesitate.

Food and Wine gave it a stellar review, so the foodie in me is sorely tempted.  Years of purchasing a cheaper model of something only to find that it either broke or didn't work as promised -- see above reference to slow cooker which heats way too much -- have made me suspicious of the real value of a "bargain."