Rice pudding, one of the cheapest and easiest dessert !

Since we've been watching what we are spending, I am trying to cut chocolate and other expensive snacks from our diet. I used to make pies every week but butter is expensive. Even if the pies are made from scratch, still expensive. Same for croissants, or cookies. Rice pudding seems like the cheapest dessert you can make. Here is my recipe:

• 1/2 lb of rice, the cheapest one
• 1 liter of milk
• 1/8 lb sugar (to taste actually, I usually don't put too much, like a tbsp or 2, because my toddler is eating it too. You can add the sugar when you serve it)
• 1 vanilla pod or 1 tsp vanilla extract

It will yield about 8 servings.

Wash the rice, until the water is clear. Add to a saucepan with water to cover it and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes. Drain the rice.

Cut the vanilla pod in half, and extract the seeds. Add the milk, vanilla pod and seeds, and sugar to a saucepan, add the rice and bring to a boil. When it starts boiling, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 45 minutes, stirring often. It's done when the rice and the milk are almost indistinguishable from each other. You don't want the rice to be al dente, you want it to be super super soft.

If you want, and this is completely optional, at the end, you can add some raisins. I didn't do it until the next day, when I reheated it. I thought it would add a nice twist to it, and it did.

Here is the picture of my "riz au lait"