Crock Pot Cooking

Hello Friends!

A while back I decided to buy a Crock Pot. I'd owned one when I lived in America and loved it. I used it for all sorts of savoury dishes, but also used it as a hot punch bowl for my Spiced Apple Cider and even as a simmering potpourri pot using fresh herbs and spices!

So, for a while now I've been hankering after a good old fashioned rice pudding and with the weather taking it's turn for the worse and getting more and more wintry by the day, I decided to make one today ~ in the Crock Pot, of course. Now, rice pudding isn't exactly rocket science and is a very easy recipe, but oh! how much easier it is in the Crock Pot!

With the winds blowing wildly outside the cottage today and with a hankering to increase the hygge, it was the perfect day to make this childhood comfort food as a pudding for later on.

I weighed out the ingredients and just tipped them all into the Crock Pot which I then turned to high for about three hours. I kept an eye on it as I've not done a rice pudding in the Crock Pot before, and it did need fairly regular stirring but there was none of that lifting a heavy dish in and out of the oven, it was right there on the counter top making life so much easier.

I had a late lunch today, and the pudding was ready to be eaten with a dollop of strawberry jam after lunch ~~~

Just weigh out your ingredients, I'm sure everyone has the recipe, but just in case, these are the measurements I used

200 gr pudding rice {be sure to use short grain pudding rice}
1 litre milk {I used semi skimmed}
1 small can condensed milk {or increase your milk by 200 ml}
50 gr unsalted butter
30 gr soft brown sugar {any sugar will be fine}
{nutmeg, cinnamon, or other spices may be added to taste, if desired and you can always melt a little chocolate in, or add some chopped dried fruits, such as craisins, apricots, or sultanas}

Tip all ingredients into your Crock Pot and turn on. Cook for about 3 hours on high, or 5~6 hours on low, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking and checking to see if pudding is cooked.

I forgot to take a photo of the cooked pudding in the pot, but here it is, served up, thick and creamy, with a dollop of strawberry jam. If you like a thinner pudding, just add more milk ~~~

I don't know why, but this is one of the most delicious rice puddings I have ever eaten!

Meanwhile, back in the garden ~~~

My osteospermus just haven't got the message yet that the weather is turning rapidly and they really should not still be flowering ~~~ I bought these earlier in the year and put them into a growbag  meaning to move them to a permanent location during the summer. The best laid plans, as they say, and the move never happened so they are still in the growbag and I really must get them into the soil before we get the very bad weather that they say is coming.  Here they are, full of lovely strong new shoots coming from around the bases, and a few blooms still insisting on flowering for some autumn colour!

There are three different colours, but this purple one is my favourite of all ~~~

They are still not particularly big, but very sturdy and healthy, so I really must get them in the ground this coming week, even if I just bury them wholesale in the bag until spring to protect the roots.

Here are a few pictures of the skies over the cottage in the last week ~~~
I am always amazed and in total awe at the diversity and beauty of the universe ~~~

an early rose gold sunrise through a rain spotted window pane ~~~

a jewel coloured palette of a mauve and golden sunset ~~~

and I had hoped to capture the November Super Moon, but we were, as so often happens, scuppered by cloud cover, so here is one of our beautiful moon taken a few days before the perigee ~~~

Until next time ~~~
~~~Deborah