Rice Pudding

Ours was a meat and potato household. I can hardly remember ever having rice served with a meal other than in a casserole or in dessert form. The taste of long grain rice wasn't very appealing to us compared to the mashed, baked, boiled, or home fries that Mother made regularly. It wasn't until we moved to Japan that I experienced short grain, flavorful rice. Meanwhile, rice pudding always was a favorite and as it was made from simple ingredients that were almost always in the cupboard, we had it often. Mother made it in a roasting pan and put raisins in one end for Frank after stirring it down for the last time. He was the only one in the family that liked them in the pudding and whatever Frank liked to eat, he got! This pudding has a rich caramel color. Nice contrast when served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

1 quart milk (half evaporated, half water)
1/3 -1/2 sugar
1/4 cup uncooked white rice
1/2 tsp. vanilla
pinch of salt
shake of nutmeg
raisins (optional)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Combine all ingredients and bake for about 2 hours in a small, uncovered roasting pan. Sir down the mixture every 1/2 hour. Remove when desired thickness is reached and serve ASAP.