My Mom's Baked Rice Pudding

Our family loves having rice pudding for dessert.  It's nice and light, not too sweet and so simple to make. I always make extra rice when we have it for dinner so I can make this dessert. The only kind of rice pudding I have ever made is baked in the oven because that's the way my Mother and Grandmother did it. Hey, why mess with a good thing.  So hear is my Mother's recipe for Baked Rice Pudding.

Baked Rice Pudding

2 cups of hot cooked rice (I use Uncle Ben's but minute rice is fine)
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
3 eggs, slightly beaten
2 1/2 cups of milk, scalded (which means steamy hot but not boiling.  I find two minutes in the microwave works perfect)
1/2 cup raisins in cinnamon (I just sprinkle some cinnamon into my measuring cup of raisins and give it a shake)

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

Blend eggs, sugar, vanilla and salt in a medium bowl.

Gradually stir in the milk (not too fast or you'll cook the eggs!)

Add the raisins in cinnamon.

Then add your hot cooked rice.

Pour into an ungreased 1 1/2 quart casserole and sprinkle with cinnamon.  Place your dish inside a slightly bigger pan.

Then pour very hot water into the pan about 1 1/2 inches deep. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 70 minutes.

You won't be sorry you made this one!  I serve it warm with a bit of milk over it.

Mom's Spaghetti Sauce

We love a big plate of spaghetti in our house.  It's one of my all time favorites with my Mom's homemade spaghetti sauce.  Since there were six kids in my family growing up and money was tight, for our birthday our Mom used to let us pick what we wanted for dinner.  It would always be her homemade spaghetti.  It was one of the first things I learned to make and still make a big pot once every couple weeks to this day. Just the smell of this sauce simmering makes my mouth water. The leftover sauce freezes well and is great to use for lasagna too!  You won't be disappointed in this spaghetti sauce.  I have the original recipe cards my Mother wrote this recipe on from her recipe box.  The only change I make today is to use 1 lb. of ground beef instead of two, it just depends on how meaty you like it. I know it looks like a lot of ingredients, but it is really easy to make and is well worth the time.

Here is my Mother's recipe for Spaghetti Sauce

2 lbs. ground beef (I use 1 lb.)
2  28oz. cans whole tomatoes
2  5 1/2 oz. cans tomato paste
1 large spanish onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
5 cloves of garlic chopped, or 2 tsp. garlic powder
1 medium can of tomato juice
1 can mushroom pieces, drained
2 tsp. poultry seasoning
1 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. marjoram
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. white sugar
1 1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
6 whole cloves or 1/2 tsp. ground cloves

Brown ground beef.  Add onion, garlic, celery, green pepper and cook until softened.  About 5 minutes.  Drain off fat.  Add canned tomatoes (breaking up with spoon or hand), tomato juice, tomato paste and canned mushrooms.  Bring to boil.  Add poultry seasoning, onion powder, marjoram, salt, pepper, sugar, chili powder, cayenne pepper and cloves.  Reduce to simmer.  Let simmer for up to 3 hours.  The longer the better!  This sauce is always better the next day!