Healthy Rice Pudding

If you love rice pudding or are looking for a new healthier dessert option here is a great recipe my mom and I came up with over the holiday. My brother has so may food allergies we made this version for him, but I wound up liking it more than the original. Its not a creamy as traditional rice pudding but also a lot less heavy on the belly.

Ingredients

• 1 cup water + 1/2 cup for raisins
• heaping 1/4 cup of golden raisins (you can use any type)
• few dashes of cinnamon
• pinch of salt
• 1/4 cup of arborio rice (this type of rice is important)
• 2 cups of original Almond Milk (I used 60 calorie Almond Breeze)
• 1/2 TB earth balance butter spread
• 4.5 TB sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. Pour 1/2 cup boiling water over raisins until they plump up (you can do this while the rice is cooking), then drain
2. Bring water, salt and earth balance to a boil in a medium pan. Add rice and return to a boil. Reduce the heat to the lowest setting. Shake the pan occasionally and cook until the rice has absorbed the water but is still al dente, about 15 mins.
3. Bring almond milk, sugar, vanilla and a few dashes of cinnamon to a simmer in a separate saucepan. Add the cooked rice and cook at a simmer over medium-low heat until the rice absorbs most of the almond milk. About 10-15 minutes.
4. Transfer pudding to a large bowl and mix in the plumped raisins- cool to room temperature and then place in the frig to cool a little more and set.
5. Serve in a martini glass topped with mixed berries

adapted from Dave Lieberman's arborio rice pudding recipe