Arroz Con Leche Cooking and Song

"Arroz con Leche" was one of the first songs I learned in Spanish from my mom, when I was 7 or 8 years old.  I loved the song though ironically I didn't love the way my mom fixed arroz con leche (I think she didn't cook the rice enough for me).  My hubby cooked WAY too much rice the other night (I'm talking 3 leftover containers) so I figured this would be the perfect time to reacquaint myself with this Latin treat.

I found a super easy recipe for rice pudding using left over rice.  I know this is kind of cheating, traditionally the rice should actually be cooked in the milk, but like I said I was looking for a different way to use all the leftover rice.   I realized I didn't actually know what the difference between arroz con leche and rice pudding.  This article explains the difference, but really it doesn't seem like there is one.  After looking at lots of recipes it seemed like there were tons of variations of both and no really consistent difference in the ingredients.

Chiquita helped me add all the ingredients into the saucepan.  I didn't get any photos since we really needed to work together to make sure everything actually made it into the pan rather than on the counter.  Then I put it on the stove on medium heat and stirred and stirred.  While I stirred I put on this cute youtube video of "Arroz Con Leche" for Chiquita.


She watched it like 5 times!  She really liked it but I'm not sure she understood everything because she asked me "Why does that girl just like rice?"

After the pudding had thickened up a dished it out and popped it in the fridge for a few minutes to cool.  Chiquita was excited to try it and pronounced it "delicioso!"  I found I really liked it too!