You know, you can use canned evaporated milk in place of 1/2 & 1/2 or even dried milk powder (reconstituted) and neither will curdle in the heat.

Love the blog! Can't wait to try some of your yummy looking recipes! Question about the rice on this one? I've never heard of Arborio (?) rice? Are subsitutions OK? thanks!

ah! that's it, Barrie!

Laurel, that's really good to know. I haven't cooked with those types of milk before, but I'll keep my eyes open in the grocery store. I would normally use 2% which cooks fine in the crock, but we had a huge container of 1/2 and 1/2 in the house.

Casey, thank you! Arborio is a very small-grained and rounded white rice. You can most definitely use brown rice, or any other rice that you prefer. Arborio has a creamy texture that you won't get with a different grain, but it will still taste great.

xoxo
steph

everything on your page always looks so yummy! :)

hope all is well and I do hope you enjoyed summer solstice!

kimberly~

I think I know what we are having for breakfast tomorrow morning! LOL! Only question is how to you make things for breakfast that take such a short time in the slow cooker? Can you put it in and set a timer (like you use for the lights when on holiday) or do you get up at 12 or 1am to put breakfast on??? (or 3am if you are using the high setting?) :o)

Hi DeeDee,

I know. It's an issue. We actually had this for lunch, because I wasn't thinking clearly.

If I was having company, or was thinking further than 15 minutes ahead of time ( :-) ), I would probably get everything in the crock, the night before and then set an alarm in the morning to turn it on. I have heard of people using the lamp timers with great success, but I would worry about the milk souring overnight.

I wish I had a better answer!
xox
steph

I tried this recipe this morning. I didn't end up doing it exactly as written - I used long-grain rice, half apple juice and half evaporated milk, no apples, and I cut it in half and stuck it in my little Crock-ette. It took WAY longer than I expected, and I had to finish it in a saucepan on the stove so we could get to church on time. Our little crock doesn't get as warm as a regular crock pot. Having said all this, it was absolutely delicious and I am so glad I made it! The next time we try this, I want to add the apples, and I'll just let it cook all night. Thanks for the great recipe!

Yay I win!!

I love your blog by the way. I made the garbanzo beans and the margarita chicken. I loved the margarita chicken!

I want to try the cabbage rolls, the fajitas, and some other things!!

Hi there! I tried this recipe last night (I started it at midnight and had it for breakfast) and while the taste was delicious, a lot of my rice was crunchy -- not so good! If I make it again, I will use more liquid and stir up the rice after I put the liquid in to make sure the liquid is evenly distributed. That said, it was mighty yummy and I thank you for sharing it with us! I love this website and look forward to trying many more recipes!

OHMIGOSH! This is so incredibly yummy! I started it at about midnight and turned it off at 6:30 am. It was a little crunchy around the sides, but in a good way :) One way to get around the milk spoiling issue is to use soy milk. We topped it with some chopped walnuts and had the best breakfast ever. Thank you!

I am so happy to have found your blog. I've tried a couple of recipes and just woke up to this breakfast risotto. It tastes yummy - kind of like a bowl of mush, but cinnamony. I did make some substitutions, so I though I'd share my results.

I didn't have apples in the house, but had a nectarine that was as hard as an apple, so I used that along with almost a full cup of applesauce.

Not sure what type of rice I used, it was labeled as "Risotto Rice" but I only had 1 1/4 cups, so I used brown rice for the remaining 1/4 cup. That was my one mistake. The brown rice is still fairly crunchy after 6 hours on low while the risotto rice is creamy. But a couple of crunches isn't so bad.

What a wonderful looking recipe! I just doubled it for my crew (we have 6 kiddos), and loaded it into my crock pot with a couple changes. Brown basmati rice, our favorite, instead of arborio, and coconut milk mixed with water for the liquid. Didn't even have to make a special shopping trip to try this one. It smells sooo good, I can't wait to try it in the morning! So glad to have found this blog! (We seem to need to eat gluten free, also. So nice that the recipes are already modified.)

Oh, and as for the cooking overnight, my 6 quart crockpot has a timer on it, and after it is done cooking on low, it will shift over to the "warm" setting, so it should work out alright on cooking on the low setting for 6 hours. So it is cooking right away, then on warm, no need to worry about spoiling before a timer starts, or overcooking. I'm hoping this will be the right amount of heat & time to soften up the basmati brown rice I'm using.

Wow, this was good! It cooked up in about 5 hours on high. I used 1cup of apple juice and 3 cups 2% milk for the liquid.

Just a finished a bowl of this! It was very yummy.

Maybe something is wrong with my CP but it cooked in less than 3 hours.

I made this today and it was pretty yummy. I couldn't bring myself to pay > $7 for arborio rice so I used short grain rice instead. I used 3 C milk, 1 C half n half w/ no juice. It cooked up quickly (just under 3 hrs) on high in my 4QT oval CP. The kids liked a little sugar sprinkled on top plus a smidge extra half n half. I liked the cranberries added into the cooked riostto but might toss some into the mix next time about 1/2 way through cooking so they'll soften a bit. Thanks for today's snack idea!

This was awesome! Will definitely make it again. I used 1/2 skim milk and 1/2 apple juice for my liquid. I also added a pinch of ground ginger. Mine cooked on low in about 5 hours. Luckily the dog woke me up and I caught it before it got too done. I had set the timer for 6 hours.

I love this blog! You are saving our newly gluten-free lives!

Just wondering if the curdling with the milk is due to the apple juice and the milk being combined. If you put acidic juice in milk, it does curdle. Have you tried it without the juice.

Can't wait to try it!

This is a little late to the party, but hopefully it's helpful

When I cook in the crockpot or even in the ricecooker and want a milky flavor without the hassle of babysitting the milk while cooking (ex: oatmeal in the rice cooker or crockpot, something like this, milky soups...) I use just water or broth or whatever for the liquid up until the last few minutes or until I'm ready to stand gaurd. Then I put in the appropriate amount of instant powdered non-fat milk and stir it through.

I want to try this recipe this week and that's what I'll probably do: water & applesauce in the crock overnight and then when we wake up or about 20 mins before serving I'll stir in powdered milk to get the nice milky flavor and calcium/protein. I'll try to report back how it turns out.

I am making this tonight. Thank you for sharing :)

I made this last night and ate it this morning. When I tried it, I felt that it needed a splash of vanilla. Next time I make it, I'll add it in when I start cooking.

I just wrote about this recipe on my blog! THANKS! http://www.makeasilkpurse.com/2010/12/quick-kitchencooking-tip.html

I found the typo, but I'll admit that I might want to err on the side of MORE butter! Bad, I know. But with this, I'd probably just add more butter upon serving anyway. Because, well, I *heart* butter. :-)

This is delicious! As my husband said, "I could eat this every day." I did, however, have a bit of trouble getting the rice to cook. But I think it's because I used half brown rice and half arborio; it seemed like the brown rice was slowing down the process. It ended up taking about 7 hours on high (!) to get it cooked, and I added probably 2-3 more cups of liquid throughout the cooking process. The only bummer is that my kids aren't crazy about it. What's not to love?! It's like rice pudding and it's OK to eat for breakfast!! I think my younger one decided he didn't like before he even tasted it because his big sister gave it a thumbs down. Turkeys. But I say, More for ME! I think I'll make this again, especially for my GF sister-in-law and her family. Thanks for the yummy breakfast idea!

6-23-13 Happy SuperMoon!
Found and made for Bfast. Quite different and tasty!
Used 2 cans Coconut and Evaporated milk which were slightly less than recommended- You need 4 cups!
Made with canned apples. when make next time, will add later- as they became mush.
Used Brown Rice- cooked OK. And added some finely chopped walnuts witch was a nice touch for texture and flavor.