vanilla bean rice pudding

well, like i posted earlier i have been on a vanilla bean kick. my brother roger and i had a discussion the other day about how much we love rice pudding, but are only familiar with the slow oven baked version with raisins and cinnamon. don't get me wrong, that was some good pudding our mama and grandmas used to make. i often requested it instead of a birthday cake, but i wanted to try something a little different. i turned to my trusty internet and found this. guess what? it calls for a half of a vanilla bean. yea baby, count me in. i made a pot of the creamy goodness yesterday. i pretty much followed the recipe to the "t" with two exceptions. i used long grain rice and added a hefty pinch of cornstarch during the final cooking. i was afraid it would not be thick enough to my liking. well, i likey, i likey a lot. it is delicious. the rice pudding came out sweet, creamy and full of vanilla flavor. i feel sure if you don't have a bean, you could sub a teaspoon of good vanilla. i made the pudding early in the day, so it could chill for hours in the fridge. big j loved it. i just served it straight from the bowl with a spoon, but was wishing i had strawberries. holy moley wouldn't that be good? this takes less than an hour on the stove top. go whip up a batch for your gang. you won't be sorry. enjoy.