My theme for the next few days/weeks (although I'm not that religious in my blogging) is going to be helping readers (and me!) to be more aware of the cost comparisons between commercial and made-from-scratch recipes.
We all opt for convenience now and then, but it is a serious savings when we don't. For ex, I made tapioca pudding today. My recipe makes about a quart of pudding for a total cost of $1.42. If I bought the same quantity of pudding in the little snack-pack size of 3.5 oz, it would have cost about $4.73. It took me all of 10 minutes to make the pudding, and is so much nicer than the canned stuff. I was able to substitute brown sugar for white, which makes a nice caramel flavor and (I think) my fresh-made recipe is better for us nutritionally. The recipe is a standard one, very simple (please read all the way through before starting), from the back of a tapioca package, but the caramel part is mine:
Caramel Tapioca
Place these 3 ingredients in a 2-qt saucepan and stir while heating (med-high) to boiling:
1/2 cup small pearl or granulated tapioca
3 cups milk
1/4 teasp sea salt
Reduce to a simmer and cook/stir for 5 minutes while adding in increments
2/3 cup brown sugar - I used light brown, but dark brown would be more flavorful
At the end of the 5 minutes briefly remove the pan from the burner while you break
2 eggs
into a 2-cup measuring pitcher and whisk until well blended. Add small amounts of the hot milk mixture to the eggs, whisking continuously until you have about 1 cup in the pitcher. Pour all back into the saucepan, and stir/whisk until fully incorporated. At this point, return pan to burner, increase the heat a bit, and let the pudding come to a bubbling boil. Stir until thickened then remove from heat. Let cool slightly before adding
1 teasp vanilla or maple extract
Stir well, then transfer to a container to refrigerate. The entire quantity fits in a 5.3 cup Hefty square container.
NOTE: if your tapioca package says to soak overnight before using, do that, and reduce the amount of milk by the amount of soaking water (the tapioca is not drained before cooking when doing it that way), just use the amount of water recommended on the package, or use part of your 3 cups of milk and just soak it in the refrigerator.
That's it....... EASY, right??
We're having it tonight with leftover lasagna, and it will be GREAT!
