Strawberry Tapioca Pudding

 Strawberry Tapioca Pudding

    Today was the 31st anniversary of my mother's death. It's a difficult day and New Year's Eve has never been the same.  I've celebrated my mother (and my father also on 12/23) on the anniversary of their deaths, in my own way. I take off work and on my mom's day, I normally watch sad movies like Beaches and The Joy Luck Club today and although I could not find my copy of Beaches, I just finished watching The Joy Luck Club. I feel like I have such a connection to Joy Luck Club, because it's about the mothers (and daughters) and their hopes and dreams for them. I never got to find out what my mom wanted for me, so it just hits home, because I'm sure my mom would have wanted the same things for me that the Joy Luck Club mothers wanted for their daughters. 

    I also make foods that they liked. For my mom, that is always her version of pork chops, which I've written about here before. This post isn't about the pork chops; you can go back through my posts and read about them, but just know I love them. Total comfort food for me.  

    This post is about a dessert my late father would make for my mom. Strawberry Tapioca Pudding. I don't remember how often we had it, but my mom was diabetic and she wasn't supposed to have many desserts. While overall she watched what she ate, she also wanted to enjoy life (writing that just made me smile) and would enjoy a dessert from time to time. This is the first time I've made the tapioca pudding.  I like strawberries, but I think I would like the pudding plain.  Strawberry Tapioca was what she liked, so that's what I made.

Feel free to try this recipe based on the Tapioca Cream recipe in one of my favorite and "go to" cookbooks in my collection. The Fannie Farmer Cookbook published in 1990. This cookbook was originally published in 1896 under the name The Boston Cooking School Cook Book by you guessed it, Fannie Farmer.`

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca

1/8 teaspoon salt (I accidentally used 1/4 teaspoon and it turned out fine)

5 tablespoons sugar (divided)

2 cups milk

2 eggs, separated

1 teaspoon vanilla

Sliced fresh or frozen and thawed strawberries (Just use as many as you want to use)

Red food coloring

Directions:

Mix 3 tablespoons of the sugar, the salt, and the tapioca in (the recipe says) a heavy-bottom pot. Slightly beat the egg yolks and add with milk to the dry ingredients. Let stand for 5 minutes. The recipe says to cook for about 6 minutes over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture comes to a full boil. For me, because I hadn't heated the milk before hand (I believe that would have been helpful), it took way longer to boil. It was at list 10 minutes. After my 6 minute timer went off, I didn't really time it. Anyways, when the mixture boils, remove from heat. Beat your egg whites which you've had set to the side, until foamy and slowly add the last 2 tablespoons of sugar. (The directions say to beat until stiff, but not dry. I don't really know what that meant and mine never made peaks. I just beat the whites on high with my hand mixer, until I felt comfortable with how it looked.) Stir your egg whites into the hot tapioca. Add the vanilla and a few drops of red food coloring. Blend well. Mix in your strawberries and serve warm or cold with a dollop of whipped cream if desired. 

   It was easy to make and  I really enjoyed it. So, if you make this, let me know what you think. 

Strawberry Tapioca Pudding

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!    

Tuna, Rice & Peas

 Tuna, Rice & Peas

    I wanted some 'comfort' food. This very, simple dish is one my father used to make when I was growing  up.  I haven't had it in decades, but felt like making it recently.  It is a dish with few ingredients and is inexpensive to make. Growing up,I think we probably also had bread or something with it.  It's been so long, I don't really recall, but I know we had lots of starch-y foods growing up. Rice is in the title, but you can definitely make the sauce and serve it over hot,buttered toast or biscuits. Let me know if you have ever heard of this and/or if you try it and like it.  

Ingredients:

One can tun fish (in water/drained)

One can green peas (drained

1 cup rice (cooked)

White sauce 

    1/4 Cup butter (melted) 

    2 cups milk

    1/4 cup flour 

    1/2 teaspoon salt

    1/8 teaspoon pepper 

• Make a medium white sauce by melting butter in a saucepan over low heat. Stir in flour and once it is bubbling, slowly pour in milk. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thickened. Season with salt and pepper. 
• One trick I've used for white sauce, is to heat the milk in the microwave for a one to two minutes before adding. It has helped it to thicken quicker in the past. 

Directions:

    Leaving your pan of white sauce on low heat, stir in the tuna, followed by the peas. Simply serve your tuna and peas sauce over rice (or toast) or you can mix the sauce and rice together.  Either way, this is a simple, comfort food and I hope you try it. 

Tuna, Rice and Peas

I made a batch of my Cheesy Garlic Butter Balls to go with leftovers the day after. What was it I was saying about lots of starches growing up?