Making Pudding

Today, I decided to make pudding from scratch.

My kids asked for tapioca, and I really love butterscotch, so I made both.

Actually, both are tapioca custard recipes, straight from 'Joy of Cooking.' Here's how you do it:

Use a double-boiler. Put 3 Tbls of quick-cooking tapioca, 1/4 tsp of salt, 2 beaten eggs, and 2 cups of milk, into the double-boiler. Stir well.

If you just want straight tapioca pudding, also put 1/2 cup of sugar in there.

Allow the mixture to cook in the double-boiler for 7 minutes, without stirring it again. Then stir it well, and allow to cook again for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, stir in 1 tsp of vanilla. Pour into bowls, and eat when warm, or cool if you prefer.

If you want butterscotch, use this same recipe, except DON'T put the white sugar into the mixture. Instead, melt 2 Tbls butter in a small pan, and add 1/3 cup of brown sugar, and allow it to melt and bubble. Add this butter/sugar to the mixture after it is cooked, and stir. Put into bowls.

Now READERS, allow me to wax eloquent on a favorite topic: REAL FOOD. The pudding you have eaten from the store that comes ready-made in little plastic tubs? That's NOT pudding. And the pudding you've made from Jell-O, with the powder mixture? That's not pudding either.

Sorry to tell you that. How do I know? Because when I made the "powder" kind yesterday, I could SO taste the chemicals. I've been removing chemicals/additives/preservatives from my diet enough, and I can now really taste them when they're there! BLECK!

So, how about homemade, from-scratch pudding? Ah, the lovely deliciousness of NO chemicals! Just milk, butter, sugar ... just natural ingredients, and boy does it make a difference. This stuff is creamy and fabulous.

And it's not THAT hard.

Your family will LOVE you if you make them this warm, delectable treat :)