Vanilla Tapioca Pudding the Old Fashioned Way

Perfect warm for the chilly, wet winter season or cold for the hot summer season! Tapioca pudding is a comfort food for me.

Did you know Tapioca comes from the Cassava Plant? It is a sweet, chewy underground tuber and is a popular edible root-vegetables.

I START WITH BOB’S RED MILL SMALL PEARL TAPIOCA

THE REST OF THE REAL FOOD INGREDIENTS

Begin by soaking the tapioca pearls in a cup of milk for an hour in a heavy saucepan. Then add the rest of the milk, heavy cream (for richness), salt, sugar and lightly beaten egg yolks.

Next, cook on medium heat just until boiling while stirring. Then turn the heat to low and continue stirring for about 15 minutes, making sure it doesn’t boil at this point. Test to be sure the tapioca is the texture you like and then remove it from the heat and stir in a little vanilla. Let the mixture cool for a few minutes.

Last, serve warm or chilled. I sprinkled some Ceylon cinnamon on mine this time.

One way to serve the pudding is with a biscuit cookie like the one I found at Trader Joe’s.

“Trader Giotto’s Lattemiele Slightly Sweet Milk & Honey Cookies are delightfully crisp, delicately sweet biscuits made with fresh milk (Latte) and acacia honey (miele). Unlike many American cookies, these are not overly sweet – thus, the “lightly” in their name.” They are lovely!

Nutritional Benefits: Tapioca, which comes from the cassava plant, is a Real Food that is a rich source of vitamin K, calcium and iron, which all play an important role in the protection and development of bones.

It is also a rich source of dietary fiber, “good” cholesterol, and protein. Tapioca also contains pantothenic acid, folate, and B6, as well as manganese, copper, and selenium.

Just be careful about how much sugar you add. I use less sugar than most recipes call for and used Rapadura sugar (for depth of flavor) in this version. Rapadura is said to be easier for our bodies to handle since it is less processed and more of a whole food than regular white/brown sugar.

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For easy stress-free shopping, find some of my favorite non-perishable recipe ingredients, including Organic Ground Ceylon Cinnamon, in our Vitacost.com Healthy Living Shop or some of my “Featured Kitchen Favorites” in our Walmart.com Shop or try our Personal Care & Tea Shop. They contain links to online stores where I like to shop.

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