Pudding and Pills

Miss Becca Boo is in lots of pain from yesterday’s nasty sting. In fact, she’s reclining on the sofa with her foot on pillows. Her foot is swollen so much that her toes are splayed.

She has a fever of 101 degrees, and she periodically cries from the pain. I gave her half a Benadryl tablet mashed into a spoonful of pudding (she hasn’t yet learned to swallow pills—we tried).

(Sweetsie is also hobbling around, but her swelling is less severe, and she acts her normal self. She still wanted me to take a picture.)

Grace’s Vanilla Pudding
This is adapted from Grace’s recipe, the wife of my second cousin once removed. It’s called Cornstarch Pudding because it uses cornstarch to thicken the milk, but I don’t think it’s a very appetizing title, so I changed it.

This is not an over-the-top sweet, silky, rich dessert; rather, it is a down-home, light, creamy pudding that you can feel good about feeding to your kids, and somehow, at the same time, it’s still sweetly fancy, a simple family dessert.

4 cups milk, divided
1 large egg, beaten
1/3 cup sugar
5 tablespoons cornstarch
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon butter

Scald 3 ½ cups of the milk in a saucepan with a heavy bottom. While the milk is heating, mix the cornstarch, salt, and sugar together in a separate bowl. Add the beaten egg and the remaining half cup of milk.

When the milk is piping hot, pour in the egg mixture, whisking rapidly. Continue whisking until the mixture thickens and it is nearly boiling, but do NOT let it boil. Remove from heat, add the vanilla and butter, and stir to incorporate. Pour the pudding into a bowl, press a piece of wax paper down onto the top of it to prevent a skin from forming, and let sit until cool. Remove the wax paper and transfer the pudding to a plastic container, or glass jar, and store in the refrigerator. Eat it plain, with fresh fruit and whipped cream, with cookies, pies, or cakes.

Or mix a bit with a crushed Benadryl tablet to feed to your ailing bee-stung daughter.