My friend since first grade, Sarah, was telling me a couple of weeks ago how she will mix up a box of vanilla pudding, then add sour cherries to it. First, I think it should be illegal to share yummy recipes during this time when we can’t run to the store and get what we want. Second, I knew I had neither vanilla pudding mix or sour cherries.
As crazy as you’ll think I am, today I decided to clean out my kitchen cabinets and put everything on a spreadsheet.
The first cabinet I cleaned out was one at the top of a tall pantry. I never use that cabinet because I have to climb up on a little ladder thing to get to it. There were six boxes of some kind of pumpkin granola cereal that I did not buy and it expired in 2016 and . . it smelled very rancid. I gave one box to the chickens and they didn’t seem to mind so I’ll given them a box every few days til it’s all gone. I hate wasting groceries but I don’t like granola when it’s good and surely wasn’t going to eat after it was rancid.
But then . . I found two jars of sour cherries. I knew I could make homemade vanilla pudding, which has to be better than a boxed mix. Our last gallon of milk has an expiration date of 3/26 so, technically, it’s expired, but it still smelled fine so I used it. We won’t get more til a week from yesterday so I know it isn’t going to last that long. Might as well use it for something.
I used 2 cups of the milk to make pudding. I tasted it while it was still warm and it’s so good! This is going to be a real treat tonight . . especially since i’ve been thinking about it for two weeks.
W Jordan says
Do you make pudding like normal then add cherries with juice are drain ?
Judy Laquidara says
I made pudding like normal and put it in the fridge to cool. I drained the cherries (they’re sour cherries in a watery liquid) on paper towels, then put them in the freezer but not til they were frozen, then put pudding in a bowl, put cherries on top.
Lee says
We don’t use much milk here; unless I’m using some in mashed potatoes only my husband uses about 1/4 cup a day with his cereal. We were out when all this stockpiling began and there was none at the store. About a week later I went back & was able to get a gallon, which I poured into 1-cup portion containers and stuck in the freezer. The issue now is, he’s almost out of cereal. And I only have about a pound of potatoes. But now I have milk should I come across a need for it.
Mary says
How does the milk do for cereal? I freeze buttermilk for cooking, but I wasn’t sure how regular milk would work.
Judy Laquidara says
I use a lot of milk making yogurt and we eat a lot of yogurt. We use it in place of sour cream as a base for salad dressings so I miss my milk.
Susan Nixon says
That sounds delicious!
Tee says
OK, Judy! “First, I think it should be illegal to share yummy recipes during this time when we can’t run to the store and get what we want.” Ever since you started talking about Pioneer Woman’s tomato soup I have been craving it. I was missing tomato juice in the recipe, but today I finally made it with tomato sauce watered down. It was great! Wonder if it was so good because I have been thinking about it for weeks?
Judy Laquidara says
Good for you! I think we may all learn a lot about substituting and making do with what we have. I have been wanting to make it and don’t have any cream. I’ve thought about using either cream cheese and a bit of water or maybe a can of evaporated milk. We may even come up with a recipe we like better! I’m proud of you using what you had and making it work!
Joyce says
Pudding from scratch is super easy. I still have that recipe from high school Home Ec. I also have cherries in the freezer from my cherry tree…
Judy Laquidara says
Lucky you! We can hope for a few cherries this year but we just live too far south.