So as part of my personal pandemic self-care, I decided to try and ride the wave of New Year resolution fitness and diet tweaking. So far, so good. I even splurged on a Ring Fit for the Nintendo Switch, because I normally loathe exercise, and need to be tricked into thinking it’s fun. Also, PANDEMIC, amiright? Splurges are what’s getting us through at this point…
So there I am, jogging in place and pretending I look cool, when the game starts throwing these smoothie references at me. Spinach smoothie? I’m good, thanks. Banana sesame smoothie? Intriguing. Milk pudding smoothie?
WAIT JUST A SECOND.
So, admittedly my mind registered this as a rice pudding smoothie, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it for days. Which could be worse, of course: It’s taken me about two weeks to stop craving frozen chocolate chip cookie dough every single day. It’s been a tough year.
I wasn’t expecting to be hit with food inspiration in a workout game, though. But this food blog thing is a blessing and a curse in some ways, because I can find catharsis from these fixations by making up a winning recipe.
I started with the rice pudding concept, but rice is pretty high in calories (isn’t everything delicious, though?), so that gave me pause. Then I thought about the pearls, and BOOM! Tapioca!
This recipe comes out to under 200 calories, which is pretty good since it leaves some calories for other stuff (I’m a grazer, so I prefer more than one item for a meal). It’s creamy, a little on the thicker side from the tapioca, and lightly sweetened from the fruit. I had my husband taste it for me, and he promptly ran off with the glass, so I figure that’s a definite upvote.
I’m still busy leveling up in the game, but from the sneak peek I took online, I think it’s safe to predict that there’ll be plenty more smoothie recipes that catch my eye going forward, so stay tuned! :)
Ring Fit Milk Pudding Smoothie Recipe
Ingredients:
- 2 Tbs. small tapioca pearls
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 cup raisins or dates
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
- dash vanilla extract
- dash almond extract (optional, but yum!)
- 1 cup almond milk
Cook the tapioca in the 1/2 cup water, or according to the package instructions. Once the tapioca is completely cooked, remove from heat and allow to cool for a few minutes.
Combine the tapioca with all the other ingredients in blender; blend until smooth. Strain for a smoother consistency (the remaining fruity bits are great in oatmeal!). Chill until ready to drink, the pour into serving cups and add a dash of cinnamon. Enjoy!
So the blog is dead and abandoned?
Not officially! I’ve just been busy with writing cookbooks and juggling family. I’m hoping to get back to it in the new year!
Thank you for all of the recipes you’ve shared over the years. As a mom, I get how hard it can be trying to find that work/family life balance.
One fandom cookbook I’d love to see is one for Mystery Science Theater 3000. I don’t know if you’re familiar with the show, but I would love to see what kind of recipes one could be inspired to make from watching cheesy movies, the worst we can find. (Lalala).
I love this idea. I have the cookbook for the 90s show, Dinner and A Movie, and though it’s not MST3K it’ll fit right in. The recipes were created for the movie, so you’ll pair the film Roadhouse with a dinner of Cracked Ribs and Black-Eyed Peas. It would be enormously fun to have pun-filled companion meals for MST3K, so I second this idea.
Lastly, I wanted to add another “thank you” for this blog. I’m so glad it’s still here and we’ll continue to check in from time to time to see if you’ve popped back around. However, when you get busy that means great things are in the works. We collect your books, and just pre-ordered the Star Trek Cookbook for everyone for Christmas. My favorite, and maybe because it was our first, is the Official World of Warcraft Cookbook. My son was absolutely thrilled to have received it for Christmas and he made everyone Northern Spices as gifts. That book brought our hobbies together and helped us bond in a fun and delicious way. We appreciate you so much.