NEWS for North Dakotans
Agriculture Communication, North Dakota
State University
7 Morrill Hall, Fargo, ND 58105-5665
July 30, 1998
The swelter of summer's dog days is enough to drive any cook out of the kitchen, but along with a waning desire to endure the heat of my kitchen, my appetite seems to ebb as July melts into August. During this time of the year, I think I'd rather chew on tin foil than eat something heavy and hot, like a stew or a bowl of chili or even mashed potatoes and gravy.
Fruit salads can usually set my mouth to watering as can fresh veggies coupled with an assortment of full-bodied chilled dips. Of course, cold cuts, crackers, potato salad, and maybe even one or two deviled eggs make for a nice summertime snack.
But what really gets my taste buds standing at attention during summer's sizzle is the cool creaminess of pudding or the frozen silkiness of ice cream. Chocolate? Vanilla? Butterscotch? For me, a debate about flavor seems moot during the stifling summer months. What I really need to be eating are foods that are more texture than temperature.
Add a little nostalgia for good measure and my plate or bowl can quickly become fullfull of Sawdust Pudding, for instance. What sounds gritty or chokingly dry tastes like more, as in secondand thirdhelpings. Sawdust Pudding is a concoction my mom introduced me to, long before I'd become a teenager. It has eye appeal to match its sumptuous flavor and magnificent mouth feel.
So what is Sawdust Pudding? Alternating layer upon layer of crushed graham crackers, sliced bananas and vanilla puddingideally, topped off with a heaping helping of whipped cream. I suppose you could substitute chocolate pudding for the vanilla and maraschino cherries and miniature marshmallows for the bananas, but I'd recommend making at least one batch of unadulterated Sawdust Pudding. It's a taste you'll savor today and remember for years to come.
Sawdust Pudding
Yield: 8 servingsIngredients:
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 cups fat-free (skim) milk
2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
2 tablespoons butter or stick margarine, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 bananas, sliced
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 cups graham cracker crumbs, divided
whipped cream topping (optional)
Procedure:
Blend sugar, cornstarch and salt in 2-quart saucepan. Combine milk and yolks, and gradually stir into sugar mixture. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. While pudding is cooking, slice bananas and immediately coat with lemon juice to prevent discoloration. Set aside in refrigerator. Once pudding boils, stir for 1 minute, remove from heat, and stir in butter or margarine and vanilla. In a 2-quart glass dish, layer ½ cup of graham cracker crumbs, followed by about a third of the sliced bananas and a third of the pudding. Repeat, creating three layers each of bananas and pudding and four layers of cracker crumbs (bottom and top). Cool slightly then chill for several hours. If desired, top with whipped cream.
What's Your Take on This, Julie?
No matter how hard commercial food companies try, they can't quite match the taste of pudding made from scratch. Not only nostalgic, homemade pudding is the ultimate comfort food with its creamy texture and sweetness.
While most of us should go easy on desserts, this recipe is quite nutritious at 270 calories and only 7 grams of fat per serving when made with fat-free milk. It also provides calcium, potassium and B vitamins. If you want to pare down the calories and sugar content even more, you could opt for a sugar-free commercial pudding in place of the homemade—at the expense of taste, of course.
Research studies have told us that taste is the No. 1 reason people choose particular foods, and they won't continue to eat food they don't enjoy—even if it's unbelievably nutritious. What a surprise.
Compared with other countries, enjoyment of food is a missing national dietary goal here. In the United Kingdom, for example, the first dietary guideline is "enjoy your food." Japan's list of dietary guidelines includes "happy eating makes for happy family life; treasure family taste and home cooking." We could learn from these examples.
Not only tasty, this recipe also provides about 10 percent of the daily recommended calcium. According to new guidelines, adults should aim for at least 1,200 milligrams of calcium per day. A cup of milk provides about 300 milligrams. If you've done your math, that means 4 cups of milk daily.
If you're not a milk drinker, there are other calcium-rich options such as cheese and yogurt. Along with dairy products, some leafy greens such as spinach provide calcium, although the oxalates they contain may block complete absorption. Supplements are another option.
As most of us learned in elementary school, calcium, which works hand-in-hand with vitamin D, is important for strong bones and healthy teeth, but also much more. Some new research suggests that calcium may reduce the risk of hearing loss. Calcium also is important for a healthy heart; in particular, it helps reduce the risk of hypertension. Calcium, after all, is needed for muscle contractions, and the heart is a large muscle.
Potassium also is provided by this recipe. According to researchers, adequate intake of potassium can reduce the risk of hypertension. Some good potassium sources are oranges, leafy vegetables and, you guessed it, bananas—a featured ingredient in the recipe.
So, enjoy your food. Whenever you find a recipe that's both tasty and nutritious, clip and save it.
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Sources: Dean Hulse (701) 231-6136 and Julie Garden-Robinson (701) 231-7187
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