Crock Pot Creamy Tapioca - 2 points

Another crock pot breakfast was waiting for me this morning before I headed to an appointment. I didn't think that creamy tapioca could really work without some kind of fattening ingredient, but it was great! I couldn't believe it was just 2 points per serving.

Crock Pot Creamy Tapioca
2 cups regular soy milk
2 cups water
2/3 cup splenda or other non-calorie sweetener
1/2 cup minute tapioca
2 egg whites
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon

1. Place all ingredients in a crock pot and stir to combine. Cook on low heat for 5-7 hours.

2. Yields 5, 2 point servings

This was not only good this morning for breakfast, but it was delicious as a cold snack!

Crock Pot Rice Pudding - 5 points

Finished a great book last night - Italian Shoes, by Henning Mankel. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo opened my eyes to the world of Swedish literature. It is very intriguing to me to read about a culture that is so familiar and yet so foreign from my own. Italian Shoes was an interesting book about family and forgiveness.  After I turned the last page, I set my alarm with the knowledge that I would have to wake up and go to work - but also that I would have a warm breakfast waiting for me in the crock pot.

Crock Pot Rice Pudding - 5 points
2 cups cooked white rice
1 cup vanilla soy milk
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup Splenda or other no calorie sweetener
1/4 cup grated coconut
1/4 cup golden raisins
1/2 tsp nutmeg

1. Combine all ingredients in crock pot. Cook over low heat for 5-7 hours.
2. Makes 4, 5 point servings

This turned out to be yummy, and I wasn't hungry an hour later like I am when I eat cold cereal.

Tropical Tapioca

Tropical Tapioca
1/2 large papaya
3 cups water
1/4 cup tapioca
1 cup light coconut milk
1/4 cup Splenda or other noncaloric sweetener
1/2 tsp nutmeg
12 tbsp fat free whipped topping

1. Peel and dice papaya. In a food processor or blender, puree papaya with 1/2 cup water.
2. Pour papaya puree into a saucepan along with 2 1/2 cups water. Bring to a boil. Add tapioca and cover; leave on medium heat for ten minutes.
3. Add coconut milk, Splenda, and nutmeg. Simmer, covered for five minutes.
4. Turn off heat and leave uncovered for ten minutes.
5. Before serving, top each bowl of tapioca with two tbsp of fat free whipped topping.
6. Yields 6, 2 point servings

Stollen Pudding with Apricot Brandy Sauce - 15 Points

You know how people complain about getting fruit cake for Christmas? I'm sure you've heard the jokes about using it as a paperweight or the comments about "who eats that?" Well, I love fruit cake. I really do. I am a good German American girl, and I can totally chow down on some dark rum cherry fruit cake or a nice, light stollen. This is good, because it seems that German American families like to give each other fruit cake.

Even thought I love it, I still get too much of it. After all, I am single. So, really, how many fruit cakes can I physically eat? That's okay, though, because too much fruit cake means...pudding!

My family is coming for Sunday lunch tomorrow, which means that I am cooking Sunday lunch tonight. We all go to church, and I don't feel like cooking a big meal after sitting in church and Sunday school. Sunday at my house means crock pot or something that reheats well. Guess what reheats really well. Pudding!

Stollen is a traditional German fruit bread. Every woman in my family thinks that she makes the best stollen in the world. Perhaps I will share some of their recipes with you sometime. For now, let's start with the pudding. You can buy any fruit bread at a store and make this recipe. It will knock your socks off.

Stollen Pudding
4 cups milk (I use soy)
1/2 cup salted butter
1 cup sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
4 eggs
12 cups stale stollen, cubed
1 cup golden raisins
1. Heat the milk and butter in a microwave safe bowl until the butter has completely melted.
2. In a large bowl, mix sugar, cinnamon, and eggs until smooth. Stir in stollen and raisins. Pour milk over the mixture, and gently turn until the stollen is well coated.
3. Pour the mixture into a deep casserole dish. Place the dish in a larger, rectangular pan.
4. Place the pan, with the casserole dish in it, in an oven heated to 350. When the pan is secured on the rack, pour boiling water into the pan all around the casserole (about 1 1/2 deep). Do not pour the water before putting the pan in the oven or you run a greater risk of scalding yourself!
5. Bake uncovered for 45 minutes. Remove the casserole dish from the pan before removing the pan from the oven. This, again, lowers your chance of scalding yourself. 

Stollen Pudding should be served with Apricot Brandy Sauce. Of course, if you are like me, you can also just drink the sauce. But, you shouldn't. It is very, very bad for your hips.

Apricot Brandy Sauce
2 cups dark brown sugar
1 cup salted butter
1/2 cup apricot brandy

Heat all ingredients over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar is completely dissolved.

For Weight Watcher's fans, the Stollen Pudding makes 16, 9 point servings. The Apricot Brandy Sauce makes 16, 6 point servings.