Dirt Pudding

It has become an annual tradition for Jack to take dirt pudding to daycare for his birthday, in part because one of his classmates is allergic to eggs, so cupcakes are out, but also because Jack LOVES the worms. Here's how we make it:

Dirt Pudding
1 box of Oreos, pulverized in a food processor until "dirt-like"
1 pkg. cream cheese
1/2 stick of butter
1 c. powdered sugar
2 6 oz. pkgs. Jello instant vanilla pudding
3.5 c. milk
1 tub Cool Whip
Sour gummy worms

Combine the cream cheese, butter and sugar. Beat in the Jello pudding. Beat in the milk, in two separate additions. Fold in the Cool Whip.

Layer the Oreo "dirt" with the pudding mixture so that you start and end with Oreos. I use a bucket (with shovel), but others have recommended a flower pot with a whole Oreo to cover the hole in the bottom. Top with worms.

We made a variation of this for Halloween by putting Chessmen shortbread cookies on top of a 9x13 dirt pudding mixture, to look like headstones, and then sprinkling candy pumpkins around the graves. Very spooky and super cute.

Fruit Crisp

This is my favorite go-to dessert. My grandma used to make apple, and occasionally peach, crisp all the time when I was a kid. It wasn't until I became an adult that I realized just how quick and easy it is. I have to confess that I tend to make mine more frequently with blueberries because that streamlines the process even more (wash and dump) without the peeling. But today I bravely tried something I had never made before: Rhubarb Crisp.

THE CRISP
1 stick butter (yes, I mean butter - it's way better than margarine)
3/4 c. brown sugar
3/4 c. oatmeal
1/2 c. flour (I'm dying to try this with gluten-free flour to see if I can serve it to Brian's mom and sister)
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. If you are a responsible cook and plan ahead, let your butter soften on the counter before cooking. If you're like me and start baking the second you get the baby to fall asleep or in the exersaucer, it's perfectly okay to put the butter in a metal bowl and let it melt a bit in the oven while the oven preheats - it won't affect the crisp.

With a spoon or fork, mix the remaining ingredients with the softened or partially melted butter.

Sprinkle the crisp mixture over your fruit.

THE FRUIT
5 apples or peaches, peeled, cored, and sliced; or 2 pints of blueberries, rinsed (how easy is that?!)
I've also tried a "Michigan Harvest Crisp" with plums, apples, peaches and dried cherries, which turned out fabulous.

To make a rhubarb crisp, I had a few extra steps: I washed a bunch of rhubarb, sliced it, and put it in the bottom of a 8x8 baking dish. Then, I boiled 1 c. sugar, 1 c. water, 2 Tbsp. corn starch, and 1 tsp. vanilla and poured the mixture over the rhubarb.

Bake the fruit topped with the crisp mixture for 35 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Easy as pie. No, EASIER than pie.

"Make It Up As I Go" Potato Salad

Tonight, in an effort to use up the redskin potatoes from Easter, I scrounged together some items for a potato salad, which turned out to be delicious. I loosely based it on a Paula Deen recipe, but ended up skipping the mayo in favor of Italian dressing, which was quite yummy.

Here's what I did:

Boil one pound of redskins and cut them up into bite-sized cubes. Finely chop about 1/4 c. of red onion. Top the potatoes and onion with a squirt or two of Italian dressing and let sit for 15+ minutes. Meanwhile, bake 4 strips of bacon in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Crumble the bacon over the potatoes, and if you're feeling saucy, pour a little (1 Tbsp or less) of the bacon grease over top of the potatoes as well. Voila!