Oreo Pudding Cake

Ah...Pinterest. One of the greatest resources for recipes, crafts, decorating ideas and SO MUCH MORE. A friend pinned this recipe and I've made it twice now! It's a great dessert that everyone is sure to love, unless they don't like chocolate...which is insane! ;) It's also SO FUN to make this with your kids. My 3-year-old loves to help me in the kitchen and she's become quite the little baker. I measure the water and oil but let her pour them in the bowl. Then, I let her crack the eggs...I know...risky, but she's actually very good. I hardly ever have to fish out little pieces of the shell! The fun part of this recipe is poking holes in the cake after it comes out of the oven! Let your kids help you! It may be messy but they cherish the time and you will, too!

Oreo Puddin' Poke Cake (from TheCountryCook.net)

Ingredients:

1 Box Chocolate Cake Mix

Ingredients needed to make cake (usually eggs, oil and water)

2 (4 oz.)packages of Instant Oreo pudding

4 cups milk (2% or higher)

Crushed Oreo Cookies (optional)

Directions

Make cake mix according to directions and bake in a well-greased 9x13 pan.

Just before cake is done, start making pudding. In a medium bowl, begin to add milk to pudding mix and continue to whisk until most of the lumps are removed. Let pudding mixture sit for about 2 minutes. You want it to thicken slightly so it isn't runny but not fully thickened into pudding.

When cake is finished, while still warm, poke holes all over cake (about 1-inch) intervals using a wooden spoon handle or a straw. Pour pudding mixture over warm cake.

Allow the cake to cool for several minutes on the counter then put into the fridge to set up. About an hour.

Once it is set, top with crushed Oreo cookies

Appetizer Menu

Last month I had a Mary Kay & Cookie Exchange party for my dear friend Carla. It was a lot of fun to combine the two events into one. We had a small crowd, which was good for my small condo; I ran out of space to display everyone's cookies! Traditionally at a cookie exchange, you don't actually eat the cookies - you just pick them out and take them home. So, for this party I wanted to make some appetizers for us to nibble on!

I made Sweet & Sour Meatballs, Carla made a spinach & artichoke dip (I don't have her recipe but I'll see if she'll let me put it on here!), I made a tomato & feta dip (recipe below) and finally, Fruit Bruschetta (recipe below) for dessert. It was really good and just enough to fill us up.

Tomato & Feta Dip

This couldn't be easier or more flexible. My friend Natalie gave me this recipe and I love it.

Ingredients
1 loaf french bread, cut into pieces
1 jar of tomato/spaghetti sauce (make it easy on yourself and buy prepared sauce - I usually buy Hunts Spaghetti sauce for this)
1 container of feta cheese, crumbled

Combine sauce and feta in a small sauce pan and heat up over medium heat. Serve warm with bread pieces to dip!

Fruit Bruschetta (from BlogChef.net -- check out the recipe page for pictures)

This was a huge hit. Everyone loved it and it was so easy and fun to make and it looks beautiful when it's all plated. Use any combination of fruit that you love. I don't care for bananas and didn't have kiwi, so I used strawberries and they were good all by themselves. It might be cool to use different flavors of yogurt, too. Vanilla was tasty though! **Watch the bread when you put the oven on broil - I definitely burned some of these and had to throw them out because I got preoccupied!

Ingredients
1 loaf of French bread (sliced into 16, ½ inch thick slices)
2 tablespoons butter (melted)
1 ½ tablespoons sugar
1 ½ tablespoons cinnamon
4 kiwi fruit (peeled and chopped)
2 bananas (diced into small cubes)
10 large strawberries (diced)
2 tablespoons orange juice
3-4 tablespoons vanilla yogurt
Honey (for drizzling)

Step 1: Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees. Arrange the bread slices on a large baking sheet. Place into the oven and bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven. Brush toast slices with butter on one side.
Step 2: Combine 1 tablespoon of cinnamon and 1 tablespoon of sugar and sprinkle with mixture evenly over the buttered side of the toast. Broil in a preheated broiler for 30 seconds or until tops are bubbling. Remove and allow them to cool.
Step 3: In a bowl toss fruit with orange juice and remaining cinnamon and sugar. Spread yogurt on the top of each piece of top, top with fruit and drizzle with honey.(Makes 16 Bruschetta)