Chocolate Delight

This is Byron's favorite dessert and one of mine, too.  My mom has made it for years.

We call it Chocolate Delight!

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cup sugar

1 stick butter 

12 oz cool whip (divided)

2 boxes instant chocolate pudding

3 1/2 cups milk

8 oz cream cheese

1/4 cup sugar

Combine first three ingredients.  Press into 9x13 glass pan.  Beat cream cheese with sugar and enough milk to make it smooth.  Fold in half of cool whip.  Spread over graham cracker mixture.  Prepare pudding according to directions using 3 1/2 cups milk.  Pour over cream cheese mixture.  Refrigerate for 1-3 hours or overnight.  Top with remainder of cool whip; serve.

Chocolate Delight

Crockpot Chicken & Cookies

I've made two delicious recipes lately that I wanted to share with you.

My dad is home from the hospital right now until his surgery on Tuesday.  We went over there on Thursday night and I made dinner so that my mom wouldn't have to worry about cooking.  My sister, niece and great-niece also came, so I was feeding a crowd.  I made the Sisterhood's Crockpot Chicken BBQ!
The only thing that I changed was that I used chicken thighs instead of breasts.  I made yellow rice to serve with it, and rolls.
To us, it doesn't really taste BBQ-y, so I am going to come up with another name for it.  I just haven't done that quite yet.  But it was a BIG hit!

And then these cookies....Ohhhh, these cookies.  AMAZING.  I've made them twice now.  Actually I made them once and my talented 12 year old cook made them the second time. Both times we made them exactly by the recipe, but I swear hers taste even better.  They're made with white chocolate chips, crushed oreos, and oreo pudding mix.  These are some delicious cookies!

ENJOY!!!

Creamy Mac and Cheese

Oddly enough, as much as I love to cook, I have never in my life made homemade macaroni and cheese.
My kids have always loved the good old Kraft in the box so much, it just seemed pointless to go to all that trouble.

But I offered to make mac & cheese for my great-niece, Hayleigh's first birthday party, and I decided I was going to finally make the homemade version.

But I didn't even have a recipe.
I wanted one that was delicious, of course, and not elaborate, and it had to be kid-friendly.
I looked in Hunter's mom's cookbooks, but didn't see anything.
I requested help from my friends via Facebook, but didn't get very far.

So I decided to ask Paula.
Paula Deen, that is.
I knew she would never steer me wrong.  And of course, I was right.  It was easy and turned out great.  And even better - it's a crock pot recipe!

So I decided to share this Creamy Macaroni and Cheese recipe with my friends.

1 cup whole milk
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoon (1/2 stick) butter, cut into pieces
1/2 cup sour cream
1   (10 3/4-ounce) can condensed Cheddar cheese soup
3   eggs, beaten
2 1/2 cup (about 10-ounces) grated sharp Cheddar cheese
2 cup uncooked elbow macaroni (an 8 ounce box isn’t quite 2 cups)
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Directions

Boil the macaroni in a 2 quart saucepan in plenty of water until tender, about 7 minutes. Drain. In a medium saucepan, mix butter and cheese. Stir until the cheese melts. In a slow cooker, combine cheese/butter mixture and add the sour cream, soup, salt, milk, mustard and pepper and stir well. Add eggs. Then add drained macaroni and stir again. Set the slow cooker on low setting and cook for 3 hours, stirring occasionally.

For once, I didn't alter the recipe!
Much.
I did use my ever-present Nature's Seasons, and I also added a little shredded cheese over the top before I served it.

It was a big hit.  In fact, a little 6 year old boy went back for seconds and, discovering that it was almost gone, stated that it was "vewwy mean" of people to have already eaten almost all of it!
AND one more side note: today I decided to make another batch, because I had all of the ingredients that I needed.
Except once I was actually already in the process of making it, I realized I didn't have a second can of cheddar soup.  I decided to try it without it, instead of wasting the ingredients I did have.  I threw some Parmesan cheese in there to cheese it up, just a few tablespoons.
Guess what?  Just as good - if not BETTER.  =D
ETA: Shelbie says it's BETTER!