Oreo Dirt Cake Dessert Cups

For my son's birthday, he decided that cupcakes just wouldn't do the trick.  "We had cupcakes LAST year!"  Oh my!!  Who knew little boys could be so picky?!  Well then FINE... let them just eat DIRT! My son's teacher is in charge of the school garden, and their class goes out to plant, weed, water and tend the garden regularly.  So to echo the theme, we came up with a plan of making individual Oreo "dirt cake" cups, complete with gummy worms and fake flowers.

You could also certainly make this in a big trifle bowl, but little cups are super fun; and they were a big hit with this group of first graders!  

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Ingredients:  (I doubled this recipe for a whole classroom)

• 1 (16 oz) pkg Oreo cookies
• 12 oz cream cheese, softened
• 6 Tbsp butter, softened
• 4 (3.9 oz) pkgs instant chocolate pudding 
• 4 3/4 cups milk
• 1 (16 oz) carton frozen whipped topping, thawed
• gummy worms
• embellishments
• plastic straws
• artificial flowers

Step-by-Step:  

Place cookies in a food processor and process until they resemble dirt.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the softened cream cheese and butter and mix until creamy.  Set these aside. 

 Whisk or blend together instant pudding mixes and milk until blended.

 Add the pudding mixture into the cream cheese mixture.

Add the whipped topping into the pudding/cream cheese mixture.

Now this will be our "mud."

Get your assembly line ready.

Starting and ending with the "dirt," alternate layers of the cookie crumbs, and pudding mixture in the cups.

Don't forget to sneak in a couple of gummy worms hiding in the dirt.

Just so the flowers won't have to touch the "dirt," snip off about half of a plastic straw and insert them down into the mixture.  This is best done the day/night before so everything can firm up.  (I would give them a minimum of 4-5 hours to chill in the refrigerator.) 

When ready to serve, just insert the clean stems of artificial flowers down into the straws.  

I apologize for all these next photos.  They were made on my phone in the classroom.  :(

Serve to smiling faces!

 The expression says it all.  :)

I hope you enjoyed this easy and fun kids party recipe!

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Written Method:

1.  Place cookies in a food processor and process until they resemble dirt.  Set aside. 

2.  In a large bowl, combine the softened cream cheese and butter and mix until creamy.  Set these aside. 

3. Whisk or blend together instant pudding mixes and milk until blended.

4. Add the pudding mixture into the cream cheese mixture.

5.  Add the whipped topping into the pudding/cream cheese mixture.

6.  Get your assembly line ready.

7. Starting and ending with the "dirt," alternate layers of the cookie crumbs, and pudding mixture in the cups.

8.  Don't forget to sneak in a couple of gummy worms hiding in the dirt.

9.  Just so the flowers won't have to touch the "dirt," snip off about half of a plastic straw and insert them down into the mixture.  This is best done the day/night before so everything can firm up.  (I would give them a minimum of 4-5 hours to chill in the refrigerator.) 

10. When ready to serve, just insert the clean stems of artificial flowers down into the straws.  

Ham and Cheese Crescents - for kids, by kids

Looks like we've had a mutiny around here, as my kiddos have taken over.  These two are always up for a little kitchen experimentation, so when I suggest we try something new - count them in!  I have been wracking my brain about new things to include in little kids' lunchboxes.  Since these are so easy and quick to throw together (obviously I wasn't needed for much of the process), I thought we could bake these up in the morning and jazz up the standard lunchbox ham and cheese sandwich.

The crescent roll dough is flaky and slightly sweet, the ham just the right amount of salty (and crunchy on the edges after baking), and I for one have never been able to resist ooey gooey melted mozzarella cheese.  We gave them a little more pizzazz with a sprinkling of Italian seasoning.

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Click for printable recipe 
Ingredients: (makes 8)

• canned crescent roll dough 
• 8 slices of ham
• 4 sticks of mozzarella string cheese
• Italian seasoning

Step-by-Step:

Separate and open cheese sticks

Dry each slice of ham - both sides.

Cut each cheese stick in half

Sprinkle dough with Italian Seasoning

Roll the ham around the cheese

Roll the ham and cheese roll into the crescent dough

Arrange on a foil lined baking sheet

Bake per package directions until golden brown.  About 15 minutes.

I'm thinking these would be great slathered with basil pesto, filled with rotisserie chicken, sun dried tomatoes, and mozzarella.  Yummm.  Endless variations.

Written Directions: 
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a pan with aluminum foil for super easy cleanup.  Cut the cheese sticks in half.  Pat dry each side of the ham slices (the extra moisture could result in soggy rolls).  Sprinkle the crescent dough with Italian seasoning and then separate them into triangles.  Roll each piece of cheese into a piece of ham, then roll into the dough - starting at the wide end.  Arrange them on the foil-lined pan and bake.  I baked these about 15 minutes until golden brown.  You can expect some of cheese to start oozing out of the ends.  Allow to cool.

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Creamy Grape Salad

This dessert salad is absolutely good any old way... as dessert, a side dish, a breakfast, or a snack.  Its a simple mixture of fresh juicy grapes and crunchy sweet pecans blanketed by a super simple creamy sauce.  Make a lot because it will go fast; and it's even better the next day.

The original recipes for this dish contain sour cream, quite a bit of white sugar and vanilla.  I have taken the liberty of substituting the yogurt... it is low fat and healthy, still has "vanilla" flavor, it's plenty sweet already... and we've reduced the prep time and number of steps. I almost always have yogurt in the house as my little girl is a big fan.  So all in all, this is a quick, healthy, delicious snack!

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds seedless green grapes
• 2 pounds seedless red grapes
• 8 oz package of reduced fat cream cheese
• 2, 6 oz containers of "light" vanilla yogurt
  *or vanilla Greek yogurt
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar

So here's a disclaimer.  This photos of this process do not necessarily match the order of the steps I just gave you.  I was trying to cook something else, when these guys asked if they could make something. This seemed like a nice, safe dish for them to do together.  So we just sort of started in the middle and added things as they went.  As much fun as Canon had stacking and arranging the grapes in the bowl, I can only imagine what a mess it would have been to have made the dressing first and then had him putting his hands in it.  Ick!

Add the red and green grapes

 

Chop the pecans

Add the pecans to the grapes

Add in the yogurt



We each have our own method of doing this, apparently. Ha Ha!



Mix in the softened cream cheese and brown sugar.


Mix and refrigerate.  Garnish with extra pecans and mint leaves if you wish. We have mint growing out of the wazoo, so no reason not to "fancy it up a bit." 

Written Directions

Prepare the sauce by mixing slightly softened cream cheese with yogurt.  Add brown sugar and mix well.  Wash and dry grapes and remove them from the stems.  Add them to the "dressing."  Mix them all together and refrigerate until serving.

That's all there is to it!

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Want more awesome recipes?  Please visit my Recipe Index for tons of ideas of things to cook with and for your family!   Here are a few to get you started:

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