My littlest sous chef

School has been back in session for two weeks now. I know Roman is sad his brothers are at school, but I know he enjoys having his mom to himself. What do we do all day? We go to the gym, we paint, we have play dates, and now we bake together. He loves mixing the ingredients together. He enjoys counting with me as I measure out the ingredients. Today he said, "I want to taste." Oh, did I mention he is talking full sentences. He has been talking like crazy since I got back from Germany. Which is amazing since just a little over a month ago he could only say about a 100 words. Plus his brothers couldn't talk full sentences till they were almost 3. We were worried his speech was going to be delayed since other children his age seemed to have a much larger vocabulary, and some studies have come out saying that children with Congenital Heart Defects suffer from delays. They think it might have something to do with being on by-pass and not getting enough oxygen as they are developing. He is fully on target now His first sentence was I want milk, but that was followed by I want to paint. He loves to paint and now he loves to play with play doh. p.s. he also dresses himself thus explains why his shirt is on backward and he is only wearing a diaper. Seriously I am not a white trash mother.

Roman making the pudding
for Jimmy Carter Pudding Cake

Jimmy Carter Pudding Cake
Ingredients
2 small boxes of chocolate pudding
4 cups of cold milk
1 block of cream cheese
1 cup of powdered sugar
1 cup of peanut butter
1 1/2 cups of whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 jar of maraschino cherries
1 cup of chopped peanuts plus some extra for decoration on top
2 cups of flour
2 sticks of butter
1/2 cup of sugar
grated chocolate for decoration on top
Step one: In a bowl combine flour, butter, 1/2 cup of sugar, and chopped peanuts. Spread mixture in a 9x13 pan and bake for 20 -25 minutes at 350 degrees.
Step two: make pudding by adding the 4 cups of milk this is also according to box directions. I used instant pudding, so if you use cooked pudding follow the direction on the box
Step three: mix cream cheese, peanut butter, and powder sugar together
Step four: make whipping cream by adding vanilla and 1 teaspoon vanilla and beat with mixer until soft peaks form.
Step five: cool cookie layer
Step six: assemble ingredients by layering the peanut butter cream cheese, then pudding, then whip cream. Decorate with cherries, grated chocolate and peanuts.
This recipe has been changed from the original version. In original the recipe called for one box vanilla and one box of chocolate. I do not like vanilla pudding, so I changed it to all chocolate. The bottom layer actually came from the fact that I slightly burned the recipe the first time, but I new I couldn't use it because burnt nuts just don't taste good. As I was throwing it out, I tasted the cookie mixture and it tasted like flour to me and was very crumbly. I wanted to use this for a baby shower I am going to and want it to be easier to slice. While I am sure the original when all assembled taste fantastic I couldn't take chances. I called upon a Martha Stewart recipe for shortbread and added the peanuts like the original. I do want to give credit for the idea for this cake from an amazing blog I found called Deep South.

Comments

you have a lovely sous chef!!

have a great weekend!
What a great helper!!!

Hey.. put him on www.starfall.com. It's a great program for little ones to start jumping into the beginnings of reading, learing their letters, etc.. I put all of the Kindergarteners on it for the first several months of school. Give it a go and see if he likes it; maybe even tell him it's his "school" work?!
Woops.. "learing" should be "learning".
Dana said…
nice to have this time together....
are your children bilingual? just curious. two languages so young has caused a bit of delay in both for my girl. hoping it all turns out okay.

hey....it's hot. a diaper is okay. let it go :)
dana
Traveling Mama said…
Love the little chef! My kids love to cook with me too. You were so funny thinking I was pregnant again. God help us, is all I have to say! One baby overseas is enough and so is three for us! LOL! I cannot imagine trying to travel with more than three! We have friends that have five girls and I just watch in nervous amazement when they pack for a trip!

Oh, and yes, we do have tv and dvd's and we are letting them watch more than usual during these days with temps over 100 but generally they like to play near me in the studio or just run around and do their thing!
Anonymous said…
What a milestone when speech development finally happens, and guess work from parents decreases! My daughter started late, but she's now also making sentences (her first sentence was "I'm thirsty, she wants water"). I can see lots of baking happening in your kitchen in the future!
PS regarding your comment on my blog, I'm so, so sorry, Kelleyn. Hugs.
Joyce said…
Roman is the cutiest little sous chef and looks like a big help in the kitchen! I copied your recipe to try it. Thanks. xoox
Samantha S said…
That pudding sounds delicious. Not heard of anything like that before.
Palmer and Co said…
Oh, that's so cute!! This cake looks ridiculously good!! Love the new banner!
Misty said…
That cake was super yummy, thanks for bringing it you the shower. You are wonderful.
Bonnie said…
he is too cute !! and the cake looks yuuuumy !!

ps ... yes, you are right, it is winter here ! it just doesn't get very cold and we are only days off of spring ...

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