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.

http://www.mynew30.com/2008/11/jimmy-carter-cake-pudding-dessert.html