Cookies n' Cream Pie

Sunday late afternoon saw me looking through recipes trying to find a dessert to make for after dinner. I was aiming for a cake to celebrate President Monson's birthday, but when I saw this one and realized that I actually had all the ingredients, I decided to go for it. Doesn't it sound way better than a dry piece of birthday cake?

Cookies n' Cream Pie

1 6-oz Keebler Ready Crust Reduced Fat Graham Cracker Pie Crust
1 1/2 c skim milk
1 (4-serving size) package of vanilla, fat-free instant pudding
1 (8-oz) container frozen, light whipped topping, thawed
1 c (10-12 cookies) Sunshine Hydrox Reduced Fat (or Regular) Choclate Sandwich cookies, coarsely crushed

1. Beat together milk and pudding for 1 minute until well blended. Let stand 5 minutes.
2. Fold in whipped topping and crushed cookies. Spoon into crust.
3. Freeze until firm, about 6 hours. Makes 1 pie.

We came home from the reunion with a big box of graham crackers, and Brian's mom bought (among a bunch of other oversized packages of things) a bulk package of Oreos for the drive home. There were only four of us, and it's only a 15 hour drive, and Owen threw up in his seat, which suppressed all of our appetites. Hence, we had lots of Oreos and graham crackers to use for this. I also happened to have Cool Whip and I made some homemade pudding.

Advice: Plan ahead! My Cool Whip was frozen still, and the pudding was hot still, but I was in such a rush I mixed it all anyway and probably made it less fluffy than it is supposed to be. And we wanted to eat it that night, so Brian and I had it as cold pudding consistency rather than frozen. I just finished a frozen piece and it was better frozen. It is yummy, even dense rather than fluffy, and even as pudding rather than frozen. It was also probably better since I didn't use any low-fat versions of anything.

If you ever happen to have graham crackers, Oreos, pudding, and Cool Whip at the same time, give it go. Otherwise, it would be pretty expensive.

Smilin' Sammy

I knew I wanted to make this cake for Haley's birthday, especially considering her favorite song and book is You Are My Sunshine.

I only have a small part of the "recipe" and, even then, I changed it a bit to accommodate my frugal budget.  I think Joanna has the actual recipe, so maybe she'll make it again sometime. It suggests licorice for the mouth and sunglasses, with oreos for the eyes.  I just used black frosting for everything.

The rays are just ice cream cones that are frosted.  I had a hard time getting them to stay up on the cake, but it was hard to notice, so no big deal.

Everyone loved it. Jacob's family was there for her birthday and they all said it was cute.  I liked it, because it was cute and also very easy.  Haley liked it a lot, too.

Sorry I don't have a better picture.

She never even made it to the cake.