An Officially Summer Dessert

We somehow managed to skip spring this year.  Last week we were complaining about the cold and this week we fuss about the heat!  So in honor of the season, I whipped up a nice cool dessert.  If you hate chocolate, proceed with caution!

Oreo Pudding Dessert:

2 (small) Boxes instant chocolate pudding
3 cups milk
1 8oz tub whipped topping, thawed.

1 package chocolate sandwich cookies

Combine the pudding and milk, stir in the whipped topping.  Twist cookies in half and cover the bottom of a 9x13 pan with cookie halves, frosting side up.  Top with 1/2 of pudding mixture.  Add another layer of cookies and top with remaining pudding.  Crumble remaining cookies on top of dessert.  Cover and refrigerate 6 hours or overnight.

You can also use vanilla pudding and graham crackers and top with chocolate frosting for an eclair type dessert.  

Revelations

Spring still is not here though a few warblers and budding trees give me hope.  We'll see if my flowers and veggies become a paradise or a dystopia when the warmer weather comes.  I never thought to enjoy weeding, but it is something like kneading bread, there is a joy in the violence of it.

A housing checklist

We recently moved and more and more, I am amazed at what this place has to offer.  There are surprising things that keep popping up on my 'house checklist,' that I did not even know I needed, but am delighted to have.  Of course, these are all silly nonessentials dear to me and superfluous to everyone else, but they help make this place a home.

• Fairies: or at least a yard/garden where they might live.
• Warblers: vital to the very existence of Spring and sadly absent from many of my recent lodgings, I have even seen 4 species in my backyard!
• Sunsets/Rises in HD: it is nice to be able to see both (or even either) without looking out on a scene reminiscent of a communist East Germany.
• Sunshine: large windows (on 4 sides!) rather than small ones on 1 side.
• Tropical weather: after living in Siberia, even with 'the worst winter in memory' as the locals put it this year, this has been lovely (this would count as an average to mild winter back home).  We had less than a week of -30F  and no more than two feet of snow which melted before June!
• A Spare room (or three): I am a sociable antisocial person but I could never have people over because, well, no one wanted to live like sardines, even for a weekend.  Though there is no wardrobe leading to an enchanted land where it is always winter but never christmas, but maybe in one of the closets there is a secret passage to a land where it is always christmas and never winter?

So there you have it, things vital to your next home purchase.  Don't expect to see these as pointers on 'House Hunters' anytime soon though.

Orange 'salad'

I have never understood how a concoction of gelatin, pudding, fruit, marshmallows, and whipped topping can be called a 'salad' when there is not a leafy green to be seen, but it is still tasty.  This one is also quick and easy.

You will need:

1/3 cup boiling water
1 small box orange gelatin
1 small box instant vanilla pudding

1 15 oz can mandarin oranges with juice
1 bag small marshmallows
1 tub whipped topping, thawed

In a large bowl (with a lid), pour in the gelatin and pudding, add the water and mix until well combined.  Stir in the oranges with juice, until well mixed.  Add whipped topping and mix well and follow with the marshmallows.  Cover and refrigerate at least two hours before serving.  You could probably add pineapple or other fruit, as desired.