By Keisha Pittman of Big Pitt Stop
I’ve always heard it said that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. But, I’m convinced that not just any meal will do.
As a single gal one thing I’m thankful I snagged from my mama is her cooking skills. (I guess it doesn’t hurt that I look just like her too!)
But, I’m pretty sure if I knew my house were burning down, there are about 3 things I’d quickly grab and the typed collection of my mama’s recipes are at the top of that list.
See, at our house, food was the way you told someone you loved them. Whether it was a German Chocolate pie when my dad got a promotion at work or a pasta dinner to carb load the night before my sister’s big soccer game, she always came through with just the right meal.
So, one can only assume then that if one were on a manhunt, then one would prepare a meal. **hypothetically of course! **
I recently found myself walking into my Sunday night bible study with what I thought was a perfectly prepared offering for the dinner menu that had been posted on our Facebook page. What I quickly found out was I was the only one who showed up with a 9 x13. Everything else was in its original grocery store container and displayed perfectly for our smorgasbord buffet. Much to my amusement the new guy in the group was standing closest to the delectable delight I had hauled across town in my carriage which was protecting the dessert I had just removed from the oven moments before I left the house.
“What’s wrong with these people?” was my first thought. But I quickly learned that girls my age don’t really do much home cookin’. (Which surely has to give me the upper edge?) So, I’ll keep showing up with homemade desserts and hope at some point it will overcome all my other faults.
The way I see it, I have two options: show up with a homemade layer cake or bat my eyelashes and twirl my hair. Since my lashes are stubs and I’m not one for putting up fronts, I’m gonna stick to mama’s recipes. They worked for my daddy and he’s a pretty cool dude.
So, today I’m sharing with you Dirt Dessert – the last menu item I made and carried to a man’s house to finish off the menu, just the way my mama fixes it on a summer afternoon while dad’s mowing the yard! After all, everybody needs a treat for dinner.
- 1 package chocolate sandwich cookies
- 3 cups milk
- 2 3.5-ounce packages instant chocolate puddling
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- Dash vanilla extract
- 1 tub frozen whipped topping
- Gummy worms, optional
- Mixthe pudding and milk in bowl and set aside. The pudddig will thicken while you prepare the other ingredients.
- Crush the cookies in food processor (If you don’t have a food processor, put them in a gallon Zip loc bag and crush with a rolling pin or meat mallet – you know the tools you’ll use to chase him when he’s your husband later!)
- Beat together the cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth.
- Add in vanilla and mix thoroughly.
- Fold in ½ of the tub frozen whipped topping.
- Reserve ½ cup of cookie crumbs; spread the remainder of the crumbs across the bottom of 9x13 baking dish.
- Top with the cream cheese mixture and spread evenly.
- Cover cream cheese mixture with pudding, spreading evenly to edges. Cover top with remaining frozen whipped topping and sprinkle with reserved cookie crumbs.
- I’m not a fan of the worms. I just don’t feel like grown men are into gummy worms, but if you’re making this for kiddos or another occasion, feel free to make it a little more “fun” and add your own gummy creepy treats! And of course, it’s always better when served in a container where you can see all the pretty layers – to make the layers, split the cream cheese and pudding layers in half and save a few cookies for in between.
Keisha Pittman is learning to dance in the rain and glory in the rainbows. She started a blog, bigpittstop.blogspot.com, to tell the story of her walk through cancer. Five years later, she’s kicked cancer’s butt, and learned to navigate life a little differently. A self-proclaimed nerd, there’s nothing she won’t try, no side road she won’t take and no recipe she won’t improve. Lucky for us, she likes to talk about her adventures with a healthy dose of self-deprecation humor, and always looks for the good in every situation and person. Come follow along.
Blog – bigpittstop
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You’re 100% right Keisha. I don’t think our generation cooks very much. I was all revved up for church potlucks after I moved up here and got married and the church keeps catering everything cooking meats in big quantities and busting out salad from a bag. What happened to those good old fashioned pot lucks? Let’s start a revolution to bring ’em back. 🙂
Great article BTW.
Also, this recipe is very similar to one of my absolute favorites. Down in Mississippi we called it “Husband’s Delight”.
Sarah, that title seems most appropriate!
WE always called it Mississippi Dirt Cake. Does Mississippi have tastier dirt than Arkansas?
I KNOW! What a disappointment after attending a church that housed real women!
And then moving. 🙁
Often, now days, I am the only one who cooks for a carry-in dinner, and the other women sort of don’t like me much.
When I was in charge of a baccalaureate at our church, and I asked people to bring really simple things like homemade cookies, they laughed at me and refused.
wow.
i feel small.
already.
Only tears could convince them to find their kitchens.
Too bad.
However they all survived! Ha! I had the last laugh! It really did not kill them to cook, once in their lives! 😀