First off, my favorite part - the "CAKE." Cora is not a huge cake fan but she loves dirt pudding so with a beach theme I thought it would be a perfect match. Our friend and neighbor Allie makes the absolute best dirt pudding and was nice enough to let me have her recipe. I doubled it so it would fill this huge bucket and then I topped it with crushed Nilla wafers and chocolate shells. We managed to devour all but about 3 or 4 servings. YUM!
Dirt Pudding
Ingredients
1 package Oreos
1 stick of butter - softened
8 oz cream cheese - softened
1 C powdered sugar
2 4-serving boxes of Instant Vanilla Pudding
3 1/2 C milk
12 oz Cool Whip
1 t vanilla
Directions
Crush Oreos in a food processor and set aside.
In a stand mixer combine butter, cream cheese, and powdered sugar and blend until well combined. Add boxes of pudding, milk, cool whip, and vanilla and combine until smooth (I switched from the paddle attachment to the whisk attachment for this part).
Now you're ready to assemble. All you have to do is alternate layers of the cookie mixture and pudding mixture in the container of you choice and enjoy!
In addition to the cake we also had 53 of these adorable little Flip Flop Milano Cookies. I got the idea here. I used the Milk Chocolate Milano cookies, either strawberry or lemon icing, flower shaped sprinkles, and assorted fruit Twizzlers. I have to say that cutting the Twizzlers was a huge pain, but I got it down to a science after a bit and using kitchen scissors was definitely the way to go.
For the main meal we had:
These Octopus Hot Dogs
Slow Cooker Carolina BBQ
Baked Shells & cheese (see below for our go-to recipe - passed down from Nana)
Chips with Pioneer Woman's Restaurant Style Salsa
Chick-fil-A Coleslaw
Watermelon
and we washed everything down with Pee Paw's Famous Lemonade. It was a big hit!
Baked Macaroni & Cheese
Ingredients
1 package (16 oz) macaroni (shells, elbow - be creative!)
1/2 C butter
1/2 C flour
salt & ground black pepper to taste
5 C milk (I use 2-3 cups Half and Half and the rest 1% milk)
4 C (16 oz) shredded cheddar - USE GOOD CHEESE! I use half sharp cheddar (NOT WalMart brand) and half 4-Cheese Cheddar blend from Kraft
Directions
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cook pasta according to package directions. In a large saucepan over medium heat melt the butter. Whisk in flour, salt, and pepper and cook for a minute or two, stirring constantly. Gradually whisk in milk/half and half mixture. Cook, stirring constantly, until sauce thickens and mixture begins to boil. Add cheese, switching to a wooden spoon to stir, and stir until melted. Dump cooked pasta into a greased 3-quart casserole dish. Pour cheese sauce over top and stir to mix. Bake 30 minutes until bubbly. Makes 8-10 servings. Definitely make 2 pans for party - it goes fast!
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