Kitty Litter Cake

Are you in need of a tasty yet "festive" dessert for Halloween?  Do you think cat litter boxes are gross?  Well, look no further.  We have just what you need right here.  Essentially a "mud cake" but with different flavors, it's not an original recipe, nor one that I invented (you can find it all over Google)....but it's fun and easy.

You will need:

• A box of white cake mix, baked according to the package directions;
• A box of spice cake mix, baked according to the package directions;
• 2  packages of instant vanilla pudding, prepared according to package directions;
• One package of Vienna finger sandwich cookies, crushed until they look like sand (food processor or blender - working in batches - works well for this);
• Green food coloring;
• Tootsie Rolls;
• A small, brand new, never used, kitty litter box (washed several times, too); and
• A small, brand new, never used litter box pooper scooper (also washed several times).

Once the cakes are cooled and the pudding is set, all you need to do is mix them together (you may want to chop the cakes into chunks first) with about half of the crushed cookies, then spread it all out evenly into the litter pan*.  Next, pop a few tootsie rolls into the microwave (unwrapped and on a plate) for just a few seconds until they are soft enough to shape into something your cat might deposit - lol.  Bury them throughout the cake wherever you wish.

All you should have left for ingredients at this point is half the cookie crumbs, green food coloring, and the rest of your Tootsie Rolls.  Using the food coloring, turn a bit of the remaining cookie crumbs green.  Spread the non-green crumbs over the top of the cake, and then sprinkle the green crumbs over that.  Make a few more Tootsie Roll poops and put them on top, too.

Serve it up with the pooper scooper.*  It's delicious, I promise!!!

* I think it goes without saying that these items should be brand new and super duper deep cleaned before using.

Spring Rolls

Have you ever wanted to try making your own spring rolls at home?  Well, we gave it a shot last week, and the results were very not bad.  Not difficult, either.  There isn't a hard and fast recipe here -- I just Googled and read a few different ones, and then we sort of winged it based on what I learned.  Here's what we did....

First we did the chopping, grinding, shredding and other ingredient gathering:

Chopped portabello mushrooms, chopped onion, shredded carrot, and shredded cabbage.

Ground chicken and chopped garlic.

Rice paper wrappers.

Then it was time to cook.  Hubby worked on dipping sauces (more on that below) while I moved over to the stove.  First into a frying pan (with a dab of peanut oil) went the chicken, onions, garlic and a little bit of salt and pepper....

....which got cooked until it was almost done, at which time the rest of the veggies were tossed in along with some rice wine vinegar, tamari (soy sauce) and sesame oil....

When it was all cooked together (just a couple of minutes this took), I followed the directions on the package of rice paper wrappers (soaking each one for 5 seconds in warm water), doled out portions of filling, and folded/wrapped each one up like a miniature burrito.

And presto, homemade spring rolls with two dipping sauces:

The brown sauce on the left contained garlic, chives, tamari, rice vinegar, and sesame oil.
The peanut sauce on the left was made from peanut butter, sriracha ("rooster sauce"), sesame oil, tamari, and a Rogan Josh spice mix.

Quick, easy, and yummy!  :)

* All photos courtesy of and copyright 457 Studios.