Chocolate Pudding Pie

~If not for chocolate, there would be no need for control top pantyhose. An entire garment industry would be devastated.~

Far be it for me to interfere with the entire control top pantyhose section of the garment industry, so in the hopes of keeping that garment industry afloat, today I am going to share with you one of Shannon's (and my) favorite chocolate desserts.

Here is everything that you will need to make this deliciously easy dessert.



(I use Stable Milk that we get in our Angel Food Menu; it works so well for cooking, and that way we don't use up all of the boys regular drinking milk. But obviously, you can use regular milk. Click here if you would like to find out more about Angel Food Ministries. I know I say that all the time, but it really is a wonderful program.)

The recipe that I follow is found on the side of the Jello Pudding box.
We like a FULLER pie, so we use two boxes of pudding to make one pie.



(Remember, my bloggy buddies, that all of the people who work in the control top pantyhose section of the garment industry are counting on us to eat plenty of chocolate, so go ahead, and use two boxes of chocolate pudding to make your pie too.)

So, with that lecture, the first step in making this chocolaty lover's goodness is to dump TWO boxes of Jello chocolate pudding mix into a large mixing bowl.



Then I pour 2 3/4 cups of milk into the mixing bowl.



Now it is time to mix both of those ingredients together with a wire whisk for about two minutes.



When it looks like this, I know that I am ready to move on to the next step.



I pour it into the graham cracker crust. Like so.



Once all of the pudding is in the pie crust, I just smooth the pudding out evenly (or as evenly as I can get pudding).



It should look something like this.



Then I very carefully place the plastic lid that comes with the graham cracker crust on top of the pie.



And place it in the refrigerator for about 3 hours (or until it is firmly set).



After the pie is safely in the refrigerator, it is time to stick my finger in clean out the mixing bowl.



I usually like to lick all of the chocolate off of my fingers rinse the bowl out before I stick it into the dishwasher.



After the pie is firmly set, I cut it into eight slices. Then I put a slice on a plate, and just for fun (and for the entire control top pantyhose section of the garment industry), I also like to add a little dollop of whipped topping to my slice of pie.



Mmmmmmmmmm!

It's easy.

It's delicious.

And remember, when you eat this pie, you are not only enjoying chocolaty goodness, you are keeping the entire control top pantyhose section of the garment industry afloat.
So, you should feel really good about yourself while eating this pie. So good, in fact, that you should probably go ahead and have two slices.

I'm just saying.

~Man cannot live on chocolate alone; but woman sure can.~

Crock Pot Dressing

Today, with the thoughts of Thanksgiving in the air, I am going to share a recipe with you that my family loves. It is my aunt's recipe for "Crock Pot Dressing."

I know; I know. You are probably saying, "Crock Pot Dressing? No one cooks dressing in a crock pot!" But I promise you, once you taste this delicious dressing, you will be saying, "I always cook my dressing in the crock pot! Don't you?" ;)

I'm just saying is all.

It's really, really, really delicious! It's also very, very, very simple, and it frees your oven up on Thanksgiving to cook other dishes.

So, if you would like, come join me in my kitchen as I show you how to make my aunt's famous "Crock Pot Dressing."

Here is a picture of everything I used to make this recipe. (With the exception of the onion. I forgot to take a picture of the onion, so you will just have to trust me on this one.)



The first thing that I did to get this recipe started was to make a skillet of cornbread using the two packages of sweet cornbread mix that you saw in the first picture. You, of course, can make any kind of cornbread you like, these mixes just work well for me. You just need to make sure you have a skillet full.



Then I put the cornbread into this large mixing bowl and crumbled it all up using this metal spatula. You can just use your hands if you like, but my cornbread was still kind of hot, so I didn't want to touch it.



Next I added four (well beaten) eggs. (Please just ignore my Barney measuring bowls in this post. Thanks.)



Then I added one stick of melted margarine. (Again, please just ignore the Barney bowl.)



Now it was time for me to add one medium sized onion that I had chopped.

*sniff*sniff*

(If you do not have one medium sized onion, you could use two small onions instead.)



The next ingredients that I poured into the mixture were two cans of Cream of Chicken soup.



Followed by two cans of Chicken Broth.



Now it was time for me to add all of the spices. My aunt says to use exact measurements on the spices to get the perfect flavor. And since I am rule follower, I always use the exact measurements when I make this recipe.

The first spice that I added was 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt.



Then I added 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper.



The third spice that I added was 1 teaspoon of poultry seasoning.



And last, but certainly not the least of the spices, I added 2 teaspoons of sage.



Now it was time to mix all of the ingredients together. Like so.



Once everything was well mixed, I added 3 cups of shredded chicken breast. I had cooked several chicken breasts a few days before and froze them in separate baggies. (Just a little note, one time I made this recipe using two cans of chicken, and that worked well too.)



Now it was time to mix all of that chicken in with the rest of the ingredients.



Stir it until it looks like this.



Now it is time to pour it into the crock pot. (I lightly sprayed the crock pot with non-stick cooking spray, just to keep any of the dressing from sticking to the sides of the dish.)



Once you get it all in the crock pot, just put the lid on and turn the crock pot on "High" for 45 minutes.



After 45 minutes you take the lid off of the crock pot and stir it all around.



Then place the lid back on the crock pot and continue cooking on "Low" for 4 hours. It should look something like this.



After it is finished cooking, all you have left to do is spoon some of that deliciousness up on a beautiful dish. (Preferably a beautiful dish that was handmade in Positano, Italy.) Like so.



Then take a bite.

Mmmmmmmmmmmm.

Close your eyes.

Chew very slowly.

Swallow.

Sigh.

Open your eyes.

Repeat.

Here is the recipe in my messy handwriting if you would like to print it. (Sorry about my penmanship, Mom!)



Please feel free to just ignore the part of the recipe that says "Do this for blog!" That was just a reminder for me to share this recipe with the tens of you that read this blog. ;)

And just like chicken and dressing made the "regular" way, this crock pot dressing is even better the next day.

Anyway, I hope that you will give this a try. I promise, it is delicious!

Happy Holiday Cooking!
God Bless,
Amy:)