Creamy Pudding Brownie Cake

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Ready for this knock-out dessert?  This is hands down the best brownie dessert I've ever had.  All of my kids devoured it and my husband said that he wanted this instead of a birthday cake.  Success?  I think so!  The bottom layer is brownies, then a cream cheese layer, a pudding layer, and finally a whipped cream layer.  This would be the perfect dessert for your Labor Day BBQ or really, just the perfect dessert for any occasion!

CREAMY BROWNIE PUDDING CAKE

Ingredients:
2 brownie mixes
1 extra large egg
1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
2 (8 oz.) containers whipped topping
1 (3 oz.) package instant chocolate pudding
1 (3 oz.) package instant vanilla pudding
3 1/2 cups milk
1 Hershey candy bar

Directions:
Mix brownie mixes according to directions plus add an extra egg. Bake in 9x13 inch greased and floured cake pan then allow to cool completely. Mix cream cheese, powdered sugar, and 1 container whipped topping. Put this mixture on top of the cooled brownies. Blend puddings and milk together and put on top of the cream cheese mixture. Top with another layer of whipped topping. Put chocolate shavings top. Refrigerate until ready to serve (at least 2 hours).

Tip: To make chocolate shavings just get a vegetable peeler and slide it over the edge of a cold Hershey's candy bar.  Makes the perfect shavings!

Sausage Stuffed Zucchini Boats

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Wow, sorry for the absence of posts!  It has been a super busy summer for us and I have devoted almost every second of my time to my kids and having fun.  Once baseball season ended for my son, I took all 3 kids (ages 9, 7, and 5) on a road trip to my home state of Texas all by myself (I live in Utah now).  Family and friends, including my husband, thought I was nuts wanting to do this but we had a blast.  My last 4 trips home have been for funerals and I really needed to go on a fun trip home to Texas.  I wanted to show my kids that it is actually fun there!  We had such a great time visiting family and made so many wonderful memories.  The rest of the summer has been spent camping, swimming, and playing with cousins and friends.  I love summer! 

We planted our very first garden this year not expecting it to be great but it has flourished and is just beautiful!  We planted cucumber, zucchini, acorn squash, lemon cucumber, jalapenos, green peppers, tomatoes, watermelon, and pumpkin.  Much to our surprise we are being bombarded with all of these delicious vegetables and fruits!  We definitely learned our lesson to only plant 1 zucchini plant, though.  We planted 2 and have it coming out of our ears!!!  We have eaten it grilled, fried, roasted, sauteed, and in sweets and there's more coming. 

When I was growing up my mom used to make what she called Zucchini Boats and I LOVED them!  Unfortunately she has passed away and I never got her recipe from her.  I made this one up from memory and I think I did a great job.  These were so so good and even my kids ate them.  Only my youngest claims to like zucchini so when the older 2 said that it was "pretty good" I was happy with myself.  I hope you love them as much as we did! 

SAUSAGE STUFFED ZUCCHINI BOATS
serves 4-6 adults

Ingredients:

4-5 medium sized zucchini (I used 2 ½  huge ones)
1 lb ground pork sausage
1 small onion, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 C shredded mozzarella cheese
2 TB chopped fresh parsley
1 large tomato, seeded and diced
1 large egg, beaten
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 C Italian breadcrumbs
4 TB melted butter
1/3 C shredded parmesan

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°.  Brown and crumble sausage in a skillet over medium heat.  When sausage is almost cooked through add the onion and garlic and continue cooking until sausage is done and onions are transparent.  Drain grease from sausage mixture and allow to cool. 

Meanwhile, slice zucchini in half lengthwise.  Using a spoon, scoop out the insides, leaving about ¼ inch of the flesh.  Don’t scoop all the way to the ends as you want to make it a “boat” shape so the filling stays put. 

Save about half of the scooped out flesh and discard the rest.  In a large bowl combine scooped out zucchini, cooled sausage mixture, mozzarella cheese, parsley, tomato, and egg. 

Place zucchini boats into a 9x13 pan (may have to use 2 pans) and add just enough water to the pan to cover the bottom of it.  Add salt and pepper to the boats to taste then add sausage filling to them.  Don’t be shy, fill them up! 

In a small bowl, combine melted butter, breadcrumbs, and parmesan.  Add this mixture to the top of the sausage mixture and pat down.  This will form a delicious crust while baking. 

Carefully place the pans into the oven because you don’t want to slosh any water onto the zucchini boats.

Bake for 40 minutes in the preheated oven.  If you want the crust extra crispy, turn on your broiler for the last 5 minutes of cooking time. 

Enjoy!