SHE'S DEAD! (happiness & a recipe to celebrate!)

In honor of Andariel's death- yep that's right, she's finally toast, we can celebrate now!- I'm sharing a favorite recipe of mine. How that came about was... Her squashing was a family event. Jack chased her down the stairs Monday night while I was giving Alex a bath. GW looked to see what he was torturing, and said "WOW! That's a huge spider!" Hands full of naked, wet, shrieking, squirmy baby, I scream, "KILL HER!! KILL HER NOW!!!" So he obediently smushes her for me, and shows me her ravaged corpse. I am filled with unholy glee. And then Alex pees in his bath water. Moving on...

OK, so, the recipe. Right...

When TJ asks me to make "a pudding", he doesn't mean a cake, or just a package of pudding. What he means is my recipe derived (and improved upon, in our opinion) from Dirt Cups. It's so easy, I can make it in my sleep. That's probably a bad idea. But I can make it even if I'm seriously sleep-deprived. I made it the day after we came home from the hospital. So I'm going to share it, because it's fabulously yummy. Kids can help, even little 'uns.

Cooking is an art, and should be fun.

What you need:
A rolling pin or just something that'll crush stuff. (I've used a hammer before... That was FUN!!)
A plastic baggie, preferably zipper kind, the bigger the better. I recommend a gallon-sized freezer bag.
A rubber spatula, or large spoon. Or both. Yes, both. Or even just 2 large spoons. Whatever.
A big bowl for mixing in.
A container to put crushed cookies in.
Something to put your finished creation in. I use a 2 qt. Pyrex baking dish.

Ingredients:
1 4-serving size package of instant pudding
1 8 oz container of frozen whipped topping, thawed.
1 1.1 lb package of Oreos (minus 6-8 cookies)

What you do:
Step 1: 
This is the fun part... CRUSH!! the cookies. Smash the everlivin' hell outta them. Really. If you're using a hammer, use the side, not the end. It's more efficient, and won't break the bag. (From personal experience, cleaning up crushed cookies sucks.) It doesn't have to be perfect and evenly smushed. Chunks are all good. Use your spatula (or spoon) to scrape the cookies off the baggie into a bowl. Lick the baggie clean.
Step 2:
In the large bowl, mix the pudding up according to the package directions, and chuck it in the fridge to set for 5 minutes. Remember the 6-8 cookies you set aside? Eat them now. After at least 5 minutes, or when your cookies are gone, take the pudding out, and dump the whipped topping in the bowl. Mix the pudding & topping (gently) together. Then add about 1/2 to 1 cup of the crushed cookies, and mix. If it doesn't look like enough cookies to you, put in some more.
Step 3:
Divide the remaining cookies into thirds. Put 1/3 of them in the bottom of your serving dish. Add 1/2 of the pudding mix. Repeat the layers with the remaining cookies and pudding. You should have a layer of cookies on the top. Lick the bowl. If your bowl is too deep to get your face in, feel free to use your fingers. Mmmmm....
Step 4:
This is the hard part. Put your creation in the fridge to set for at least an hour. If you can't wait, fine. Be that way. But I like it when the cookies get soft, and the flavors mingle a bit.
Step 5:
NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM!!!!

You may have noticed I didn't specify any flavors of pudding or cookies. I meant to do that. I will only offer some suggestions as a starting point. Get creative, and tell me what you used... We're always looking for new ideas to change it up!

We have tried and liked:

Mint cookies & chocolate pudding

Original & chocolate pudding

Golden cookies & vanilla pudding, with bananas mixed in... You'll need about 3 perfectly ripe (very yellow, with some brown dots) bananas. Chop up 1 1/2, and mix into the pudding with the crushed cookies. Cut the other 1 1/2 into circles, and layer on top of the cookies in the first & 2nd layers (none on top).
I left it in the fridge overnight before we ate it. It. Was. Divine. After about 5 days or so, the bananas start to ferment, and it will taste funky. At that point, you probably shouldn't eat it. Trust me.
You could probably do the same with any other fresh fruit, but I couldn't tell you how much fruit to use. Strawberries sound really good right now.

Next we're trying peanut butter Oreos with French vanilla pudding. I have everything to make it. I just need to do it. It should be yum.