"Mom, can we eat dirty diapers again sometime?"

Yep, you read that right. We really had something called Dirty Diapers. It's a great idea for a baby shower, but they were a breeze to throw together for a quick supper last night. The kids loved them. The idea came from a mom at Aiden's Mother's Day Out. For the four-year-old's class Alphabet Party, her son had the letter D and had to bring snacks that started with that letter. She makes these for baby showers. Mine is a little different from the original so I am going to give you the instructions on assembly and some filling options because I'm sure you can do many varieties.


Dirty Diapers

1 can crescent rolls
1/2 pound meat, browned (sausage, hamburger, ground turkey, chicken, ham)
Enough sauce to coat meat well (Barbecue sauce, gravy, ketchup, marinara, etc.)
1 cup shredded cheese (cheddar, mozzerella, swiss, american, etc)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine meat, sauce, and cheese. Separate the crescent rolls into triangles. Place a spoonful of meat mix on the wide end of the roll. Draw up the narrow point to the top of the triangle. Pull each corner of the wide end in and press into the narrow point so it is shaped like a diaper with the meat mix showing out the sides. Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly browned and sizzely. See, they look like dirty diapers!

You could probably figure out a way to make these with a vegetarian filling. I can't think of anything right now. It was pretty funny today, though. We were out running errands when Cameron said, "Mom, can we have dirty diapers to eat again sometime?"

Mud Pie Cookies, Bad and Good

A few weeks ago our local newspaper had an article about poor Haitian women who were making cookies out of mud. Really. Somewhere in Haiti there is a type of clay which is rich in nutrients that was traditionally used to make cookies for postpartum women because it restored nutrients lost in childbirth. Now food prices have gotten so high and the economy so bad the Haitian women have begun harvesting the clay and selling it so they can make cookies to feed their families. I find that incredibly sad.

I made these no bake cookies the other night for church. I wasn't happy with how they turned out because they didn't firm up, but someone liked them enough to ask for the recipe. (Thanks, Linda!) When I wrote the title it made me think of the Haitian mud cookies, which is what caused the above paragraph. I don't have that recipe, but here is what I made for church.

Mud Pie Cookies

1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 cups sugar
1 stick margarine
1/2 cup milk
2 1/2 cups oatmeal
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 cup nuts, chopped (optional)

Mix cocoa, sugar, margarine, and milk in a 2-quart sauce pan. Bring to a boil at medium heat, boil 1 minute. Add oatmeal, vanilla, and peanut butter. (Nuts also, if desired.) Drop by teaspoon on wax paper. Let cool before removing. Store in and air tight container.

My favorite tool for making these and many other cookies is the Pampered Chef Small Scoop. It is similar to a melon baller with a squeeze handle that has a metal piece that scrapes out the bowl of the spoon to empty it. It makes scooping out cookies a breeze while keeping the size uniform. It is also the perfect size for filling mini-muffin pans. Oh, yeah, for melon balls, too.