What We All Had For Lunch

AKA ... Cooking for an army
AKA ... Our church "snack"

I'd like to share with you what I made for our weekly Sunday "snack" fellowship meal today. The church folks munched it down enthusiastically, so I thought I should make note of it. Here's what I made:

Taco Spaghetti (Click over to see photos and read the recipe. I doubled the recipe. I used regular frozen corn, and finely chopped jalapenos instead of the chili peppers, and not quite so much.)
Cheese and crackers (The roasted vegetable round crackers from Dollar General are very tasty!)
Green grapes
Carrots and sliced cucumbers
Spinach quiche
Pickles (bread-and-butter and dill spears)
Blueberry muffins (made from a mix -- 20 mini muffins and 12 regular ones)
Chocolate Pudding Crunch

Okay, that last item was the dessert and was particularly good. My friend Liz gave me the suggestion and I fiddled with it a bit ~

Make a graham cracker crust bottom in a large casserole. Crush 12 graham crackers, stir in a few tablespoons of sugar and drizzle 1/4 cup of melted butter on it. Blend well in the casserole and press down. Bake it in a 350º oven for 5 minutes, and then cool and refrigerate.
Make 2 large packages of chocolate pudding according to directions. I always make the "cook-and-serve" pudding, not the instant. After removing from heat, cool by stirring and refrigerate for a bit. Pour pudding on top of the crust and smooth level when the pudding is reasonably cool.
On the pudding, sprinkle some Heath toffee/brickle bits and some finely crushed peppermint sticks. I guess I used 3 tablespoons of Heath bits and maybe 2 tablespoons of peppermint. The ground peppermint was, I think, the key ingredient. You don't want it to be overpowering, but the flavor addition gives complexity to the dessert and combines wonderfully with the chocolate. The bits and peppermint both soften well if you refrigerate this dish overnight, but it's probably not necessary.
Make a large amount of whipped cream. You can use Cool-Whip if you like, but I detest the stuff. We buy heavy whipping cream and make our own in the mixer with some sugar added to sweeten. Smooth the whipped topping over the pudding dessert. You can sprinkle some finely ground chocolate atop the whipped cream and some more Heath bits if you like.

This dessert is a keeper! My church friends ate all the taco spaghetti and all the dessert except one nibble, which Julia has claimed polished off. Both these dishes were very well received. We had about 30 people this morning ... not a huge crowd, of course, but quite a good-sized group for one woman to cook for. The amount of food was about perfect, and I do like to make plenty but leave nobody unsatisfied, and have little leftover. Since I hardly cook anymore, these snacks are a satisfying and useful practice for me.