kiss me, i'm irish

I love St. Patrick's Day.  No gifts required, just a bit of green fun.  I made green eggs for breakfast while the kids searched for just the right outfit.  Some like to display their green obviously to avoid any chance of pinches.  Others like to hide their green so they can enjoy the multiple revenge pinches those poor, unsuspecting classmates get when they unknowingly give them a pinch.  The baby likes to wear green every day because it's her favorite color.

Yesterday we had parent-teacher conferences at the elementary school.  Our assigned conference schedule is right during dinner time, so we needed something quick and easy that we could eat before we left.  Taco Salad to the rescue!  Or so I had planned.  Even that was too difficult a dinner to put together last night.  Instead, while I doctored the forehead gash that was the result of a head-on collision between my 3-year-old and a heavy door, (and resulted in bright red blood all over her favorite green shirt) the kids assembled their own bean and cheese quesadillas (or cheese crisps if you're from Arizona, like me).  I had set out a bunch of fruit for a snack before we left so they wouldn't think they were starving to death, and we still had it out for dinner.  It was definitely not the cute, festive green dinner I had planned to celebrate our Irish heritage, but we did have yummy green pistachio cupcakes for dessert.

Dinner Menu:
Quesadillas
Fresh Fruit
Pistacio Cupcakes

Pistachio Cupcakes
1 box white cake mix
1 small box pistachio pudding
1 c oil (yes, an entire cup - no wonder they're not dry)
1 c 7-up/Sprite
3 eggs
Mix ingredients together for 3 minutes.  Pour into lined muffin tin; don't overfill.  Bake at 350 for 15-18 minutes.  Makes 24-30 cupcakes.  Cool completely before frosting.

Frosting:
1 small box pistachio pudding
1 c milk
8-13 oz Cool Whip (I usually go for the smaller size)
Mix pudding and milk until thickens.  Fold in Cool Whip.  Spoon or pipe frosting onto cupcakes.  Eat with napkins (this fluffy goodness always ends up on your nose).  If you're really feeling fancy you can add sprinkles like the photo above (not mine - I'm not that fancy).

This is my big brother's favorite cake and a definite favorite in my family when I was growing up.  I'm generally  not a huge fan of cupcakes.  They always seem to be dry and not worth the effort.  So I was thrilled when I  recently discovered these make excellent, moist and delicious cupcakes.  I often substitute other pudding flavors for variety.  In fact, in addition to the leftover pistacio cupcakes, I have chocolate and lemon in my kitchen right now.  Mmmmmm... yummy.

photo courtesy of kirbie