Wow, the last few weeks have FLOWN by! Mid May already? How did that happen? The end of the school year is quickly approaching which means work has been crazy (and jam packed with state testing..ugh) and summer is in the air! I am counting down the days because the end of school means it’s time for Thailand!!

Crazy to think that my dream trip is only a few weeks away! Craziest of all is that after the initial planning was completed, I’ve barely had time to think about it with everything else going on in our lives! In the last few weeks Robert and I have been out of town, had friends and family in town, bought a new house (ahh) and started down the road of a career change for me next year (more on that later). All very exciting but nonetheless, BIG life changes in less than a month! In the midst of all of that I am also the proud new owner of a very pricey mouth guard since my stressful  err “busy” schedule has caused me to start clenching my teeth in my sleep. Thank you anxious brain.

Last weekend we had some extended family in town to watch my darling niece perform in her school musical and to celebrate Mother’s Day. My niece and nephew are both incredibly well rounded, amazing kiddos. They are both part of a language immersion program at their school which means that 80% of their school day is taught in a foreign language… Chinese! I struggled all the way through my high school and college Spanish courses so I can’t even imagine!

On top of being geniuses, they are also very talented little performers. My niece had a solo in her school musical, “Dear Edwina”. It was about a little girl who gives her neighborhood friends and family advice in a live musical show from her garage. It was really cute and the kids did a great job! Especially my niece who played a fairy godmother who sang about how to properly set the table. Adorable.

Notice that she is taller than me in the above picture. She was a toddler in diapers when Robert and I first met and now she is going to be giving me her hand me down clothes instead of vice versa! Crazy how fast they grow!

After the show we all went back to my sister in law’s house to have a family cookout. I was tasked with bringing dessert, typically my least favorite thing to make since I am not a baker. Luckily, I remembered this Snicker Bar Salad recipe and thought it would be perfect. The combination of diced apples, snicker bars, pudding and cool whip basically tastes like a candy apple that is 1 trillion times easier to eat. It has been in the 80’s around here lately so this is one dessert that fits the categories of ‘refreshing’ and ‘light’ and is perfect for summer!  It also could not be any easier and there is zero hot oven involvement, win win!

The secret to making this dessert extra easy is to freeze your snicker bars. Chopping a candy bar with caramel can be a bit sticky (bad pun alert), but freezing the bars offers a very simple and less messy fix! Unwrap your bars (I went with the mini bars but you can use big ones) and freeze them in a ziplock for a few hours or overnight. When they are ready, simply remove the bag from the freezer and pound your frozen bars with a meat tenderizer (or a hammer, whatever works). This breaks up the bars perfectly without you having to use a knife. It also leaves no mess which is always a good thing.

This is one salad that everyone should have no trouble polishing off 🙂 Try it for your next summer get together! Have a great week everyone!

Snicker Bar Salad

Ingredients:

4 Apples, cored and diced

12 Oz Bag Mini Snickers (or fun size, or you can use 4 large bars), chopped (USE THE FREEZE METHOD ABOVE!)

1 package instant Vanilla Pudding mix

1 carton of frozen Cool Whip, thawed

1 1/2 Cups Cold Milk, I used skim but any kind is fine

Directions:

1. Prepare the pudding as directed (mix well with the cold milk) in a large bowl and set aside in the refrigerator.
2. Dice your apples and set aside. Chop (or pound if you froze them) your candy bars and set aside.
3. Remove pudding from fridge and add your thawed cool whip. Mix well until combined. Fold in your apples and chopped candy bars and mix gently until combined.
4. Chill in the fridge until ready to serve! Sprinkle with ground peanuts for a pretty presentation!