Pistachio pudding cake.

                              
Last night, my mom hosted our monthly book club dinner.  It was no surprise that the entire evening gleamed with St. Patrick's Day spirit.  She served corned beef & cabbage - using Jessica's recipe (faaaaaaantastic) - with Rye, and an old favorite, Pistachio Pudding Cake.  I love that I have such a holiday lovin' mom (especially when it involves food =).

And, if that wasn't enough, she sent me home with the leftovers- which is being transformed into a corned beef spaghetti pie for dinner tonight (again, happily taking Jessica's lead).  She also stocked me up with all of the necessary ingredients to make my own pudding cake.  Just the thought of combining 7-up, pistachio pudding, and of course, green food coloring, into one recipe was incentive enough to come home (@ 11pm), start baking, and then- a 1/2 hr. later- drive to Walmart (only store open) after realizing that I didn't have any eggs.  In the end, the tiny amount of sleep was worth it.

Gotta love a holiday that encourages us to add carbonation to our food, sparkly green shadow to our eyes, and "Top o' the mornin'!" to our vocabulary.

If you're looking for a last minute treat for the evening (or any evening), here's my mom's recipe for this extremely simple dessert.  {I made mine into cupcakes... just for an excuse to use those green liners - and added a little green in the pistachio pudding party.}

                

Click to enlarge & print.

                                                   

                       

And just for fun...

sparkly green eyes

nothin' but green (& I mean nothin')

            

Clearly, my mom's spirit has not skipped any generations.

                               

Hope your evening's filled with the luck of the Irish.