Cat's Food and More: Strawberry Summer Cupcakes

These are so refreshing and delightful. I think they are perfect for a summer get-together and they look and sound fancy! (By the way- careful who you say "fancy" to. At work this week we have some vendors from a different state and we said something was "fancy" and they thought that was a bad thing. We had to explain that in MN "fancy" is a good thing! Weird huh.) Anyway, here's the delightful summer strawberry cupcakes recipe. By the way- I made these up myself!

Ingredients:

1 strawberry cake mix and everything to make the mix
1 small box banana pudding (I usually use instant pudding, but its up to you)
about 1/2 package of graham crackers
2-3 tablespoons of melted butter
cool whip
sliced fresh strawberries to top the cupcakes

Steps:

crush graham crackers really well
melt butter
combine crushed graham crackers and melted butter
fill cupcake pan with paper liners and press down butter/graham cracker mixture in the bottom of each cupcake - use a glass to press firmly down (good luck finding one that can fit - I think I tried about 6 different items in my kitchen before I finally found one that worked. It was a spice jar turned upside down.) You don't need a thick layer - just enough to cover the bottom.
prepare cake mix as directed and put in cupcake liners
bake according to directions on box
cool completely
core cupcakes (I have a corer that I've mentioned before but you can just cut out the middles. Next time you are at a kitchen store just buy a corer - they are about $5. If you use it once you've gotten your $ out of it.)
prepare pudding according to directions on package and pipe into cupcakes (I mixed in a little bit of cool whip, then piped it in, but you don't have to.)
"frost" with cool whip
top with fresh strawberry

** Store in refrigerator! (or "ice box" as my dad would call it because he has a hard time spelling long words-hehe!)

Oh yeah - I also crumbled graham crackers over the top too!
If I use a cake box mix I get between 16 and 20 cupcakes. I never get 24 like the box says.

Yes- there are at least 11 steps for these, but they are much easier then you think. Try them!

My dad came over last night to help with a few odds and ends around the house. Patches had clawed the screen door so bad that it pretty much had a doggy door in it - not good. We do not have a fenced yard. So, my dad came over and we put a new screen on the door- didn't take long at all and it was a perfect evening outside. Everything was looking good and we were almost done and we noticed Patches walking on our newly screened door! It turned out fine - I threw the cardboard tube in the yard for him to chase and play with until we were done. He really enjoyed that toy until he started eating te cardboard, then I had to take it away.