Earth Day, which is a day to remember Mother Earth and our environment, is celebrated on April 22nd . Since this is a fairly new holiday, there are no set traditional foods that are served, but organic foods, foods without preservatives, and local foods that have no pesticides are very popular. My granddaughter, Bella liked the idea of Organic Dirt Cups to serve for this holiday, so I invited her over to make them.

Organic foods are getting easier to find in regular grocery stores, and almost every city has at least one good health-food-type store (such as Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s) that carries environmentally friendly foods.

Using a blender for the pudding is much easier than whisking by hand; it makes the pudding smoother too. If you pour the pudding out into a bowl immediately and fill the blender container with a little soap and hot water, it’s very easy to clean.

In most recipes for Dirt Cups, the ingredients are layered in disposable plastic cups. Since plastic cups are not environmentally friendly, Bella made these Dirt Cups in some cute sundae cups that are not disposable; every little bit helps. Parfait glasses make good serving dishes for dirt cups, too, since you can see the layers through the glass.

Organic Dirt Cups

6 Servings

2 cups organic milk
1 package (4 serving size) organic chocolate instant pudding mix
20 organic chocolate sandwich cookies
Assorted Gummy worms

1. Pour the milk into a blender container.


2. Add the pudding mix and process for 30 seconds.


3. Remove the lid and scrape down the sides of the blender container.


4. Process for an additional 30 seconds or until the mixture is smooth.


5. Immediately pour the pudding into a bowl, scraping the sides with a rubber scraper to get every bit.


6. Place the bowl of pudding in the refrigerator while you prepare the chocolate sandwich cookies.


7. Place the sandwich cookies in a gallon-size Ziploc-type bag.


8. Seal the bag and crush the cookies with a rolling pin or other heavy object until they are finely crushed.


9. Pour the crushed cookies into a bowl.


10. Scoop a thin layer of pudding on the bottom of each individual serving bowl.


11. Top with a layer of cookie crumbs, then another layer of pudding and another layer of crumbs.


12. Decorate the puddings with gummy worms.


13. Refrigerate until chilled through.

Amount Per Serving
Calories 421 Calories from Fat 119
Percent Total Calories From: Fat 28% Protein 7% Carb. 65%

Nutrient Amount per Serving
Total Fat 13 g
Saturated Fat 4 g
Cholesterol 37 mg
Sodium 419 mg
Total Carbohydrate 68 g
Dietary Fiber 0 g
Sugars 13 g
Protein 8 g

Vitamin A 4% Vitamin C 1% Calcium 0% Iron 19%