It’s been a while since we had a teenager in our house on a fairly regular basis.

We had Angi until she left for college in Ohio, and we had two foreign exchange students (both boys) when she was in high school.

All three of those enjoyed eating, and I was always in the kitchen fixing new recipes for them to try.

Angi wasn’t much of a problem because she wasn’t big on desserts. Fruits, vegetables and cheese were high on her list.

The boys could just live on desserts and pizza.

Now we have Benjamin, our only grandkid. He is in his first year at Butler.

His parents are in Fort Wayne, which is about 90 minutes north of us. Then, it’s another 45 minutes to Butler from here.

We pick up Benjamin every week or two on Saturday and bring him to our house. We get to do his laundry and take him to Pendleton Pizza King and Hacienda Vieja.

He also has us take him to various flea markets, one of his favorite outings.

Often, Angi and her husband Paul will drive to Anderson and spend the weekend also.

Sunday evening, his mom and dad head back north, and we take Benjamin back to campus.

During the weekend, I have to fix snacks for him to take back to school. Once again, I am fixing new recipes, (always desserts) to send with him.

We also buy large quantities of assorted cheeses for his snacking enjoyment.

Almost every time he visits, Susie fixes a large batch of Chex party mix for Benjamin. I think we must be feeding his whole dormitory.

I made a new recipe this weekend. He really likes it, I like it, and Angi took some of it back with her.

Being diabetic, I can’t eat much of it, but if I watch my sugar readings, I can have a small piece occasionally.

It tastes OK cold, but if I warm it in the microwave for about 20 seconds, it tastes like chocolate wave cake with a molten inside.

I’m sure a big scoop of Cool Whip on top would make it even better.

It only takes four ingredients. Let me know what you think.

Triple Chocolate Cake

1—Box chocolate cake mix

1—5 ounce (family size) sugar free instant chocolate pudding and pie filling (I didn’t have that size in my pantry, so I used 3 boxes of 1.4 ounce.)

1—bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 cups of milk.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Grease or spray a 9 X 13 cake pan

Evenly sprinkle cake mix in pan

Sprinkle the dry pudding mix over top of the cake mix

Sprinkle 1 & 3/4 cups of the chocolate chips on top of pudding mix

Pour the milk evenly over ingredients and gently stir to combine. Be sure to get the dry ingredients in the bottom and corners mixed in well. Mixture will be lumpy and sticky.

Bake cake until the top appears set and edges pull away slightly from the sides. About 35-40 minutes.

Remove cake from oven and let cool slightly. Serve warm.

I didn’t have time this weekend, but I usually make some kind of cookies to send back to school with Benjamin. One of his favorites (and mine) is a cookie made with pure maple syrup, which I often get from tapping my own maple tree in the back yard.

Chewy Maple Cookies

1/2 cup solid shortening

1 & 1/2 cups flour

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

1/2 teaspoon vanilla or maple flavoring

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, cream shortening and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg, syrup, and vanilla until well mixed. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to the creamed mixture. Stir in coconut.

Drop by spoonfuls a couple inches apart onto greased baking sheet. Bake for 10-13 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. Makes about 30 cookies.

When Butler has a home basketball game, Benjamin will stay on campus. Unless he had a lot of laundry or is out of food. Then, we have to pick him up early in the morning and take him back before the game starts.

Rich Creason is an award-winning outdoors and travel writer whose work has appeared in local, regional, national and international publications for 40 years. Born in Anderson, he is a graduate of Markleville High School. He lives in South Madison County with his wife, Susie. He may be contacted at [email protected].