Strawberry Trifle

I was spoiled this year on my birthday. My MIL got me a beautiful Trifle bowl. It is from Pampered Chef and the base fits inside with a plastic lid. It's wonderful!

So,I had to make one of my husbands favorite dishes to showcase the new bowl.

It is a Strawberry Trifle from Betty Crocker (click here to see it)





It is so simple and easy!



1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® white cake mix
Water, vegetable oil and egg whites called for on cake mix box
2 boxes (4-serving size each) vanilla instant pudding and pie filling mix
4 cups milk
2 bags (16 oz each) frozen strawberries in light syrup, thawed
1 1/2 cups frozen (thawed) whipped topping
1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted

1. Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Make cake as directed on box for 13x9-inch pan. Run knife around sides of pan to loosen cake. Cool completely, about 1 hour.
2. While cake is cooling, in large bowl, beat pudding mixes into milk with wire whisk about 2 minutes or until blended.
3. Cut or tear cake into 1-inch pieces. In 3 1/2-quart glass trifle bowl, arrange half the pieces, cutting pieces to fit shape of bowl. Pour half of the thawed strawberries (with syrup) over cake; spread with 2 cups of the pudding. Place remaining cake pieces on pudding and around edge of bowl. Top with remaining strawberries and pudding. Cover; refrigerate at least 2 hours until chilled.
4. Spread whipped topping over top of cake. Sprinkle with almonds. Store covered in refrigerator up to 12 hours.

Doughnuts!

So, the new craze I have found is doughnuts. Doughnuts Doughnuts everywhere!

For my birthday my husband got me a couple of the Wilton Doughnut pans (He got them at Sur La Table). I have been talking about making these for so long, he decided I needed to!

So I did. I made some cake doughnuts with a chocolate icing. I took them over to our good friends who were just getting settled into their new place! They turned out yummy!

Here is the recipe I used from Family Circle (I didn't use their glaze recipe, I used one for Better Homes and Garden for chocolate icing):

Vanilla Cake Doughnuts
Ingredients

* 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
* 1/3 cup packed dark-brown sugar
* 1 egg
* 4 teaspoons unsalted butter, melted
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 2-1/4 cups confectioners sugar
* 3 tablespoons milk
* Sprinkles, toasted coconut, mini chips, cinnamon-sugar
* 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

Directions

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees F. Coat a 6-indentation doughnut pan with nonstick cooking spray.

2. In large bowl, whisk flour, baking soda and salt. In a small bowl, whisk buttermilk, sugar, egg, melted butter and vanilla extract until smooth. Add milk mixture to flour mixture; whisk until smooth.

3. Spoon batter into a large resealable plastic bag. Cut off a corner and squeeze batter into prepared indents, about 2/3 full. Smooth tops. Bake at 325 degrees F for 13 minutes, until doughnuts spring back when lightly pressed. Cool in pan on rack 3 minutes, then carefully turn out onto rack to cool.

4. For powdered doughnuts: Place 1/4 cup confectioners sugar in a sifter and gently sift over cooled vanilla doughnuts. Flip doughnuts; cover with sugar.

5. For white-frosted doughnuts: In small bowl, combine 1 cup of the confectioners sugar and 1 tablespoon of the milk. Stir until smooth. Dip cooled doughnuts into bowl and allow excess frosting to drip back into bowl. Transfer to rack. Top with sprinkles, coconut or mini chips, if desired. Transfer any extra frosting to a plastic bag.

6. For chocolate-frosted doughnuts: Combine remaining 1 cup confectioners sugar, the cocoa and remaining 2 tablespoons milk. Stir until smooth. Dip cooled doughnuts into bowl and allow excess frosting to drip back into bowl. Transfer to rack. Top with sprinkles, coconut or mini chips, if desired. Transfer any extra frosting to a plastic bag.

7. For drizzle: Snip small corner off bags of frosting. Decoratively drizzle over cooled doughnuts.

8. For cinnamon-sugar doughnuts: Toss still-warm vanilla doughnuts in cinnamon-sugar to coat




My cat, Meow decided he needed to check out the doughnuts as well.

Cherry Pie

I love fresh cherry pie. In fact, I think it's my favorite kind of pie. I love when cherries are in season.

Well, they are. And I got them on sale! So I decided for my MIL's birthday celebration I was going to make a cherry pie! I used sweet cherries for it. I also decided I was going to try something new, a lattice top. I was so intimidated by this, but it turned out to be pretty easy. I just followed the recipe from my Better Homes and Garden Cookbook.

The pie looked beautiful. Until I pulled it out of the oven. The crust was perfect. Nice and golden brown. But the cherries were sitting in a pool of cherry juice. Oh no!

After much research I found out that the sweet cherries are a bit juicier. So I revamped the recipe. I used less sugar, and a little more cornstarch. I also added almond extract, lemon juice and some butter. I used a combination of the Better Homes Recipe and this recipe I found from Smitten Kitchen.

The second one turned out much better. There wasn't a puddle of juice, and it was delicious! I cannot wait to make another!

Pharmacy Graduation Cake and Cupcakes

Our really good friend, Jeff, just graduated (well in May) with his PharmD. A doctorate in Pharmacy. I told his wife I would make the cupcakes and cake (which was a surprise for them) for his party! I was so happy with how they turned out.

It was also my first time using fondant as more than a purse handle. I made 1 inch by 1inch squares and drew on them with edible markers to look like prescriptions. For the cake I made a pill bottle. I tinted the fondant orange and again used my edible markers to write the prescription. It all turned out great.

Here are some pictures:

Grilled Peaches with Ice Cream

Last night the hubby and I decided it would be a great night to BBQ! We have to take advantage of this Oregon sunshine while we have it!

We had some very yummy lime marinaded chicken with lime chips and mango/peach salsa. It was perfect. So I decided grilled peaches would be a great finish to our meal.

I cut a few peaches in half and pitted them. Then I put some butter on both sides of the peach and sprinkled it with brown sugar. Then we put them on the BBQ. They needed to be cooked about 5 minutes on each side. Just enough to get them soft!

We immediately added a scoop (or two)of vanilla ice cream. It melted all over the peaches! They were amazing! The husband decided to add some strawberries to his creation, but I opted out. The peaches were perfect for me. We will be having this again!

Chai Spiced Cookies

Today is my best friends birthday. I wanted to make her something yummy. I was going to make some Chai flavored cupcakes, but I was missing some of the ingredients. So I went to Betty Crocker..I love the recipes there. And I found this one for Chai Spiced Cookies. I couldn't resist. I got right to it. Then I realized that I didn't have Cardamom. So I ended up at the store anyways (and paid a lot for that one little bottle...). But let me tell you, these babies are totally worth it. Not to mention they are so simple. Really. If you like Chai, these are the cookies for you! I saved me a few and plan on having them with a nice hot chai tea. Maybe that will help with the chill (we have been having rain and more rain lately).

The best friend LOVED them and said she was going to stop at Starbucks on her way home!

Here is the recipe:

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cardamom
1 1/2 teaspoons ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons vanilla
2 egg yolks
Coating
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, beat butter and 1/2 cup powdered sugar with electric mixer on low speed until blended. Stir in remaining cookie ingredients.
2. Shape dough by tablespoonfuls into balls. On ungreased cookie sheets, place balls 1 1/2 inches apart.
3. Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until very lightly browned. Remove from cookie sheets to cooling rack; cool 5 minutes.
4. In medium bowl, mix coating ingredients. Working in batches, gently roll warm cookies in coating mixture. Cool on cooling rack 5 minutes. Roll in mixture again.

* The picture is borrowed from Betty Crocker. See, I took pictures..but I haven't uploaded them yet and I just had to share this recipe. And it's better with a photo. My cookies look like these...just not as good of a photograph! I will post my own pictures soon! I promise. Thanks Betty.

A Little Laughter

My Mother in Law sent this to me today in an email. It made me laugh. Cheesy or not. I thought it was cute.


Please join me in remembering a great icon of the entertainment community. The Pillsbury Doughboy died yesterday of a yeast infection and trauma complications from repeated pokes in the belly. He was 71. Doughboy was buried in a lightly greased coffin. Dozens of celebrities turned out to pay their respects, including Mrs. Butterworth, Hungry Jack, the California Raisins, Betty Crocker, the Hostess Twinkies and Captain Crunch. The grave site was piled high with flours.

Aunt Jemima delivered the eulogy and lovingly described Doughboy as a man who never knew how much he was kneaded. Doughboy rose quickly in show business, but, his later life was filled with turnovers. He was considered a very smart cookie, but, wasted much of his dough on half-baked schemes. Despite being a little flaky at times, he was still a crusty old man and was considered a positive roll model for millions.

Doughboy is survived by his wife Play Dough, three children, John Dough, Jane Dough and Dosey Dough, plus, they had one in the oven. He is also survived by his elderly father, Pop Tart. The funeral was held at 3:50 for about 20 minutes.