Easy Summer Dessert - Fruit and cream and pound cake trifle

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Don't you just love summer desserts?

I do...especially those that don't require me to turn on my oven in this blazing heat.

This light and fresh dessert looks like I slaved over it for hours, but it really was quite easy.

I have to mention, you can make this even easier by using cool whip or even canned whipped cream and leaving out the pudding.  I just happen to love fresh whipped cream..and thought the cake would taste good soaked in the pudding.

this is what you will need for this recipe:

Heavy Cream

Powdered Sugar

Vanilla Extract

Instant Pudding

Milk

zip lock bag

fresh fruit of your choice

pound cake or angel food cake

Fresh Whipped Cream

first, put your mixing bowl and whisk attachment in the freezer

to make sure it is really cold.  

the recipe that I use for whipped cream is simple.

1cup heavy whipping cream

1 Tablespoon powdered sugar

1 table spoon of vanilla extract

Measure your cream

I multiplied this by 4 and it was just enough for my trifle bowl.

maybe I would have had a little left over if I had some self control and didn't help myself to a few heaping spoonfuls while making this!

Mix the cream until peaks form.

I start off slower and then gradually move to full speed when the cream starts to thicken.  Otherwise it tends to splash.

This is what "peaks" look like with a stand mixer.

add your powdered sugar and mix

add your vanilla and mix.

Be sure not to over mix the cream...otherwise it will get lumpy...which isn't good!

Stick the whipped cream in the fridge while you get your other ingredients prepared.

I used strawberries and blueberries to make a red white and blue 4th of July themed dessert - but I am sure this would be tasty with all different kinds of fruit!

Wash and slice your fruit.

I soak berries and grapes in this fruit wash for awhile.

Lots of times you can find it in the produce department...otherwise, look in the laundry detergent - dish soap area of your grocery store.

this is what the bottle looks like of the brand that I use.

(I probably should have taken a picture of the bowl in the background.

You know those things that you never knew you needed until you get it?

this is one of those things!

It is a bowl with a handle on one side, and then you can see the gary part is a strainer.  I soak my fruit in there, and then just pour the water out.

I bought it on sale when the company was featured on 

Zulily.  

I absolutely love it.

Wanna see something gross?

this is a little sample of the water I poured out after letting the strawberries soak for awhile.

EEEEWWWWW.

Okay - moving on.

Grab your pound cake or angel food cake.

I love angel food cake, and it is dreamy with this.

I chose to use pound cake because I was cutting stars to go with my 4th of July

motif..and it looked better.

Use whatever you like best.

I cut the pound cake lengthwise to get the most stars out of each piece.

I cut it about this thick.

then i used a small star cookie cutter

to make my shapes.

the leftover pieces I cut into cubes

to use in the layers of the trifle.

1 pound cake was all I needed.

Get your cream out of the fridge and scoop some of it into a ziplock bag.

Cut off the tip to use as a piping bag.  You can use a pastry piping bag if you like...but you have to clean it.  This one you can just throw away!

I piped a layer of cream into the bottom of the dish to give the strawberries something to stick to.

slide in your sliced strawberries (or whatever fruit you choose)

add in your cubed cake

get your pudding mix out and 2.5ish cups of cold milk

I used sugar free fat free instant pudding.

Yes, this in my mind justified the mounds of real whipped cream..lol.

I pour the milk into the bowl and slowly sprinkle in the mix with one hand while constantly stirring the whisk in the other to avoid lumps.

I used the recommended amount of milk at first, but then added more after it set while putting together the second layer.

top with a layer of fruit 

and then pipe a layer of whipped cream.

I forgot to take a picture of adding in the pound cake stars.  Sorry about that.

I just put them on after the cream.

Repeat the layers until you fill your bowl

and do your final layer of whipped cream.

Since it was the 4th - I wanted to make a star on the top.

You can wing it of you like.. I used my large star cookie cutter to give me an outline to follow.

(you can buy them online HERE - but I think I got mine at Wal-Mart.  that or JoAnn's)

place your berries on top

and enjoy your delicious summer treat!

~Jacki~

4th of July Brownie and Fruit Kabobs

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Fruit and chocolate = yum.

We were invited to our friends house for the 4th of July, and I was put in charge of dessert.

Sometimes I wish I was the kind of person that could pick up a box of cookies and call it a day....but most of the time I'm glad that I'm not.

I honestly love to bake and cook...but what I love even more is to see people

enjoy whatever I've put together.

Kind of like Christmas....sure, it's nice to get presents.  However, 

my favorite part about Christmas (besides being with loved ones) is watching people open the presents that I picked out or made for them.

it's the best.

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So, on to the point of this post.

I made 2 desserts for the party.

A delicious trifle, and then these kid friendly kabobs.

SO easy - and a HUGE hit..

this is what you will need:

brownie mix

(eggs and vegetable oil)

chocolate chips

Chocolate syrup

kabob skewers

marshmallows

fruit of your choice

(I used blueberries and strawberries for red white and blue)

shortening or non-stick spray

jelly roll pan or cookie sheet with sides

cookie cutter 

First I greased a large cookie sheet with crisco.

Make sure you get a good layer on there, because you want them to come out of the pan in one piece.

Next I prepared the brownie mix (I used 2 boxes because of the size of this pan).

Before kids I ALWAYS baked from scratch. Now, I am proud if I bake...and it is an added bonus ifI get to make it from scratch.

I prefer Betty Crocker Original Supreme mix if I used a boxed mix.

I also always add chocolate chips.  Simply because they are better that way :)

I used about half a bag of mini chocolate chips, Regular sized chips would work too.

spread the mix into your greased cookie sheet/jelly roll pan.

Bake according to the direction on the box or your recipe.

I baked these at 350 for about 25-30 minutes.

check with a toothpick to make sure they are done.

Take them out and let them cool.

Once they are cool, lay a towel over the top of your pan.

use the towel to hold the brownie when you flip the pan over.

I just tapped the back of the pan a few times and it fell out easily.

Keep this step in mind when greasing your pan!

I wanted to flip the big brownie again so it was right side up to cut.

I just put another towel on top and it made the process of flipping much easier.

Now - you can just use a knife and cut these into squares.

Since it was the 4th of July - I had to make them stars.

the cookie cutter went through the brownie in the center easily.

the outer edges were a little tougher.

I tapped a meat mallet to help the cookie cutter go through.

Now you just load your fruit, brownies and marshmallows 

onto the skewer sticks however you like.

Once I did that...I had to add some vitamins and Calcium.

They were for the kiddos you know 

:)

Just drizzle the chocolate syrup over your kabobs and they are ready to go.

Super easy, (nutritious) and delicious!

Enjoy!

~Jacki~

Bows, Bows, Bows!

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With three little girls in my house, it is safe to say that there are a ton of bows around this place.  It's beginning to get a little out of control.  I started with a shoe box of bows 7 years ago when my first daughter was born then a single bow holder, then another shoe box and another bow holder and for the past 6 months my entire dresser has been covered in hair bows.  I finally decided that today was the day I was going to put them away.  I am classic for deciding to do a spur of the moment project with no real supplies and no desire to drag all 4 of my children anywhere extra to go get any. So... I walked around the house for a few minutes thinking about what I could use to make a bow holder. 

 I saw these 9" round cardboard circles in my pantry.  I bought a package of them a few years ago for a birthday cake. (by few I mean 6. hahaha) Apparently I haven't made many 9" round cakes in the past 6 years.  

I cut one in half.

Grabbed a scrap of fabric a couple inches larger then my half circle.

Then I appliqued the fabric using our fun Marleigh raw edge font.  I used the first initial in our last name as the single initial monogram, just to make sure my girls wouldn't fight about who's new bow holder I had made.  lol

This part was fun...see my helper? She really wanted to eat my fabric. Oh, those little hands are fast and that mouth... I wish I had a video.  It would be extremely entertaining to actually watch me accomplish anything.  I used to think it was hard having to do everything with only one hand but, now that I have 3 hands (one of mine and two of this busy little babydoll), I take it all back.  hahaha

Next I took my fabric and placed one of the half circle pieces of cardboard on the back of it (with the monogram centered) I traced around it with a pencil.

Here you can faintly see the penciled half circle.

I trimmed all the way around, about an inch away from the pencil outline.

Fringed the edges about every inch around the curve and corners and at least once along the straight side.

Then placed one half circle onto the fabric.  Squeezed an outline of glue onto the cardboard and then pulled and pressed all the fringed pieces over the cardboard securing them into the glue.

Next glued my ribbons across the bottom.

I used 3 ribbons and made my ribbons really long (around 6 feet each) because I had about a hundred hair bows without a home.

Next I added glue all over to put my 2nd piece of cardboard on the back but, wait...

Then I remembered that I hadn't added the top 2 ribbons to hang it by so I quickly added them at the top. I attribute this forgotten step to my other 3 children, who can speak in sentences, asking for cereal,wanting their polly pocket dressed, begging me to buy a new app for the ipad, among many other things.

Now I added the cardboard back. You could cover the back piece with fabric prior to gluing it together however I really didn't see a need since it won't show and I'm not selling it to anyone.

Turned it over and tied the two ribbons at the top together.

What can I say?

Adorable!

 

This is my favorite...the hanger.  I'm sure I'm no genius.  In fact if you ask Brian, our IT guy and Jacki's husband, he would attest to this fact BUT, I am good at making things (non computer related) work.  Maybe not the way it was intended but, the way I want it to in my mind.

I just took a random knob and...

stuck a flat head nail into the hole in the back.  Then I pressed it into the wall.  Didn't even need to use a hammer.  :)

There you have it.

A Brand new, Free bow holder for the million homeless bows on my dresser. 

Now to fill it up...

It's your turn.

Go get your Bows in order!

~DeLynne

Lil Man Tie Banner

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It is true, the little men don't ever get enough recognition.  I know in my family of 3 girls and one boy, the girls are always over shadowing my Little Man.  We are constantly trying to find something fun for boys and I think we have done a fabulous job with our newest in the hoop design.  Our Lil Man Tie Banner is here and just in time for Father's Day.  It really is so cute.  With Jacki's little Man being Christened on Father's day it is the perfect embellishment for his after party.  I was so excited when she digitized the file and couldn't wait to stitch it out and make it super cute for his big day.

This design stitches out quickly because it has a raw edge.  It is just an applique so there aren't any special instructions to have to follow.  We used Peltex as our first layer in the applique.  If you have never heard of or used Peltex, it's awesome. Peltex is an ultra firm, smooth and resilient stabilizer.  It's really easy to cut with scissors or a rotary cutter and has no grain, so you can cut it in any direction.  If you type "peltex" into your search engine it will come up with tons of places you can purchase it. I usually just get mine at Joanne's though.  :)

If you have never done a raw edge applique on your embroidery machine, no worries, click here for a quick tutorial on how to do it.

If you have never done an applique of any kind then click here for a tutorial on regular machine applique and a free download of an applique you can practice on.

We thought it would be cute to add some little buttons to the collars of our banner pieces.  I bought these little buttons at Walmart for .67 cents.

Then I used my favorite fabric glue, Fabritac, made by Beacons (also available at Walmart)  It is sometimes labeled fabri-fix but, always made by Beacons.

Just place a dot of it on each point then press your buttons on.

So Cute!

I'm all about big bows for my fancy schmancy girls but, I thought bows were a bit much for this little man so, I just folded a strip of ribbon in half and tied a loose knot in one end then slipped it through the hole punch in the design.  I pushed the other two ends through the next banner piece's hole punch and tied the second knot.  Once the knots were in place, I just tucked the two tail pieces back through the hole punch so they were not visible from the front of the banner.

It was absolutely adorable but, then I thought it would be even more adorable with a little mustache as a spacer.  So....

I loaded our Mustache Applique design into the machine and stitched it out onto a piece of Peltex.

I added a step in (and I apologize for not taking more detailed pictures).

After the placement stitch I pinned a piece of fabric to the back of my hoop.  I folded the edges in so they had a more finished look.  I placed the pins on the front of my hoop not the back so the back was still nice and flush and would stitch easily.  I then placed a piece of press and seal over the back just to make sure the fabric wouldn't get caught on anything.  Next I placed my fabric on the front of the hoop as usual and ran my stay stitches.  I then trimmed my fabric on the front and back before running the satin stitch outline. 

This is what the back looked like when I finished.  So simple to run the ribbon through for the banner.

And the front, just as cute as ever.

We can't help but love it.  We hope you and your man (big or little) do too!

~DeLynne