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Archive for the ‘Easy Recipes’ Category

Pumpkin Mousse Trifle

Posted in Cake, Desserts, Easy Recipes, Entertaining at Home, Holiday Recipes, Puddings and Custards, Recipes, tagged , , , on November 18, 2011| 4 Comments »

Warning: If you are on a diet or trying to avoid sweet, delicious goodness, you may want to skip right past today’s recipe post.

I made this Pumpkin Mousse Trifle for a potluck last week and it was quite tasty. Actually, it was more than quite tasty. It was downright want-to-lick-the-plate good.

And here is the best part – it was super fast and easy.

Anyone looking for a quick and simple no-bake recipe for Thanksgiving, try this. You’ll be glad you did!

Cast of Tasty Characters

You can use any kind of dense cake – pound cake works especially well. You could also use angel food cake or bundt cake. Regular cake tends to get a little crumbly. I ran out of time to bake gingerbread and resorted to a pound cake from the bakery.

Cut the cake into little bite-sized cubes. Try not to snitch too many. At this point I got in a bit of a hurry to get this finished and forgot to snap photos of mixing up the mousse. Mix the pudding mix with milk then add the cream cheese. If you have a 3-ounce package of cream cheese, it will work fine, otherwise cut an 8-ounce package in half. Mix it with the pudding then add pumpkin filling and spices. Blend well then let rest for about 5 minutes.

Whip up some whipped cream. I like to add about 1/4 cup of powdered sugar to sweeten it up a bit.

Start layering the trifle by adding in 1/3 of the cake cubes.

Layer in 1/3 of the mousse mixture. Top with a drizzle of the caramel and then whipped cream. Continue making layers of cake, mousse, caramel and whipped cream.

Finish with a layer of toffee sprinkles, if you so desire.  My taste buds greatly desired. You could also do another drizzle of caramel. Or a spinkle of cinnamon. Go wild and crazy if you wish.

Pumpkin Trifle Mousse

1 box of gingerbread mix, baked (or 2 cups of cake cubes)

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 small box instant cheesecake pudding

2 cups milk

1 cup pumpkin pie filling

1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1 tbsp. cinnamon

1/2 cup caramel sauce

2 cups whipped cream

Toffee bits for topping (optional)

If you are making your own gingerbread, bake and let cool. You need about 2 cups of cake cubes. I planned to use gingerbread, but I ran out of time to make it, so I grabbed a pound cake that looked quite yummy. It was.

Mix pudding with two cups of milk. Add in softened cream cheese and blend. Then mix in pumpkin and spices. Blend well then set aside for about five minutes. Whip up whipped cream, set aside.

Cut cake into cubes and start layer in a trifle bowl, large glass bowl or individual glasses.You are going to do three layers, so use everything in thirds (guesstimates work just fine).

Top cake with mousse then drizzle with caramel sauce. Spoon on a layer of whipped cream then start again with a layer of cake.

Finish with a layer of whipped cream. You can top with toffee bits and cinnamon or another drizzle of caramel and cake crumbs. Whatever strikes your fancy.

Have fun with it and enjoy!

She Who Would Have Licked Her Plate If Witnesses Weren’t Present

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Pigs in a Blanket

Posted in Easy Recipes, Entertaining at Home, Fast Recipes, Kid's Food, tagged , , on September 23, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Pigs in a Blanket

Any of you who have high cholesterol, high sodium issues, are on a diet or your arteries could explode if you eat too much butter, please ignore today’s post and check back next week for a delicious dessert.

For those of you who feel like living on the edge, read on!

We’re making Pigs in a Blanket today!

These are easy, fast and when you make them wickedly calorie-laden, so yummy!

Ingredients

Unfold crescents so you have individual triangles. Place one brat on the fat end and roll dough all around the brat, pinching dough to seal any openings. The camera battery died at this point and I had to switch to the old not-so-fancy camera, so I apologize in advance for the rest of the photos!

 

Once your little "pig" is wrapped up tightly in the "blanket" brush melted butter all over the outside of it.

 

Sprinkle on some chunky sea salt.

 

Pop in the oven and bake about 15 minutes until golden brown.

 

Pigs in a Blanket

 

Pigs in a Blanket

Package of Beef Brat Sausages

Tube of Crescent Rolls

Butter, melted

Salt

Roll Brats in crescent dough. Brush with melted butter. Sprinkle with salt. Bake in 375 degree oven until golden brown and enjoy!

She Who Should Not Eat These Ever

 

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Roasted Zucchini

Posted in Easy Recipes, Entertaining Ideas, Sides, tagged , , on July 29, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Roasted Zucchini

Captain Cavedweller will only eat zucchini if it has been dipped in batter and deep fried.

Until I roasted a zucchini the other day.

Don’t ask me what is magical about the fast roasting process, but it makes the zucchini taste so good.

And talk about fast and easy. In less than 10 minutes you can make this side dish and have it ready to eat.

Basic ingredients

Pour a tablespoon or so of EVOO into a ziploc bag.

Add a dash of salt and some seasoning to the oil.

Put zucchini into the bag and shake it a few times to coat.

All nicely coated and ready to dump onto baking sheet.

Spead out the zucchini on the baking sheet.

Bake in 400 degree oven for about five minutes.

Baked, tender and ready to be devoured.

Roasted Zucchini

Zucchini, cut into slices

Dash of Salt

Dash of Seasoning

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Pour a tablespoon or two of oil into a ziploc bag. Sprinkle in a dash of salt and some seasoning. Put in zucchini slices, seal and shake bag to coat slices. Place slices on a baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees for about five minutes. Serve and enjoy!

You can use this method with a variety of vegetables including carrots and beets (which will need a longer baking time).

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Strawberry Shortcake

Posted in Desserts, Easy Recipes, Entertaining Ideas, Fast Recipes, Recipes, tagged , , , on July 20, 2011| 1 Comment »

I love strawberries. Almost as much as raspberries.

One summer-time treat I can’t pass up is strawberry shortcake – in most any variation. Have you noticed some people use biscuits for the cake. Others use actual cake. My Mom always made shortcake from scratch. It was dense and sweet and often made me think she had baked a pan of cornbread from the look of it, but the taste was all shortcake.

On occasion, if Grandma had been baking pies and there was leftover crust, she would roll the crust into a thin layer on a baking sheet and bake until a light golden brown. Then she would break the crust into bite-sized pieces and layer it with fresh sliced strawberries that she had smooshed a bit release their juice and ice cream. I kid you not, it is delicious. Especially if you pour a little of the juice over the top of the whole thing. You could also use whipping cream. It also tastes divine but my favorite is vanilla ice cream.

So you need pre-baked pie crust. Whip up a batch with my Vodka Pie Crust  recipe. It is easy and so flaky. Then just layer it in a bowl with berries. You can put them in whole but I think they taste best when you slice them, sprinkle on just a bit of sugar and smoosh them just a bit. Then top with vanilla ice cream. Continue layers and pour a bit of strawberry juice over the top. Give the berries just a minute to soak into the crust and the ice cream to soften and then attempt to stay upright as your knees turn into a jello-like substance as bliss overwhelms you and your taste-buds start applauding.

She Who Needs to Make Some Shortcake

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