Strawberry Trifle

Update on my life. Wake up, go to school, come home, practice piano, do home work, eat, do more home work, go to bed. Today Finally I have found some time to sit down and do something I want to do and love doing:-) (I do love piano though) The first few weeks of school were a lot more hectic than I thought they would be. Oh well, by now I have my routine down and slowly, but surly I am gaining more free time. YAY

This year my dad turned 46. His favorite cake is angel food cake with strawberries and whipped crème so I thought I would class it up a bit and make a Strawberry Shortcake Trifle. Really, truly, a delicious substitute for the all too common birthday cake.

Lets Get Cookin'

Ingredients

• 2 cups whole milk
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 loaf pound cake, cut into 16 slices
• 1/2 cup strawberry jam
• 2 cups thinly sliced strawberries
• 2 tablespoons triple sec (or orange juice)

In a pan, combine milk and salt. Warm over medium heat until milk is just below a simmer.

In a bowl, whisk together sugar, cornstarch and eggs until smooth.

Whisking constantly, slowly pour 1/3 of milk into sugar mixture. Whisk mixture back into pan with remaining milk; return pan to medium heat. Cook, whisking constantly, until mixture begins to thicken, about 5 minutes.

 Pour through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean bowl.

Whisk in butter and vanilla.

Cover with plastic, pressing it directly on surface of custard to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until completely cool, about 1 hour.

When custard is cool, arrange cake slices on a work surface.

Spread one side thinly with jam.

Line bottom of a glass trifle dish with 1/3 of pound cake slices, jam side up.

Top with 1/3 of strawberries, and drizzle with 1/3 of Orange juice (2 teaspoons)

Spread with 1/3 of custard.

  Repeat layering 2 more times (for a total of 3).

Refrigerate until ready to serve.

 êêCritics Reviewêê

Me: êêêê Dad: êêêêê Mom: êêêê Paul:êêêêê

Would I Make it again…

Yes. It was super easy to make, but had a very tasteful and a polished appearance.

For complete instructions click below

Camping Menu and Oatmeal Scotchies

Wow time sure flies while traveling. I apologize for not posting sooner, but I was in Ohio a few weeks ago and then last weekend my grandparents took my brother and me to the St. James Hotel in Red Wing, MN. Also its summer and I need a break from the computer. However I am back at it, starting with camping!

                The first time I went camping was when I was 8 months old and have loved doing it ever since. This year I took four of my closest friends camping with me. It was one of the best weekends of my life. It involved lots of laughs, talking, walking, bugs, bonding, swimming AND of course FOOD.

Every time we go camping we bring enough food for an apocalypse, and we always end up taking most of it home.  Because we bring so much I thought I would share some of it with you:)


Menu

Here is the meal lowdown:

Friday night: We roasted marsh mallows on the fire and made s’mores.

Saturday morning:  For breakfast we had beagles cheese scrambled eggs, sausage, orange juice,  mini doughnuts and fruit.

Saturday Noon: Peanut butter  and jelly we had for lunch along with chips and cookies.

Saturday Afternoon: We had popcorn. My dad made a gigantic tub full of popcorn the day before we left.

Saturday Evening: We roasted hotdogs.

Saturday Night: More S’more’s and Jiffy Pop

Sunday Morning: We had cereal and bananas

Sunday Noon: We were not very hungry and just did some munching:)

Some other things we had where:

Oatmeal Scotches (see below for Recipe)

Lavender cookies: which my friend Mariel made. They were Delicious!

Pretzels: they are also a great healthier substitute for chips

We had a whole bunch more snack food, but you probably don’t care ;-)   

 Tip

Some tips for packing food that my dad and I have discovered.

·         Pack individual packs of cereal. That way every one will get kind that they like.

·         Also do this with chips. Everyone will have a kind that they like. As well people could eat a standard size chip bag, leaving none for anyone else.

·         We didn’t make pancakes this time, however a really easy way to do this is get the Bisquick Shake and Pour. All you have to do is add water.

·         Jiffy pop is a lot of fun, but it takes work, and you don’t get enough. So if you are planning of having popcorn make some to bring.

Oatmeal Scotchies

Oatmeal Scotchies are my mom’s favorite cookies. Packed with gooey butterscotch chips, and the fact they keep good in the humidity and heat, makes them the perfect cookie to bring camping.

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract or grated peel of 1 orange

3 cups quick or old-fashioned oats

1 2/3 cups (11-oz. pkg.)

Lets Get Cookin’

Preheat oven to 375° F.

Combine flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in small bowl.

Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl.

Gradually beat in flour mixture

Stir in oats and morsels

Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 7 to 8 minutes for chewy cookies or 9 to 10 minutes for crisp cookies. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

More from camping!

Fathers Day

Sharing Ice Cream

I know this is kind of late, but happy father’s day! My dad is the best dad in the world. There is no if and or but about it:-) For him  I made dinner, because he makes dinner for us every night and i thought it would be a nice break for him to relax. The menu consisted of Salmon patties, macaroni bake and his favorite strawberry milk shakes. I didn’t do a picture of the ingredients because of how much time I had. It ended up being very delicious.

Macaroni Bake

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound elbow macaroni
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 tablespoon powdered mustard
• 3 cups milk
• 1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1 large egg
• 12 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• Fresh black pepper

Topping:

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs

Directions

In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente.

While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, melt the butter.

Whisk in the flour and mustard and keep it moving for about five minutes. Make sure it's free of lumps.

Stir in the milk, onion, bay leaf, and paprika. Simmer for ten minutes and remove the bay leaf.

Temper in the egg. Which means to add a little of the mixture to the egg. This will keep the egg from cooking.

Stir in 3/4 of the cheese.

   Season with salt and pepper. Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-quart casserole dish.

Top with remaining cheese.  

Melt the butter in a saute pan and toss the bread 

crumbs to coat. Top the macaroni with the bread crumbs. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving.

Salmon Patties

Ingredients

• teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 stalk celery, finely diced
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 15 ounces canned salmon, drained, or 1 1/2 cups cooked salmon
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 1 3/4 cups fresh whole-wheat breadcrumbs, (see Tip)
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges

Directions
Preheat oven to 450°F. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.

Heat 1 1/2 teaspoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and celery; cook, stirring, until softened, about 3 minutes. Stir in parsley; remove from the heat.

Place salmon in a medium bowl.

Flake apart with a fork.

Remove any bones and skin. (I found

Add egg and mustard; mix well.

Add the onion mixture, breadcrumbs and pepper; mix well. Shape the mixture into 8 patties, about 2 1/2 inches wide. Heat remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons oil in the pan over medium heat. Add 4 patties and cook until the undersides are golden, 2 to 3 minutes.

Using a wide spatula, turn them over onto the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining patties. Bake the salmon cakes until golden on top and heated through, 15 to 20 minutes.

Strawberry Shakes

Ingredients

• ½ cup boiling water
• 1 package of strawberry jell-o
• 2 cups vanilla ice cream
• 1 cup milk
• ½ crushed ice cubes

Directions

Pour boiling water into blender. Add Gelatin powder and blend for 1 minute. Keep the blender running and add ice cream by large spoonfuls through hole in lid.

Turn of the blender; add milk and ice. Blend for another 30 seconds, or until smooth and thick. Serve immediately.

Menu Overview

                The salmon patties were amazing, so were the strawberry milkshakes. I personally didn’t care for the Macaroni Bake. However, my parents liked it. Cooking went without a hitch and it was a lot of fun, but next time I think I will recruit my little brother for some help:-)