how to make a trifle

i love making this recipe (more often than i probably should) so i thought i would share. its a quick and easy (and tasty!) dessert for any occasion. the pics just happen to be a fourth of july version, but ive been known to add fruit on occasion instead of the colored whipped cream.

enjoy!

(i forgot to take pics of the cake)...
i first bake one box of dark chocolate cake in two round cake pans. allow to cool, then crumble. (you can use any kind of cake you want... now that i think of it, i bet a fruit trifle with some sort of vanilla cake would be soooooooooo good. or a confetti cake! omg i need to make another one soon!)

prepare one large instant chocolate jello pudding packages. allow to cool in the fridge while the cake is cooling. (or if you forget like i often do, the instant pudding is ready in five minutes and doesnt really have to be chilled). and yes, it helps if you have pink mixing bowls and fun collapsable measuring cups!

by far the best part of the trifle.... you will really only use about 3 or 4 tablespoons but since you cant really buy that amount, you have a ton left over for fun drinks to accompany your dessert! (yes i know you can buy airplane bottles but really, why would you do that?)

yet another awesome addition to this lovely recipe, but this time you do use the whole bag. dont start counting calories now.

two small containers of whipped topping is generally enough. one of the large ones just doesnt do the trick. you really need to allow these to cool in the fridge for about 2 hours before stirring them up, so try not to forget about that cuz again, i usually do and then i get annoyed.

so you dont have to color the whipped topping, but i think its fun when things arent a normal food eating color. other than blueberries, what do we eat thats blue? see, fun!

here we have red, white, and blue! i had used the red food coloring for christmas cookie frosting though so luckily i had some red sprinkles which more or less did the trick.

start out by layering the bottom of a trifle dish with a third of the whipped topping. try to smooth out the top with a spatula. or dont, im probably not going to be there to try it out with you, although i guarantee no matter what you do, even if you mixed all the ingredients together and just stirred it around people would eat it. its chocolate and alcohol and whipped topping. seriously.

next add a layer of the crumbled up cake (i usually grab the center of the cake and discard the crusts (read: feed to the fiance)... but again, do what you will), then drizzle as much (or as little, but much is more fun) kahlua over the top of the cake

then a layer of chocolate pudding....

followed by heath bar topping. repeat whipped topping, cake, kahlua, pudding, heath bar. (but really, does the order matter? i think you know the answer)

mmmmm cake. mmmmmm more kahlua....

almost done....

yay TRIFLE!

booooo clean-up

and so begins a new life, a new journey

for my dear friend sarah....

"ill babysit him while you take a shower... although i dont really know what to do with him"

"dont worry, neither do i"

(almost) fun fact friday

who says i cant have fun fact friday on a thursday? close enough, and im bored.

ff 48: i am in THE running funk of 2010. every run ive had lately has sucked (minus my all out sprint to first base from home in sundays softball playoff game where i thought i was this close to beating out the throw). im sore, my legs feel heavy, i found mold in my camelbak. all around suckage.

ff 49: i should be studying right now for my boards instead of blogging. the brain doesnt do study mode at 2:15am.

ff 50: i seriously think my parents dog is way too freaking cute and i sometimes cant even deal with it. i found these on my moms camera and needed to share. hes such a super spaz almost all the time but how can you not love a face like this?

ff 51: i got new shoes, i got new shoes, i got new shoes hey hey hey hey! clearly this makes me smile and want to sing fun songs (and hopefully will get me out of running funk 2010). old on left, new on right. same pair, different color (pink! duh. brooks adrenaline)

ff 52: this is the first time ive loved a running sneaker enough to continue wearing the exact same one again.

ff 53: when writing a text message, this little reminder pops up when i get to 140 characters. sarah didnt believe me so i took a pic. seriously, what next? technology is getting a little out of control.

ff 54: i dont care what new thing apple comes up with or how cool it is or if their antennas start working better or what product they will give to you for free to make their stupid products work better, i will never get an iphone. well.... maybe we'll talk if the day comes where they join verizon. actually, no. still not gonna do it.

ff 55: i have a serious addiction to avacados and ate an entire package of guacamole in the past 24 hours

ff 56: im obsessed with watching music videos on youtube. actually i dont really watch them, just search for them and then listen while im doing other stuff on my computer. currently i listen to daughtry-september, our wedding/first dance song (not telling, hehe), glee everything, and goo goo dolls- home over and over and over. the songs i obsess over change about every week or so.

ff 57: beach2beacon 10k race (my #8 of 12) is coming up in two weeks from this saturday. this race is close to impossible to signup for, even with this years new cap of 7,000 runners. ty was hungover and asleep the morning of registration but lucky him, i was nice enough to get him all registered. his training hasnt gone as well as he had planned (i think his exact words today were "i.hate.running"). heres a pic from before last years beach2beacon.... im thinking hes gonna feel the same way this year.


ff 58: im fairly disappointed with this seasons big brother cast. my favorite, annie, has already been kicked off (although i did think the idea of a "saboteur" was dumb)(and no i didnt like annie because she said she liked to hook up with boys AND girls.... but yes, i kinda thought she was hot). rachel is the true meaning of ridiculous, and then throw in her sidekick brendon who cant even think for himself... just makes me want to gag. i miss last season.

midwest road trip part 3

and finally, we get to the end of mom and danielle midwest road trip 2010. next week we will continue with fun fact friday, but for now....

my mom and i did this very same road trip two years ago, and just so happened to be there on the best.weekend.EVER (its a small town, so this was a big deal)

32 miles, 2 donut stops. for each donut you eat you get 5 minutes taken off your finishing time. now this is my kind of race!!

(and this is exactly how i would want to partake in the event... front seat, of course)

there is also a "rib off" that occurs during the race. about 40 (thats truly a really bad guess, its probably either like 25 or way more than 40) groups set up these huge smokers and try to win "best ribs". the town smells so awesome. they all get judged, someone wins, then everyone gets day drunk and eats ribs til the sun goes down. like i said before, best.weekend.EVER.

and obviously no road trip is complete without a bridal shower!! :)

all of these are for me??? (i mean us hehe)

my best friend and maid of honor helped to put it all together with my aunts

im supposed to do what with this thing? cook? no comprende... but ty looks good in pink!

homemade quilts from both of my grandmas. xoxo


thank you to everyone!!! and thanks to the camera girl who didnt notice the conveniently placed pink bow right behind me that looked like i was wearing it. yaaaay.

as much fun as we had during our stay, monday came and it was once again time to get back on the road and head home. not even a half hour into our drive we came upon this sign, and my mom freaked out and made me turn around to go buy fresh tomatoes.
whatever makes her happy (and keeps her from singing!! hehe love you mom!)

we ended up staying at the same hotel we stopped at on the way out in erie. again i didnt use the jaquzzi, but this time i did try. the water wouldnt get hot and i was too tired to try to figure out why. i layed in bed watching the homerun derby (yay big papi!!) before falling asleep. mom got this pic of me before leaving in the morning, i was watching out the window for the krispy kreme light to come on. when you dont have these things where you live, its like finding gold when you find one.

this pretty much summed up my feelings on this last day of the trip:

and of course i really needed some french fries about halfway home so we stopped at burger king (soooooooo healthy) and this was the view from the parking lot. of course my mom went over to check it out, and we both ended up buying little baskets.

when i was little i had these in my bedroom. they have been stored in my grandmas garage so we decided to bring them home (i mean i am getting married soon, its just the natural progression after that, right? hahahaha).

safety first kids!

and finally, i was lucky enough to be able to stop off in new hampshire at a gas station and see ty for five minutes. he and his boss were headed to new york and our paths just happened to cross perfectly. it was a quick meet up, but i was so happy to see him for the short amount of time. its the little things :)

overall a great road trip, but im happy to be back home.

midwest road trip part 2

so lets see here, where did we last leave off…. oh yes.

so we made it to my grandmas house about 7ish tuesday night. mom kept thinking the gps was wrong and we were going to arrive much earlier. yeah, how about you dont doubt the gps, even if youve made friends with her and named her matilda.
gps: 1, mom: 0

wednesday evening we went into forest park for dinner at "the boathouse" and then my mom, aunt, cousins, and grandma were going to the muni (an outdoor theater). i think the shows are kinda boring and its sooooo hot and humid that i dont really have fun, so i didnt go. they saw Titanic and they all said it kinda sucked anyway, so im pleased with my decision.
all who went to the muni: 0. danielle: 1

oh and they had blue moon on tap. with orange. yum!

i also got to meet my cousins new baby, nathaniel! this is her 5th child and she is 11 months older than me. apparently i didnt get the memo.

on thursday serena made me try okra. anyone who knows me knows im not one to try new things easily, so actually going through with trying this new foreign thing was rather scary. especially since it was slimy and didnt smell all that great. in the end… actually not that bad! i do think it would be SO much better though if it were fried with a side of ranch.

after the okra experience, we headed out to the most upscale mall ive ever been to. they had stores like sacs fifth avenue and lord & taylor. we felt really out of place, so we went to a more normal human being like me and you mall. they had the gap and foot locker. we checked out the sales at lululemon but weren’t able to find anything. then i came upon this!

i didnt buy anything but i LOVE crocs, especially my wedge heels. im pretty sure i own almost ten pairs of crocs. xoxo

on friday my best friend (and maid of honor, cassie) headed out after she got out of work to meet her brothers for a boat ride. on our way there we drove by this sign, which i have found to always have some sort of random saying on it. two years ago it read:

this time it said:

yeah i have no idea what the deal is with this school.

anyway, the weather was so beautiful and i even attempted wake boarding, which i swore up and down i wouldnt even attempt to try (again, not into trying new things, especially with the potential of drowning…. yeah ill pass thanks, but hey you have fun!) this is more what i had envisioned myself doing all afternoon

but alas, its no surprise i got talked into at least trying....

things didnt start out too well, i think about ten tries started out much like the following sequence....

but as with most things, if you dont at first succeed, try and try again

i suppose i should try more things, cuz most often times i end up liking them in the end :)

and finally, i saw this on our way back after boating, and of course i had to take this pic…. only in small town hamel, illinois my friends.

stay tuned for part 3, coming soon!