4th of July Fun!

The holiday is fast approaching and you want to wow your guests or your hostess with something fun, good to eat and of course RED, WHITE,  and BLUE.    Well, here are some quick and actually very easy ideas to make fun desserts that will wow the masses and celebrate the fun of the holiday with colors galore.  The best thing about them, is they are mostly easy to make from all ready made items if you are to tired to make them yourself, just some minor assembly and they will think you are a miracle worker.  
The first one is one of my favorites and it is a TRIFLE........ which by definition is a A dessert typically consisting of plain or sponge cake soaked in sherry, rum, or brandy and topped with layers of jam or jelly, custard, and whipped cream.  We are going to make ours more family friendly and summery.  


You will need, 
1 angel food cake or pound cake ( I think angel food cake would be good since it is whiter)
3 cups of strawberries, sliced and sugared
3 cups of blueberries, sugared (you may have to smash them just a small bit to help get the juices and sugar to combine, you need them to form some juice)
2 small or one large container of Cool Whip or whipped topping of your choice


1. Cut angel cake into approximately 1 inch cubes.  Set aside.

2. Gather Trifle Dish or high sided, flat bottom glass bowl.  Should be see through to make sure you can see the color of the layers. 
3. Separate the cake into 4 piles.  Place the first pile of cake pieces on the bottom of the bowl evenly spaces.  
4. Place half of either the strawberries or blueberries on top of the cake pieces., also using half the juice to moisten the cake pieces.  Make sure you are layering it so that each distinct layer can be seen.  
5. Take 1/4 of the amount of whipped topping and spread evenly over the berries.
6. Place another layer of cake on top of whipped topping.
7. Place 1/2 of the opposite berry (if you used strawberries first, now use blueberries or vice versa).
8. Place another 1/4 of the amount of whipped topping and spread evenly on top of berries.
Repeat steps 4 through 8 again, ending with whipped topping.  
Garnish the top of the trifle with either whole blueberries and strawberries or make a stripes alternating red and blue using the berries.  You could also stick sparklers in the tops or put red and/or blue sugar sprinkles or jimmies on top.  Be creative, cut out stars using a piece of paper and shake jimmies over stencil.  Carefully remove stencil to reveal just stars on top of whipped topping.    
The picture above is an empty trifle bowl, the picture below is just for reference to see how the layers should seperate.  Remember yours will not look exactly the same.  You can make this with any type of fresh berries, or even peaches and nectarines  

i

Jello Cake


YOU WILL NEED
1 boxed cake mix 
   (ingredients to bake the cake)
1 3 oz pkg of Jello gelatin mix (berry blue or some sort of red)
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup cold water
1 8 oz tub whipped topping like Cool Whip
1 can Cherry pie filling ,Strawberry pie Filling or Fresh Strawberries, or Blueberry pie filling, of course use the  opposite color pie filling or topping compared to the color gelatin you used


1. Bake a yellow or white cake in a 9 x 13 cake pan according to package directions just omitting the oil.  This will allow your cake to rise better.  (You do not have to add anything to the mix and you can do this anything you are baking a cake, makes it a tiny bit more healthy too).  
, 2.When it is done baking, remove from oven, let cool for 15 minutes.
3.With the handle end of a wooden spoon or large tined fork poke holes throughout the entire top of the cake about 1/4 to 1/2 inch apart. 


2. Stir gelatin mix into the boiling water until all the gelatin is completely dissolved (about two minutes). Stir in cold water.  Carefully and slowly pour the gelatin over the entire surface of the cake.  Place in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours, until gelatin has time to set.   


3. "Icing" the top of the cake with the whipped topping.  Spoon the pie filling over the top of the cool whip or serve it on the side of the cake.  


4.  Keep in the refrigerator until ready to serve.  Immediately refrigerate leftovers.


When cut your cake will look like the one in the picture  to the right.  The stripes may be a different color depending on the jello flavor used.


This is an amazing dessert that is incredibly versatile.  You can use almost any flavor of cake mix, mix and match with jello and make your own creation.  Try a french vanilla cake, with orange jello and french vanilla cool whip for an orange creamsicle  type cake.  Like black forest cake, use a chocolate cake, black cherry or cherry jello, cool whip and chocolate shavings on top, you can even add cherry pie filling.  Don't forget you can try things like lemon jello, or lime jello, and add a bit of tartness to the cake, very refreshing.    


RED, WHITE AND BLUEBERRY MUFFINS
So do you have company this weekend, here is a great breakfast or anytime treat that is in the spirit and thanks to Betty Crocker it is quick and easy to make!!!!


Here is what you need:
1   box Betty Crocker wild blueberry muffin mix
3/4 c milk
1/4 c vegetable oil
2 eggs
3/4 cup dried cranberries


1. Heat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Line 12 muffin tins with papers or grease only the bottom of the muffin cups
3. Drain muffins from the muffin mix rinse and set aside. In medium bowl, stir in muffin mix, milk, oil, eggs, and cranberries just until blended. Gently stir in blueberries. Divide batter among muffin cups, each should be about 3/4 full.
4. Bake 17 to 22 minutes or until golden brown and tops spring back lightly when touched.  Cool 3-4 minutes and then remove from pan.


Glaze   
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons milk.
1/8 teaspoon vanilla or orange extract.


Mix together 3 ingredients to form glaze, drizzle over muffins while they are still warm.  Let cool and serve.


This should get you started.  I will hopefully find a few more tomorrow.  Getting tired thank goodness.  Has been a long week with lots of medicine changes.  Just hoping to make it through the big weekend with a large family gathering at my house of 20 plus people.  I am excited to see some of them who I have not seen in almost 6 months, just a bad time for the doctor to decide to change my meds around.  Well, here is hoping it all goes well.  I hope you all have an amazing holiday weekend.  Take care of yourselves.  If you tire rest, if you hurt, don't push it.  Remember it is the time to relax, others can help and you also deserve a break.  Happy 4th of July.

After the Holiday

Well, the Easter holiday is over.  I had my family down from PA for the weekend and then kept my mom here with me for a few extra days.  I had an awesome, overly exhausting time.  My grandson was here, he is 18 months old and a ball of energy.  If we could figure a way to bottle that energy for our bad days it would be awesome.  I made dinner, of course it was no where as big as my mom ever did, but it was the family together and we had a good time, and that is what mattered.
I had a bit of a realization this year. My children are growing up.  It made me very sad.  No one wanted to paint easter eggs, no one was interested in the egg hunt, and no one woke up at the crack of dawn to see what the bunny brought them.  Well we know this is only better for me since it was less work for me.  I could sleep in which is something I have to do since my sleep schedule is so random and most nights with the amazing insomnia I have I don't get to sleep much before 3 or 4 am.  My grandson was to little to paint eggs and he just kept throwing the plastic eggs and yelling ball, lol.  Maybe next year he will be a bit more ready for the fun, and his dad will just have to help.
I know we all push ourselves to excess on days and weeks like these because we just don't want to give in.  I did a whole lot of car travel, which means being stuck in a small spot in a pretty similar position for an extended period of time and we know this equals pain.  Thank goodness when I drove to pick up my family the 3 plus hours away I could sleep a night before I drove back home.  But then it was grocery shopping and other shopping and just all around getting stuff ready.  Sunday morning after the basket reveal we did go to the beach for a bit, but it was not quite as warm as they said it would be.  We came home, the kids (my oldest being 19) went to the boardwalk down in Ocean City while we waited for my husband to get home from work.  We then had dinner and cleaned up.  Hung out for a while and just had a good time.  Then my two boys, my dad, my sister and my grandson loaded in the car and headed up to PA.  I then hit the sofa and tried not to move.  By this time, I was totally wiped out, sad that they had to leave, and just all around in a slump.  Fibrofog was in deep, and I could not remember what I did or did not do 10 seconds ago and I wanted to go to bed but did not want to leave my mom by herself, so I just vegetated in front of the television with her and relaxed til she was ready for bed.
Monday I slept in, I did not have a choice.  Sometimes my body just takes over and I have to go with it.  We did go to some local businesses and check out some sites, I was in a lot of pain and climbing in and out of the car was a bit painful for me, ok a whole lot painful, but I wanted my mom to have a good time.  We then went  down in the evening to see the horses on  Assateague Island.  It is beautiful there and peaceful.  I really like to just go down there sometimes and sit and just relax.  
Tuesday was the day I had to take my mom back home.  It was really nice having her at my house for a couple days.  I miss being able to see her whenever I want.  Growing up and living only a couple doors away from her once I was married, then only 5 mins away when she moved sorta spoiled me.  Now for the first time in my life, my family is not close.  Having to deal with the fibro in a new area away from all of my support system is really hard.  There is no one to call if I am just to tired to get in the car and pick up my son and my husband is stuck at work, or to say hey can you make a bit more for dinner, I am just way to tired to cook.  When I lived in PA, everything was close.  My son could walk home from school, or from a friends house.  Now the school is 20 minutes away by car and there is no sidewalks.  I can't call my mom and say can you run and get him cause she is 3 plus hours away.  Some days it is so much harder on me than I thought it would be.  I miss the few people that did help me and tried to understand.
I will push on, I will continue to do what I have to, in steps and bits.  Some days will always be much better than others.  I know my boundaries and limits even though many times I will push them to to a point that it is not good for me.  My husband yells at me sometimes because he knows I am stubborn and that I often should stop before I do.  I often wish for my old life, for my old abilities, but it is honestly a waste of energy.  I must learn to work with what I have.  I will not let this take everything away from me.  I will work at making people understand and I will live the best I can.  I will also be a friend to those who are like me, so we can all learn together.
How was your holiday, how have you modified your traditions, or have you?  Is there something that you miss that maybe we can figure a way to work so you don't have to miss it?   Come one people help us out, all of us, we can't learn unless we talk.
ateague Island