Happy 4th of July - WIUW

Well we really couldn't do a Whip it up Wednesday on the 4th and not have it be a patriotic dish.  So we were trying to decide what we wanted to do for today.  We wanted it to be something Red, White and Blue.  But Chelle and I determined that we neither of us had a great go to recipe for the 4th that fit the bill.  So this week I took a new approach.  I really wanted a trifle type of dessert.  I had plenty of fresh strawberries and blueberries so I searched for a recipe that would work.  And here is what I found.

So as I was finding what to make I did some soul searching and I realized a few things. 1) I'm really not a cook my husband is the cook in our family and really he makes fantastic dishes some day I'll be like him 2) I am easily intimidated by recipes from too many ingredients or too much detail to follow 3) I really don't like the clean up.  There are others but those were some of the main.


The next step in my searching was to decide how to share recipes with you so here's where my journey kind of changes...  I decided that more of the recipes I share with you will be a way for me to challenge myself to try a new recipe and I'll share that with you.  So are you still following here?


To sum up.  Not a great cook = stepping out on a limb to try new recipes and then share them with you.  Okay Pinterest here I come.


So if I haven't lost you, here is the recipe that I tried this week.


Patriotic Berry Trifle 
And really it ended up being pretty easy.  It took a little time but really everything was easy about it.

This is all of the ingredients.  Not too many.  I have all of the cream cheese cut up because I didn't leave it out to get to room temp. in time.


To get started you need to slice the angel food cake into slices then make the sauce to spread on both sides of each slice.  For the sauce just mix sugar, lemon juice and water until sugar is dissolved and then add almond extract.  (the recipe calls for sugar but I used agave and it worked well)

Then take this sauce and spread on the angel food cake and cut the cake into 1" cubes.

Next mix together cream cheese and sugar until smooth and light.  Then add cream until smooth and consistency of whipped cream.

Now the fun part begins.  Of course this part worried me too because I didn't want the bowl to get dirty up the sides and whew I made it.


So start layering starting with 1/2 of the angel food cake then blueberries (I used 1 pint for each blueberry layer) 1/2 of the cream mixture and then strawberries.  Then start over, angel food cake, blueberries, cream mixture and then make the top fancy with your strawberries and additional blueberries if you choose.

So once you're all done with the fancy top chill for an hour and then enjoy.

Here's the full recipe
1/4 C plus 2/3 C sugar (I used agave)
1/4 C fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp almond extract
1 angel food cake cut into 1" slices
1 pound cream cheese at room temp
2 C heavy cream
2 pints blueberries (I used 3 pints)
2 pints strawberries


Heat 1/4 C sugar, lemon juice and 1/4 C water in saucepan over med-high heat until sugar dissolves.  Remove from heat and stir in almond extract. Brush both sides of cake with sauce and then cut slices into 1-inch cubes.


Beat 2/3 C sugar and cream cheese on medium speed until smooth and light.  Add cream and beat on med-high speed until smooth and consistency of whipped cream.


Arrange in a trifle dish with Cake (I poured left over sauce over the cake layers) blueberries, cream, strawberries and repeat with decorative last layer of strawberries (this is where I put the 3rd pint of blueberries)


I hope you enjoy!  I loved using the cream cheese mixture as a change up from the often used pudding mixture.


Thanks for stopping by! I hope you have a great 4th of July.


--Naoni

Whip It Up Wednesday: Mexican Shells

Okay, so today in Wisconsin we are supposed to be almost 90 degrees, with some serious humidity! Meaning I want a meal that isn't going to heat up the house too much, here's a pretty quick simple meal that will taste like it was a lot harder to make Then it really is! Let's get started!

So you'll need Hamburger I used 3 pounds, 1 box of Jumbo shells, and then your favorite CHUNKY Salsa, also some shredded cheddar cheese (Not shown in the picture).

To get started cook jumbo shells as directed on the box, DO NOT OVER COOK! Then pour into strainer and run cold water over and let cool.

Next Fry up the hamburger and drain off any excess fat, put the pan back on the stove and add in enough salsa to cover the meat well depending on how much meat you use, I used about 2 cups of salsa.

Take a 13x9 cake pan and coat with a thin layer of crisco shortening. Now you are ready to start stuffing your shells with your meat mixture. I take one shell at a time and use a spoon and spoon the shell full of the meat then place each shell into your cake pan close to each other, Now if you cooked up the whole box of shells you will probably have enough to make up another smaller cake pan like an 8x8 if you have one. Once you have stuffed all of your shells just top off your shells with shredded cheddar cheese and cover your cake pan with foil and cook in your over on 350 degrees for about 20-30 minutes. Just until the cheese is melted and your shells are heated well throughout. This is a meal that you can make up ahead of time then just throw in the oven before you are going to eat. I hope you enjoy this meal as much as my family does and no one has to know how easy it actually is! Sorry I did not take as many pictures of  the different steps as I should have!   If you have any questions please feel free to ask! Chelle