Triple Berry Trifle and Homemade Whipped Cream

Triple Berry Trifle

Triple Berry Trifle to the rescue!

Hello again! Sorry I didn't post last week, the house on Nursery Road was particularly busy and the next thing I knew the week was over! Ever have that happen to you? Like you know you have to do something and you keep reminding yourself to get it done and then your deadline you had for yourself becomes completely obsolete? Yep, that was me. lol!

Anyways, I thought I'd make it up to you all and give you a two-for-one special and have two recipes in this weeks post. Guys, they're so so yummy. You're going to love them. But who wouldn't love HOMEMADE WHIPPED CREAM and a TRIPLE BERRY TRIFLE?! Crazy people. That's who. Or those who are lactose intolerant. If you are lactose intolerant, I totally apologize in advance. 

So let's make the whipped cream first, shall we? It's super easy to throw together and only takes three ingredients: heavy whipping cream, vanilla extract, and powdered sugar. It makes a world of difference in the Trifle since using canned whipped cream or cool whip would be a sugar overload. Trust me. Just grab a couple cartons when you're out buying your berries and you'll be golden. Okay? Let's go! 

Homemade Whipped Cream

Only takes three ingredients!

Ingredients:

So, like I said the three ingredients you need to make the whipped cream are 2 cups (16 oz) of heavy whipping cream, 6 Tbs. of powdered sugar, and 1 tsp. of vanilla extract.

Put all the ingredients together in a stand mixer

Directions:

Add all three ingredients into a stand mixer (if you have one, if not just mix in any bowl with a hand mixer. You could also whip the cream by hand if you want to work on your arm muscles!). Turn the mixer on medium-high speed and mix until the cream holds stiff peaks. Personally, I like my whipped cream well mixed, not as loose. The following picture shows the consistency I like to use.

I definitely ate that sweet little blob of whipped cream on my finger, lol!

That's it for the whipped cream! Seriously so so easy and well worth the five extra minutes (if that) it takes to make. Your friends and fam will go ga-ga over this alone, trust me! Let's move on to the Trifle Recipe. 

Triple Berry Trifle

All the ingredients together

Ingredients:

So for the Trifle, you are going to need 1 package of strawberries (washed and chopped), 1 package of raspberries (washed and drained), 1 package of blueberries (washed and drained), homemade whipped cream (follow recipe above), and an angel food cake. I used to buy pre-made angel food cake from the bakery from my grocery store in a loaf size that was just the right amount but they didn't have it! I went ahead and made a box angel food cake the night before to let it cool completely. Either is totally fine, completely up to you. 

Directions:

Step 1

Step 1: In a large bowl (see through glass are the prettiest to use, you can see the layers when you're finished), put some berries in the bottom of the bowl. This is your first layer. From here you're basically just going to add alternating layers of whipped cream, angel food cake bits, and more berries. Here's how I did it:

 

2nd layer- add whipped cream

3rd layer- add torn up pieces of angel food cake

4th layer- add more whipped cream

5th layer- add more berries

6th layer- add more pieces of cake

7th layer- one more layer of whipped cream

8th layer- decorate with berries on top

That's it! Too easy right? Once you get to the top of the bowl or when you run out of ingredients that means you're finished. You can serve it right away or chill and serve. Mine usually lasts around four days in the refrigerator.

I hope you guys enjoy these recipes! Let me know how yours turn out!

Love and hugs, 

Sarah Tremblay

Patriotic Cake Mix Cookies

Patriotic Cake Mix Cookies

June 30, 2017

Patriotic cake mix cookies!

Okay, quick story time before the recipe for these yummy cookies! So have you guys ever came up with your own recipe by trial and error of others? That's what these guys are. A while back I kept seeing these recipes for cake mix cookies and I just thought "Oh well, that's cool. But I like my homemade cookies better." And that was that. It's probably been a solid year since I first heard about them. Recently, my hubby and I went to a bible study and I volunteered to make cookies and for whatever reason these guys popped into my head. Y'all, I am so so happy they did! I made them that night and they went over amazing. I tried to make them again earlier this week but ran into a snag when I couldn't remember the recipe! I had made my own version based on a few recipes I saw online but carelessly didn't write it down. But, I spent hours in the kitchen today playing around and figuring out just for y'all (and me, lol!). Lesson learned- write down your recipes! Okay, now onto the recipe!

INGREDIENTS

For a recipe that makes approximately 3 1/2 dozen cookies, use the following: 1 white cake mix, 1 tsp. of baking powder, 1/2 cup melted butter, 1/2 tsp. of vanilla extract, 1 egg, and sprinkles! (I just used the entire side of the red and blue sprinkles in my little multicolor pack I had.)

DIRECTIONS:

Step 1

Step 1: The very first thing you want to do is to empty your cake mix out into a large bowl and whisk the baking soda in so its well incorporated- try to work out any lumps!

Add in the wet ingredients

Step 2: Now you want to add in your wet ingredients. Go ahead and add in the egg, butter, and vanilla extract. Stir them all together.

All mixed up!

This is just a picture of the what it looks like mixed up! Typical cookie batter consistency, maybe a little more smooth. 

Probably my favorite picture!

Step 3: Its time to stir in your sprinkles! I used the whole segments of red and blue sprinkles from a multicolored canister I had and then added in a few leftover red white and blue stars I had leftover.

Roll and place

Step 4: Now that your batter is ready, roll into small balls and place on an ungreased nonstick cookie sheet. You want to bake the cookies between 7-9 minutes, just until the centers don't cave in when you press them gently. You don't want to over bake these, they are supposed to be soft and pillowy.

Fresh out of the oven!

Here are a couple pictures of the cookies fresh out of the oven!

Look at those soft little pillows of sugary goodness!

One thing you want to remember for these cookies, they need to sit on the cookie sheet for a couple minutes so they keep their shape. After a couple minutes feel free to transfer them to a cooling rack. You can put whatever you want into the mix as well to make these your own! I have seen recipes with white chocolate chips, coconut flakes, chocolate chips, or basically whatever your heart desires. 

Hope you guys enjoy! Enjoy your 4th of July with your friends and family and give them some cookies!

Love and hugs, Sarah

Pallet Flag DIY

Pallet Flag DIY

June 24, 2017

I am so so so excited to share my very first DIY project with you all! Fourth of July is coming up and I wanted to add something to our home to make it look more festive. I remembered seeing these Pallet Flags on Pinterest and in some cute antique stores in the area and after thinking it through, I thought it would be a perfect project to make a patriotic addition to our front yard. Look how cute it turned out!
 

The finished product!

Y'all I'm not kidding, this was so easy to make. I was able to complete it with only one run to the craft store and one nap time!

In this post, I'm going to walk you through the steps of making this flag so you can add one to your yard, patio, deck, wherever! (Or, if you're interested in having me make one for you, shoot me an email and I'll help you out!) It makes the perfect addition to show support and love for our country and to remember to be grateful for all that we have this time of year. 

SUPPLIES:

For this project you need the following: a pallet, red, white, and blue craft paint, and a 1 1/2" paint brush, a 1" paint brush, and a detail paint brush.

These are the paints I used (Am I the only one
who thinks its ironic the blue I used is called
English Navy?

These are the brushes I used: a small detail, 1",
and 1 1/2". 

DIRECTIONS:

For my pallet, I was able to spot one on the loading dock of the craft store I went to buy my paint from and was allowed to take as many as I wanted for free! Because my car is small, I only took the one half-sized pallet for this project but I think I will definitely be looking there again if I need another. I'll just have my hubby bring his truck!

Before you start, make sure you are painting on a surface that you don't mind if it get paint on it. I used the old carpet on my back porch and was super careful. 

As far as preparing your pallet, you want to make sure it's dry. If you paint it wet, the paint won't bond well. I was going for a rustic look and definitely not clean and polished so I didn't sand it down or anything. 

First step: red!

1. Your first step is to paint the red stripes of your flag. Remember to leave room for the field of navy and stars! The half pallet I used had a piece of wood that ran down the middle so I used that as my guide. Then I painted every other plank of wood red with my 1 1/2" brush and red paint.

2nd step: white!

2. Your second step is to paint the planks you left blank white. Just like you did with your red stripes, be sure to leave space for the field of blue! I washed and dried the same 1 1/2" brush and then used it to paint the white stripes. If you use the same brush, be sure to get out ALL the red paint- you don't want streaks!

Brush change for the stars

3. For your next step you want to change your brush to the smaller 1". Still using the white paint, you paint on your stars. Again, I wanted to have a more rustic looking finished product so I didn't use a stencil or stamp. If you want all of your stars to look exactly the same I would highly recommend you use one of those methods. I also decided to only paint as many stars as I could fit comfortably in the areas I had available. Unless the stars were only an inch big, there was no way I was fitting 50 of them in the space I had. I settled on nine so the flag still looked dignified and not messy, but this again is just my personal preference. You can make this flag your own- personalize it the way you want!

Here's a picture of how my stars turned out. 

Finished stars

Step 4: Field of blue.

4. It's time to add our blue! Once again, I used the same brush for the white paint so before I painted the blue I washed and dried the brush so I didn't have streaks. I was also very careful with the blue paint to not touch the white stars because if i did, the paints would mix and look messy. A simple way to not worry about this happening would be to wait for your stars to dry before you add the blue. I was on a time crunch trying to finish before my son woke up so I didn't wait. I did touch up some of my unpainted spots in the next step.

Step 5: Time for touch-ups

5. I wanted to touch up some of the spaces between the field of blue and the white stars so I grabbed a small, coarse, stencil brush and touched up my blue where I needed to. 

All done!

After you touch up any spaces you might have missed, you are all finished! Again, I didn't want this to look absolutely impeccable and perfect so there are still some in-between spots that I am completely fine with. If you want your project crisp and polished I would recommend sanding down the surface of the pallet you will be painting first so it is smooth and you should use a stencil for your stars and paint with smooth, great condition brushes for the cleanest lines. 

So pretty!

All in all, I am SO happy with how my pallet flag turned out and can't wait to take pictures of my little one next to it for Independence Day! I hope you enjoy your own pallet flag and use it to celebrate with your friends and family. Feel free to comment or message me with your thoughts or questions on this project. Also remember, if you would like to have one of these for your own home and don't have the time to make one yourself, let me know! I'd love to make one for you to enjoy. 

Lots of love and hugs,

Sarah