Enchanted Mommy

Banana Pudding Trifle — Amazing!

Happy 4th of July!!!!  We’ve had such a great day.  One reason was because of this beauty!!!!

So delishyummysavoryummgood!

I bet you’re wondering how you make it!  It’s so easy and fun!  Trifles are such a great way to serve dessert and a must have in the kitchen.  If you don’t have one, check out the one I have here.

All you need is:
10 bananas
12 oz. cool whip
16 oz. sour cream
1 box instant banana cream pudding
2 cups milk
1 box vanilla wafers
lemon juice to soak bananas

Topping:
few pieces of mint
3 vanilla wafers put in plastic bag, crushed up
a little bit of caramel topping

 

All you do is:
Mix pudding (I used a hand mixer) with two cups of milk.  Let sit for about 5 minutes.  I started putting the vanilla wafers in the trifle and cut up bananas to soak in lemon juice while I was waiting.

banana pudding trifle

Start off by putting vanilla wafers on the bottom and standing up against the glass.

soaking bananas in lemon juice

Make sure you soak your bananas in lemon juice to keep them from turning brown!

Mix cool whip and sour cream in with the pudding after the pudding is set.

Layer the trifle- vanilla wafers, bananas and pudding mix and repeat.  Make sure you put bananas and vanilla wafers up on the side.  It makes it look utterly delish.

layering a banana pudding tifle

layer vanilla wafers, bananas, and pudding mixture

Top with some caramel, crushed vanilla wafers, a few bananas and a couple mint leaves.

There you have it.  A yummy trifle!

trifle

My beautiful trifle!

 

Then, I was hungry later (don’t hate it’s July 4th, my diet went out the window).  I made banana pudding milkshakes!  Take the leftover trife and add a little milk and ice cream.  YUMMMM!

Then, we made banana pudding milkshakes! Take the pudding and mix it with some ice cream, add whip cream and cherries. Chick fil a, you got nothing on us!

These were the perfect ending to a perfect day at the beach spent with the family.

girl on the beach

My sweet one on the beach!

Check out our other trifles:

Red, White and Blueberry Trifle

Peanut Butter Fudge Brownie Trifle

 

Marshmallow Cream Cupcakes!

Need to spruce up your cupcakes?  Make them marshmallow cream cupcakes!

These are seriously so easy to make and are oh so yummy!  The kids loved them!

My little guy’s birthday party is coming up and I wanted to try something a little different for the cupcakes this time.   I grabbed a jar of marshmallow cream and thought I would try it out.

They turned out great!

DIRECTIONS:
1.  Make your cup cake batter any way you choose (I just used a box).  By the way, one box that normally makes 24 cupcakes made 36 with the marshmallow cream stuffed in the middle.

2.  Put your paper liners in your cup cake pan and  scoop a small spoonful of batter into the bottom.  I just used a regular cereal spoon.

 

Step 2

3.  Put a small teaspoon of marshmallow cream on top of your batter.  One regular sized bottle was enough for 48 cupcakes!

Step 3

4.  Scoop a large heaping spoonful of batter over the marshmallow cream and bake as you normally would.

Step 4

The marshmallow cream rises to the top of the cupcake making it look pretty cool and making every bite delicious.  Next time I will try stirring the cream into the batter to see what difference it makes.

 

The kids gobbled them up... so did I. 🙂

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

Whenever we go to anyone’s house, I think it’s a must to bring something.  Well, last weekend we went to one of my college friend’s house and I asked her what we could bring and she asked if husband could please make hummus.  Of all things, right?!?!  She loves his hummus (that he tweaked from Alton’s recipe), so we took that and I grabbed some pics of him doing it!  He is quite the chef and is VERY particular and only puts his name on something that is done right.  Here you have it!

 

roasted red pepper hummus

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus - so delicious!

This is what you need:

ingredients for roasted red pepper hummus

Ingredients for Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

  • 3 roasted red peppers
  • 2 to 3 cloves garlic
  • 1 can garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained and liquid reserved
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons tahini
  • A handful fresh parsley leaves
  • 1 lemon, zested and juiced
  • Pinch freshly ground black pepper
  • Pinch kosher salt
  • 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
In case you’re wondering how to roast a red pepper.  Check out the pic below!

Roasting a red pepper. Put oven on high broil for about 15 minutes. Or, on a gas stove top for 5 minutes or an outside grill for ~10 minutes.

Here is the process!
Chop the garlic finely and roast in a pan,
roasting garlic

roasting garlic

peel skin off red peppers,
taking skin off roasted pepper

Gently take a knife to get outside skin layer off pepper.

cut up some and place in food processor along with garlic, beans and 1/2 of the reserved liquid and process finely or to desired consistency. Add the tahini, parsley, lemon zest (here is how to zest a lemon, we use a microplane — a definite must in the kitchen)
zesting a lemon

Using a microplane to zest lemon

and juice, black pepper, and salt. Process until it forms a paste. Drizzle in the olive oil and process until it reaches the consistency of mayonnaise.
Top with cut up roasted red pepper.
We also took some pita chips and carrots to serve with it!  Yummmm.  We all filled up on the hummus, that we weren’t that hungry for dinner!

Oh yeah, we grow parsley at home.  It spreads SO fast.  Check out our plant!

parsley

parsley plant in our backyard!

 

Red, White and Blueberry Trifle

Pinterest struck again!  My friend was debating what dessert to make for a Memorial Day cookout, so I saw this on Pinterest and I told her to give it a try!  I just love trifles!

patriotic trifle

Perfect for Memorial Day or 4th of July

Okay, so you want to see the easiness of it?!

All you need is:

  • 10 oz angel food cake, cut into 1-inch cubes*
  • 2 pints strawberries, sliced
  • 2 pints blueberries

For the cream filling:

  • 6 tbsp fat-free sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 1/2 cups cold water
  • 1 package sugar-free white chocolate instant pudding mix
  • 12 oz fat-free frozen whipped topping, thawed

All you do is:

Whisk the condensed milk and water in a bowl. Whisk in the pudding mix for 2 minutes. Let stand for 2 minutes or until soft-set; fold in the whipped topping.

Arrange half of the cake in the bottom of a 14-cup trifle dish.

Sprinkle evenly with a layer of blueberries.

Spread half of the cream mixture over the blueberries and gently spread.

Top with a layer of strawberries.

Layer the remaining cake cubes on top of the strawberries, then add more blueberries and top with the remaining cream mixture.

Finish with the remaining strawberries and blueberries, arranging them in a pretty pattern.

Cover and refrigerate at least one 1 hour.

 

 

Also, try another great trifle recipe, it’s totally worth buying the dish for:

Peanut Butter Fudge Brownie Trifle

Patriotic Strawberries — Happy Memorial Day!

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!

You’re probably wondering why I’m posting this on Memorial Day night.  Well, July 4th is just around the corner and these are the PERFECT thing to make.  People are so impressed when my husband makes these.  He actually made these for two cookouts this weekend.

Red, white and blue strawberries

Look amazing and delicious!

Let’s just say that these are a lot easier to make than they may seem.

All you need is:

Small bag of white chocolate chips
Small bag of semisweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
blue sugar crystals – found in baking aisle with sprinkles

All you do is:
Put chocolate and one tablespoon of oil into bowl.  Microwave for 30 seconds, stir the best you can.  Microwave again for 30-50 seconds.  Stir like no other.  You want to stir really well because it helps them get shiny on the outside.

Dip them in the chocolate and put them on wax paper to dry.

For the white chocolate, striped strawberries.  Dip about 4 and then dip them in the blue sugar crystals (this gives them time to harden a little, but not too much so the sprinkles still stick).

Refrigerate and wait to enjoy at your next get together!

Wahlaaaaaa!!

strawberries

Presentation is everything!

*** Side note: Oftentimes my husband will put coconut on the chocolate strawberries.  YUM!

A Chicken Salad Recipe You Have To Try

This recipe is awesome!  It’s great to serve as an appetizer with crackers, on top of a salad for lunch, or even as a sandwich.  Take a look at my lunch from Monday.

Chicken Salad

A healthy lunch!

This chicken salad is so much more than mayo and chicken.  The more you add, the better it tastes!

I got this recipe here.

Here is what you need:

  • 2 1/2 cups diced cooked chicken (I chopped up 4 chicken breasts)
  • 1 cup finely chopped celery
  • 1 cup seedless grapes, halved (I probably did about 2 cups, I love grapes!)
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts or 1 cup pecans (optional) (I used walnuts)
  • 1 small minced onion
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/2 cup Miracle Whip (Since I had more chicken, I used about a cup)
What you do:
Mix Miracle Whip and Worcestershire sauce, set aside.  Mix everything else except grapes.  Mix those two together and lastly stir in grapes!  Talk about easy and delish!
homemade chicken salad

Looks so good, huh?!?!

It is also a great appetizer to take to a cookout!  Want some other ideas?!  Check out these other great recipes!
Peanut Butter Fudge Trifle
Healthy Avocado and Tomato Salad
Popcorn Cake
Chex Mix
Peanut Butter Frosted Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies
Spinach Dip
Avocado Hummus
Too Much Chocolate Cake
No Potato Salad
Broccoli Salad

Broccoli Salad

Want a perfect dish to make for a cookout?  Here you have it!

broccoli salad

It tastes even better than it looks!

This is so delicious and it is always gone wherever I take it!  I know, I know I’m loading you guys up on some bangin’ cookout food, but I can’t really help it because I love summer and I love getting together with friends!  Also, this was made at my recipe party.

So, here you have it!

Here’s what you need:
2 heads fresh broccoli, washed and cut into small bite size pieces (smaller the better)
1/2 cup red onion
1/2 lb. bacon
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup golden raisons
2 1/2 tablespoons vinegar
1 cup mayo
1/3 cup sugar (I used splenda substitute)
1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese (I omitted because husband doesn’t love cheese)

What you do is:
Mix sugar, vinegar and mayo together.  Mix everything else together in a separate bowl.  Combine and mix.  Chill for at least 4 hours before serving.

Wahlaaaaaaa…..

It's healthy too!

We enjoyed ours with a grilled burger (using lettuce as the bun!).   Take this to your next event and I promise people will be begging for the recipe!

Other cookout recipes!
Peanut Butter Fudge Trifle
Healthy Avocado and Tomato Salad
Popcorn Cake
Chex Mix
Peanut Butter Frosted Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies
Spinach Dip
Avocado Hummus
Too Much Chocolate Cake
No Potato Salad

Stay tuned!  I have one more great cookout recipe on Thursday.  I’m preparing you for the nice long weekend ahead!


Everyday Paleo — No Potato Salad

This recipe is definitely a keeper AND a great one to take to a Memorial Day cookout.  I say this because most likely other people won’t bring it and you’ll have something healthy to eat too.

everyday paleo no potato salad

It's so delicious and healthy!

My friend sent me this recipe so I thought I would give it a try.  We make it almost every week and it’s great to snack on or eat as a side with any meat!  I got the recipe here.  It’s basically substituting the potatoes in potato salad to cauliflower.

What you’ll need it:

2 heads of cauliflower (I use 1 because it makes SO much)

1 dozen eggs, hard-boiled and diced (I used 8 )

1/2 a medium sized red onion, finely diced

6-8 celery stalks, finely diced (I used 3 )

A lot of dill pickles, diced (I bought mine already diced, I know call me a cheater)

About 1 1/2 cups of my Paleo Mayo

2 tablespoons of dried dill

1 teaspoon of crushed garlic added.

About 1 teaspoon of yellow mustard

Black pepper to taste

 

How it’s done:

Cut the cauliflower into florets and steam them for ~10 minutes.  Rinse with cold water so they don’t continue to cook.

Hard-boil your eggs (**I put my eggs in hot water, put them on stove, wait until water boils then allow to boil for 12 minutes.  That makes the perfect hard-boil egg).  Once they are done on stove, immediately place into water with lots of ice.  Peel and cut them.

Mix mayo, dill and crushed garlic.

Add all contents to bowl and mix.

Wahlaaaaaaaa….  Doesn’t it look good with steak?!?!

no potato salad

and with a steak makes it even betterrrrrrr!

Some other ideas to take to a fun cookout:
Peanut Butter Fudge Trifle
Healthy Avocado and Tomato Salad
Popcorn Cake
Chex Mix
Peanut Butter Frosted Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies
Spinach Dip
Avocado Hummus
Too Much Chocolate Cake

 

Peanut Butter Fudge Brownie Trifle! Delish!

My family is big on trifle.  We have it at most get togethers and have tried a lot of different variations (peppermint, candy bar, fruit, cherry pie filling, oreo, etc…).  We love our trifle!

So when I came across this Peanut Butter Fudge Brownie trifle on www.howsweeteats.com I was shocked that I had never seen this kind before!  I couldn’t wait to try it!  So I got all the ingredients and planned on making it for our next family pot lock, but as it turns out two other people were already bringing dessert.  Bummer!

I ended up just making it for myself!  That’s right… don’t judge!  I wanted it, so I made it!  Ha!  Besides, I have three half monkey – half boy children at home that are always willing to gobble up desserts!

So this trifle was awesome.  My favorite variation of trifle thus far.  I think it was the peanut butter layer that did it for me… well that and the entire top layer of Reeses Peanut Butter Cups!  So yummy!

Loaded with Reeses Peanut Butter cups! Awesome!!!!

PEANUT BUTTER FUDGE BROWNIE TRIFLE
Brownies layer (any kind you like)
Whip cream layer
Peanut Butter layer
Chocolate pudding layer  (I used one box of instant pudding mix)
1 Bag Reeses Peanut Butter Cups

***Cut your brownies into cubes and put half of them along the bottom of your trifle dish.  After this you just put the different layers on in any order you like and then repeat.  Then top with sliced Reeses Peanut Butter Cups!  It’s so pretty at the end you will want to dig right in and start eating!

So here is the how-to on the layers:

Whip Cream Layer
2 cups Heavy Cream
3-4 Tb granulated sugar

*Beat heavy cream and sugar together on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form.  Stick bowl in the fridge until you are ready to put in trifle dish

Peanut Butter Layer
1 cup creamy peanut butter
8oz of whipped cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
2 Tb milk

*Beat peanut butter and cream cheese together until creamy.  Add powdered sugar and mix well.  Add 2 Tb of milk.  Take 1 cup of your whip cream mixture from the fridge and fold it into the peanut butter mixture until just combined.

Now you are ready to layer your ingredients in your trifle dish!

Delicious Butter Chicken — Paleo Style

Yes, we’re still on the Paleo kick. How could you not be with a meal that looks this delish?!

paleo butter chicken

Very healthy and delicious!

My New Year’s Resolution was to get a little more “creative” in my cooking.  The only meat I used to buy was chicken breasts and ground beef.  Well, it’s May and I have finally realized it isn’t that hard to be more creative.  I actually found all the spices at the Asian grocery store, literally right across the street from my house.  You should try a Global Food, all of their produce and spices are a lot cheaper than the regular grocery stores.

I love butter chicken and I found this Paleo chicken butter chicken recipe here.

This is what you need:

  • 2 x 2 tbsp of pastured, grass-fed butter
  • About 1 Kg chicken cut in chunks
  • 2 tsp garam masala
  • 2 tsp paprika
  • 2 tsp ground coriander
  • 1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
  • 1/4 tsp chili powder (adjust to taste)
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 6 bruised cardamon pods
  • 1 can of tomato puree
  • 3/4 cup coconut milk
  • 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
  • splenda to taste (optional… I used this because I wanted it a little more sweet)

Here is a pic of the cardamon pods in case you’re lost like I was:

cardamom pods

Cardamom pods picture. What to look for at the store.

Here is how you create the butter chicken!

  • Heat a pan, add the first 2 tbsp of butter and stir-fry the chicken chunks.
  • Remove the chicken from the pan.
  • Put the second 2 tbsp of butter and slowly heat the spices for a minute or two until you can smell the aroma.
  • Put the chicken back in the pan and stir so you mix in all the spices with the chicken.
  • At this point, add the tomatoes and simmer for about 15 minutes. Stir from time to time.
  • Add the coconut milk and lemon juice and let it simmer for another 5 minutes.
  • Taste and add splenda if needed.
  • Enjoy a healthy meal!
spices needed for butter chicken

The spices mixed together.

 

Enjoy this fancy meal!  We enjoyed it over cauliflower rice, recipe here.  Yum yum yum.

Also, enjoy a Paleo smoothie with it!