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Death By Chocolate Brownie Trifle




Remember my new trifle bowl?  Ok, so it's not actually a trifle bowl, it's just a clear glass bowl.  Well, after my Berry Trifle, I knew I had to make another trifle of some sort for our annual kids party.  I had several ideas running around but finally I looked at the menu that I had prepared for the party and realized that I was missing something essential. 

Chocolate. 

You can't have a kids party without chocolate.  30 or so kids, games and a bouncy house. But no chocolate. That wasn't going to happen. So the Brownie Trifle won. 

I loved how easy it was.  Just brownies, chocolate pudding, whipped cream and heath. I made the brownies and my daughter made the rest and put it together.  You could totally make it even more simple and use Cool Whip but I beat the whipping cream.  Actually, I made the daughter beat the whipping cream. Much easier that way. 

You'll have to forgive my pictures.  With 60 - 70 guest on their way, a hot kitchen and tons of food to make, it's a wonder I even thought to take these pictures.  Crummy picture but awesome dessert.

The beauty of this is that you can make it gluten free if you'd like.  There are plenty of good gluten free brownie mixes out there.  I chose not to make this gluten free but will next time for sure.

You can follow the recipe below but I suggest using it more as a guideline. You might have a different sized bowl and may need more or less of something.  Your brownie mix might make a different amount than mine. I used a pretty big one as I didn't want to skimp on the chocolate.  My daughter put it together, I think she put two layers of stuff, maybe three. I'm not entirely sure.  I do know that we licked the bowl clean and it was incredibly delicious!



Death by Chocolate Brownie Trifle Recipe

2 large packages of instant chocolate pudding
4 cups of milk (this will make the pudding set faster and thicker)
13 x 9 in. pan of fudge brownies (mine were thick, don't skimp on the brownie!)
1 package of Heath Toffee Bits or you can just crush a couple of Heath candy bars
16 oz. of whipped cream (I think that I made more of this, I don't really know how much I used)

Prepare pudding according to directions but only use 2 cups of milk per box.  This will make it thicker and set faster. Cut brownies into chunks, they don't have to be pretty.  Place about half of the brownie bites on the bottom of the trifle bowl in a single layer.  Evenly pour half the pudding on top of the brownies. Layer half the whipped cream, then half of the toffee bits.  Repeat layers.  Chill before serving. 

We didn't chill ours. We put it together and stuck it on a table in 90 degree heat.  Nobody cared.  It all was eaten. 

**Note - My daughter might have used three layers rather than two.  It doesn't really matter.



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Bacon Ranch Potato Salad


I haven't been posting too many recipes lately.  I've been kinda on a cooking hiatus for the summer.  We've been eating simple things like tacos and burgers.  Some nights we'll just have corn on the cob and watermelon for dinner. I haven't been much into menu planning lately.  I expect come fall that will change. 

I can't believe I haven't posted this potato salad yet.  It's one of my favorite salads and I've already made it twice just this summer. The ranch dressing is perfect and so delicious.  You can make it to your own tastes.  More garlic if you'd like.  Add some more cayenne if you like it spicy.  Thin it out with more buttermilk if you want to drizzle it over a salad.  It's up to you. Taste and experiment!



Bacon Ranch Potato Salad Recipe
Adaped from Simply Scratch

1 - 5 lb. bag of red potatoes, scrubbed
1 lb. bacon
5 green onions, sliced
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

Buttermilk Ranch Dressing:
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tbsp. parsley or cilantro, chopped
1 tbsp. fresh dill, chopped
2 tbsp. fresh chives, chopped (I didn't have any so I thinly sliced green onions)
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. paprika
1 pinch cayenne pepper
1 cup mayo
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 - 1 cup buttermilk
Salt and pepper to taste

Place potatoes in a large pot of salted water and bring to a boil. Once cooked, drain and cool. Cut into bite sized chunks.  Place in a large bowl and add the bacon, green onions.

Combine all dressing ingredients and thin out with the 1/2 cup or more of buttermilk.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Add to the potato bacon mixture and mix.  Toss in the cheddar cheese and mix again.



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Broccoli & Zucchini Soup

Grandparents had attended a grand aunt's 80th birthday dinner few weeks ago. Upon returning, gramma couldn't stop raving about the simple food, especially the soup. She said it was Zucchini & Almonds soup. Today, finally i got around to making it. We decided to give it a bit of twist, and try the soup. Here is what we made,

Ingredients:

Zucchini - 1 medium- chopped roughly
Broccoli - 4-5 florets
Almonds - 5- 6
Olive oil/butter- 1 tsp
Water
Milk
Salt
Pepper
Oregano/Italian herbs

How you make it:-

1. In a pan, add a cup of water and cook the Broccoli
2. In Another pan, add some oil/butter, add the zucchini and saute till it gets cooked
3. Cool off the vegetables, add the almonds to the mixer  and blend into a fine puree
4. Pour into a pan/pot and let it boil, adding required amount of salt, pepper and herbs. After boiling a few minutes, add some milk as well.


Serve hot with some bread... Bon Apetit! 

reade more... Résuméabuiyad