Taking care of business...

Ok, because aging seems to have crippled my memory, I am starting off this post with a blog award that the fabulous Staci (she's talented AND has a great name! ;-) gave me over a week ago... sorry i'm such a space cadet, Staci, but i'm so flattered that you picked my little 'ole blog for your award!

Another fabulously talented lady, Anabelle, tagged me the other day. Since i've been tagged before, I won't bore you guys with more information about me, but do go check out these blogs when you get a chance!

Next order of business... let's talk trifle!! Several of you asked me for the recipe, so who am I to disappoint? :-) I do have to give credit where credit is due, though, and tell you all that it's actually my mom's trifle recipe. She taught me everything I know, hehea. Since i'm a visual learner, I will provide you with photos as I tell you how to make this very very yummy dessert:

First, bake two round marble cakes (one box of marble cake mix yields 2 cakes) - I think the pans I use are 9 inches round.

Once the cakes have cooled, you will place the first cake at the bottom of your trifle bowl. Depending on the size of your cake pan and your trifle bowl, you may have to trim some cake off around the edges to get it to fit in the bowl.

Next, you will make a large box of chocolate instant pudding.

Layer approximately half of the pudding on top of the first cake.

Next, you will use a food processor (or blender) to break up candy pieces. I used Nestle's crunch and Heath bar this time (with some chocolate chips thrown on top), but I know my mom experiments and sometimes uses different candy. I used about 12 of the small Heath bars and 8 of the small Nestle crunch bars.

Once the candy is chopped up, you will put about half of it on top of your pudding layer.

Next comes a layer of cool whip - I buy the large cool whip and use a little less then half of the tub for the bottom layer. At this point, your trifle will look like this:

You are now going to repeat the layers - you will put down the second cake and another layer of pudding and candy. For my final layer of cool whip, however, I put a dollop of cool whip in the center and 5 dollops around the edge of the bowl, so you can see the yummy candy on the next layer down. Voila! You are done!

And, in case you were wondering, yes, I made another trifle!! Tony specifically said he did not want a birthday cake for his birthday, but he did request the trifle (everyone LOVES this trifle, it's always a hit!!). Well, I did not realize that he barely even got any trifle! It went so fast that by the time he got to the bowl, there was just a bit of cake left and not much of the other stuff. So, I felt bad for my poor birthday boy and made another one that he can be pleasantly surprised with when he gets home tonight.

Last but not least, I have a layout to share. It's DT work for CMK highlighting our manufacturer sponsor, Paper Trunk, for this month. I used papers from their wrangler line for this layout. The 'chuckwagon' sheet of paper has rows of squares, so I cut out 3 of the rows of squares, folded and pleated the paper in between each square, and sewed it around my photos for a border.

Journaling reads: You never mind a trip to Home Depot or Sears because it means you get to try out all the tractors. You go up and down the rows of tractors, "driving" them all, and picking favorites. Photos from 8/07.

TFL, everyone, and I hope you are all having a wonderful week!