Favorite Holiday Dessert

The title should actually say, "Favorite Dessert" not just for holidays...  Dark Chocolate Raspberry Trifle.  Jake and Maggie requested it for Christmas dinner dessert this year.

Even though it has "dark chocolate" in the name, it actually has very little chocolate in it - just enough, in my opinion.

 You don't need a ton of ingredients, and if you go the "Sara Lee" route, it doesn't require any baking.  (In my opinion, Sara Lee make a pretty mean pound cake and if I don't have to bake it, hallelujah.)

The list of ingredients:  1 pint heavy whipping cream; 1/2 cup sugar; 1 family size Sara Lee pound cake; 2 8-oz. pkgs. cream cheese, softened; another 1/2 cup sugar; 2 tsp. lemon juice; 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla; fresh or frozen raspberries (about 3 cups) (reserve juice if using frozen); raspberry syrup; 1 large dark chocolate bar.

Beat the whipping cream and 1/2 cup of sugar until stiff peaks form.  Set aside.  Next, mix the cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice and vanilla until smooth.  Add 2 cups of the whipped cream and mix gently.

You'll need a trifle bowl or a big glass bowl. (Walmart sells cheap trifle bowls.  The Pampered Chef one is also nice; it has a pedestal and a lid.)  Cut your pound caked into slices - you'll need enough for three layers.  My trifle bowl is big enough to use 5 slices per layer, so I cut my cake into thirds, then cut each third into 5 equal slices.

Layer the pound cake in the bowl; and drizzle with raspberry syrup.  (I usually use fresh raspberries, so they don't have a lot of juice, hence the syrup - Torani's is good, it's just for flavoring, don't use  syrup for pancakes...)  If you use frozen raspberries, thaw them and then use the juice for this.

Next, spread 1/4 of the cream cheese mixture over your moistened cake, then it's time for the raspberries.  1/3 of your raspberries will go on top of the cream cheese. 

And then break up 1/4 of your chocolate bar into little chunks on top of the raspberries.  We like Ghiradelli's Intense Dark.  (And I know, it's a lot of thirds and fourths...it all works out in the end.)

Do two more layers like this...

And top with the remaining 1/4 of cream cheese; the rest of the whipping cream and the rest of the chocolate bar.   Serve immediately or refrigerate.  I usually refrigerate it for awhile to really let the raspberry syrup soak in.  Works great to make it the night before you need it, too.

Every time I take this somewhere, I get requests for the recipe, so I thought I'd share.  I always like a new, easy recipe that is company-worthy!  

This makes enough dessert to feed a good twenty people.  So if you make it just for your family and consume it all; just pick up a copy of Jillian Michael's 30-day Shred to make up for it...(best workout DVD ever!!)

I feel sorry for all the other mommies...

Jake and I used to have a conversation every night when I was tucking him into bed.  It went like this:

Me:  "I feel sorry for all the other mommies.  Do you know why I feel sorry for all the other mommies?"

Jake:  "Because they don't get to be my mommy?"

Me:  "That's right.  Only I get to be your mommy.  I am a lucky mommy."

When Maggie was old enough, one night as I was tucking her into bed, I said, "Maggie, I feel sorry for all the other mommies.  Do you know why I feel sorry for all the other mommies?"

Maggie (with a puzzled look on her face):  "Because you hit them?"

Yes.  Yes, I hit them all.  Watch out for this mommy.

It has been awhile.  No excuses.

Things are moving along in the Abrams' household.  Jake started basketball; Maggie is still swimming for the Stingrays, Scott is keeping busy with work and I've been attending more school board meetings than I thought possible.

Scott had a chance to sign up for a Continuing Medical Education (CME) course in the Bahamas, so we jumped on the chance.  His sister has lived there with her family for 20 years, so we try to get there when we can to see the cousins (and enjoy the ocean, of course).  It had been five years since our last trip, so we were very excited to be back.

We did very little sightseeing, but we did walk down to the Cloisters from our hotel.  It's ruins from a 16th century monastery from France.  It was dismantled in the 1960's and brought to the Bahamas and reconstructed.  Very random, I know.  It sits on some prime ocean-front property and seems a little out of place - it's nestled between some private residences.  But we had fun poking around and getting some pictures.

We also came across some lost children and took them with us.  I'm sure their parents won't mind.

We had great weather.  The first few days were a little windy, which makes the beach interesting, but there are tons of pools where we stayed, so no worries.

Thought we'd take some shots for our Christmas card.  This is about the way it went all day.

We told the lost children that if they didn't settle down, they'd have to live there just with each other forever.  That seemed to do the trick.

We all took a scuba diving class in the pool at our hotel.  It certifies you for 7 days to do ocean dives up to 20 feet.  Unfortunately, I flunked the pool test (not kidding) and these three went without me.

I sat on the boat.  In the rain.  Singing an old Veggie-Tales song.  (Scuba, scuba, scooby-dooby duba; here we go scuba, c'mon!)

They had a blast.

And found some interesting wildlife.  (It got put back in the ocean after pictures.)  That's a hermit crab (huge, I know!!)  Scott also brought a shell up and I was holding it when a baby octopus fell out of it and slimed my camera up.  Gross, gross, gross.

It was a great vacation.

We got back to Minneapolis and drove right into a monster snowstorm.  That was a Saturday night.  It was so bad, we didn't have school the following Monday.   We are thankful to be home safely!  Now on to Christmas...

Free for Fall

I love decorating for the seasons, but it can get spendy. (Yes, Mom, I said it. Spendy.)  I love bittersweet (the orange berries) but I am not paying ten bucks for a small bunch. 

So, I am not above strapping on some galoshes and heading out with a clippers in my hand.  I found the fuzzy stuff (no idea what it is; just a weed, but I've used it before and it doesn't lose its fuzziness, so I like it) down by the pond at the end of our road.  The bittersweet grows wild along the bike trail.  So, one Sunday when the Vikings were losing, the kids and I headed out and picked a boatload of it.

I love it.  Free for fall.  That's my new motto.

Halloween is Too Baby...

That's what my kids decided this year when they opted out of trick-or-treating. But, when a friend invites you to a Halloween party, all of the sudden, dressing up is no long "baby."

Especially when you both get to be cats. Meow.

Have Your Cake and Eat It Too...

 Maggie-Doodle turned 10 in October, so we threw a bash for all of the girls in her class.  We decided to do a "cake decorating" party.

To make sure we stayed nice and clean whilst decorating our cakes, we first decorated aprons.  (Yes, I said "whilst.")  Apron decorating also killed a boatload of time; key when you have 7 10-year old girls giggling and carrying on and whatnot.

 I sewed ruffles on canvas aprons and we set up the "Apron Decorating Station" in the dining room.  They decorated while eating a delicious after school snack of meat, cheese and crackers. (Maggie's request - I wholeheartedly approve, I must say.)

The aprons turned out beautifully. And fabric markers dry right away, so we could wear them immediately!  Perfect.

Onto the cake decorating extravaganza.  7 6-inch double layer cakes, frosted white, with three tubes of frosting each - pink, purple and green.  We also gave each girl a cupful of fondant flowers and butterflies to use.  Delightful.  (Didn't think it would be so delightful when we stopped at the bakery to pick them up..."Sorry, we misread your order.  We thought you wanted one 7-inch cake instead of 7 6-inch cakes."  GAH!  Thankfully, they have the little six-inchers baked and on hand, we just had to wait while they frosted them all.  Phew.)

And then the fun began.  They worked really hard and had a great time.  Yes, the volume at times got to be a little much...I would just step out of the room during those times.  Scott's mom was here and helped - mostly with my sanity!

Maggie did a horse on her cake - better than any horse I could have done.  And yes, her hair needs to be cut.  We're trying to grow out the bangs, but it might get to be too much for me before we get very far.  Headbands, here we come.

Beautiful.  Each girl got to take home her cake, her apron, and her frosting tube kit.  (We washed the tips and gave them some clean frosting bags.

After all of the revelry, we opened a few gifts, ate a little pizza, watched a movie and then took them all home.  And then Scott's mom went to bed by 8.  It wiped us all out!  So we ate some cake and called it a night.  Until next year...

I Did It

Well, I completed the Army 10-miler.  I ran the whole way, even smiled once in awhile.  Like when a guy playing a fife (yes, a fife) wearing American flag shorts ran past me, tooting on that little horn the entire way.  (Irked me a little though - he wasn't even short of breath.)

Now, the real kicker is, Scott totally one-upped me.  He ran it, too - that's not the one-upping part.  Sort of old hat for a guy who has run 13 or 14 marathons (I have lost count); but this time...wait for it...he ran while suffering from pneumonia.  You read correctly.  He has pneumonia.  He should probably be in the hospital (in my opinion); but of course, when one of us is a doctor and it's not me, then my medical opinion doesn't count for much. 

He actually was in the hospital all day today and will be tomorrow and the day after that, but only because he's working. 12-hour shifts.  Say a prayer for him if you would; he really does not feel well and sounds terrible.  I really wish I could do something useful for him, but painting furniture does not help pneumonia.  (I have offered hot tea, a back rub, a trip to the store to buy more cough medicine as well, by the way.) He is currently trying to sleep in a recliner with a bucket nearby in case he coughs so hard that he throws up.  :(

Anyway, other than Scott feeling icky, we had a great time in DC; fun with the Causeys, a little sightseeing (The International Spy Museum, Ford's Theater, and the National Air and Space Museum); yummy eats, a couple of Causey kids' sporting events and of course the 10-miler. 

And a little Costco episode that I will let Lauri blog about.  Never a dull moment.  Never.

The Gift that Keeps on Giving...

So, people have started giving me old pieces of furniture to "do something with."  A friend gave me this child-sized rocker that she used and then passed on to her kids.  They didn't want it anymore, so she gifted it to me. It was originally brown with some flowers stenciled on it.

I decided to do an "ombre" treatment - where the colors start dark and fade into something lighter or vice versa. I thought it looked ok, but still wasn't quite sure what I was going to do with it.

And then LaRayne gave me this bench.  LaRayne is a woman who does daycare here.  She has been to our school auction and likes some of the pieces I donated for that.  So, she goes to thrift stores and buys things for me to redo.  Here's the kicker.  She would leave them in her garage for me to pick up - until a few days ago, I had never actually met this woman!!  She won't let me pay her, just likes the fact that I take something sort of ugly and pretty it up a bit. Isn't that cute?

The bench was, um, not my favorite.  It was dark brown and I'm not a huge fan of heart cut-outs.  In fact, if I had seen this at a thrift store, I would have kept walking.  But, after I got it done, I am loving it.  I think some little girl will be thrilled to have it.  

These two pieces will be donated as a set to a benefit auction for one of my sister-in-law's friends.  Liz has been in the ICU at the Mayo Clinic for more than three months following some complications with heart surgery.  She has two little girls and is missing them like crazy.  I was thinking of them when I was working on these things...hopefully their mom will be able to go home SOON!!

I found this fabric on clearance (I think I paid ten bucks for this print and the stripe) and I mod-podged it onto the bench, made a cushion and some pillows.  I can't get enough of those birds.  I sort of wish I had a "little" girl so I could put it in her room.  (Maggie informed me she is no longer little - won't even go trick-or-treating this year, it's "too baby, Mom.")

LaRayne also gave me a coffee table and a desk.  The friend who gave me the rocking chair also gave me a dresser and a mirror.  And my neighbor hauled over an old chair the other day.  My workshop is overflowing.   The thing I love is that people know I will redo these things and then donate them to some worthy cause.  And I enjoy every second of it.  It's repurposing with a purpose. 

(If you're interested in these particular items, head to Beresford, SD on December 1st and go to the benefit. :)
 

Thrifty Eye Candy

I love to browse at thrift stores when I have a few moments; and I've been known to hit a garage sale or two. That being said, I rarely go to garage sales here in Minnesota.

But every time we go to family camp in Iowa, my mother-in-law and I spend Saturday morning driving around Dayton and Pilot Mound and stopping at every garage sale we see. I find the best stuff in those tiny towns. I decided one of my dining room walls needed a little makeover, so I used some of my garage sale and thrift store finds.

Here's the result...for less than 5 bucks.

This cool "watercolor" (it's actually just a print) was 50 cents, frame and all.  I love things that show waterfront, and since our dining room window looks out over the water, it looks perfect in there.

I love this mirror, it has a cool rusty frame and is beveled...all for another 50 cents.

I scored two of these platters at a thrift store here in town; one is a little smaller.  The larger one cost $1.50, the small one was a buck.  I think they're ironstone.

If you count the 3M velcro that I used to put it on the wall, I think it's about $5.  That's my kind of decorating.