Chocolate Chip Trifle

Okay, so I really think that this recipe should be called Chocolate Chip Cookie Trifle, since that's the main ingredient; but, I didn't invent the recipe, so I guess we'll have to go with its true title.

A few years ago, back when we lived in North Carolina, we attended a church with lots of big, homeschooling families. Every Sunday night after some singing and a service, we had a little fellowship potluck dinner. It was loads of fun and gave me plenty of opportunity to try out fun dessert recipes. I especially loved making trifles.

It was exciting to make a new trifle recipe after nearly six years. Here is the finished result!

Okay, the great thing about this recipe is that there are very few ingredients. And you can make them even fewer by purchasing a roll of Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough.

2 packages of instant vanilla pudding mix (about 8 oz. total)

2 cups of milk

2 tubs of Cool Whip (16 oz. total)

Fresh strawberries, sliced (16 0z.)

1 roll of Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough (or make your own :-)

Begin by dividing the cookie dough into roughly sixteen cookies. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-9 minutes (this will vary, depending on your oven).

While the cookies are baking, combine vanilla pudding and milk, whisking for 2 minutes. Fold in the Cool Whip.

After allowing the cookies to cool, crumble eight of them. Place 3/4 of the crumbs on the bottom of your trifle dish. Next, layer 1/3 of the pudding mix. Add 3/4 of the sliced strawberries. Carefully position the remaining cookies around the edge of the trifle dish, placing them face outward. Add the rest of the pudding. Garnish with remaining cookie crumbs and strawberries.

This dessert is easy to make, but will look like you spent hours working on it! Enjoy making it beautiful.

My geeky little brother

Just kidding. I don't actually have a geeky little brother.

However, Andrew recently went to a normal eye doctor checkup the other day and came home with a prescription for glasses. We have never had a clue that Andrew has any kind of eye problem. Thankfully, it's not serious; he simply has an astigmatism in one of his eyes. But when the eye doctor started trying different lenses on him, he immediately realized how much he's been missing out on! He came home telling us how wonderful it was to see in "hi-definition"!

So, here's my adorable little brother in his brand-new, not-geeky-looking glasses.

In other news, Noah came down with a little stomach virus today. Andrew had it the other day, but after a couple days went by, we were hoping everyone was out of the danger zone. Obviously not. So, just praying that Noah gets better soon and that no one else catches it!

I wanted to share quickly something neat that has been happening to me lately. For the past couple months, my daily Bible reading has been somewhat dry. I have found my mind wandering easily and have had difficulty paying attention to the words. Just in the last two or three weeks, though, God has laid an intense desire on my heart to be in Scripture. Instead of only picking my Bible up at the end of the day before I go to bed, I have been going to it four or five times throughout the day- in the morning, during breaks from school, every time I can grab fifteen or twenty minutes to sit down and read. This is totally something from God and I am extremely blessed every time I read.

Finally, I'll be making a brief detour from my cupcake posts soon to share with you my experience with Chocolate Chip Trifle. I am making it for our first Carrollton Baptist Church picnic this Sunday. We'll see how it turns out!

~Hannah Grace

Through the flames

There's an ancient legend about a bird called the phoenix. It is said that the phoenix could live for up to 1,000 years and would then ignite into flames. The first time I was in the middle of reading this story, I though it was terribly sad. But as it turned out, I simply didn't have the whole picture. You see, as I read on, I found that it was only through these flames, that hope- in the form of a beautiful, young phoenix- could be born.

Ten years ago today, our nation erupted into flames, in much the same way as that bird. The attacks that took place on September 11, 2001, represent one of the greatest tragedies that have ever taken place in the United States.

But where the terrorists would have had us tear apart, we came together. Where they would have had us lose all hope, we gained it in the face of terror. Yes, we were and still are devastated. Yes, months went by before my mom felt safe enough to even go to a mall. But, no, our nation was not destroyed by the horror of that day.

Because, at the end of the day, it's all in your perspective. God drew us all together in the aftermath of that calamity. While it would be impossible and downright wrong to make 9/11 into any less of a tragedy than it was, hope does arise from the ashes. And sometimes it is only through the flames that something beautiful can take form.

Hope from ashes

There's an ancient legend about a bird called the phoenix. It is said that the phoenix could live for up to 1,000 years and would then ignite into flames. The first time I was in the middle of reading this story, I though it was terribly sad. But as it turned out, I simply didn't have the whole picture. You see, as I read on, I found that it was only through these flames, that hope- in the form of a beautiful, young phoenix- could be born.

Ten years ago today, our nation erupted into flames, in much the same way as that bird. The attacks that took place on September 11, 2001, represent one of the greatest tragedies that have ever taken place in the United States.

But where the terrorists would have had us tear apart, we came together. Where they would have had us lose all hope, we gained it in the face of terror. Yes, we were and still are devastated. Yes, months went by before my mom felt safe enough to even go to a mall. But, no, our nation was not destroyed by the horror of that day.

Because, at the end of the day, it's all in your perspective. God drew us all together in the aftermath of that calamity. While it would be impossible and downright wrong to make 9/11 into any less of a tragedy than it was, hope does arise from the ashes. And sometimes it is only through the flames that something beautiful can take form.

Jelly Donut Cupcakes are so healthy! Or not...

Dad is out to sea again, Jordan is back at college, and Mom and the boys went to a Scouts meeting this evening, so I finally had a chance to make Jelly Donut Cupcakes!

Now, I feel it may be necessary to intervene here and mention that we are not all turning into round little balls of blubber from all of the cupcake-eating. One of my favorite things about trying these different recipes is that there's always plenty to share! So, the boys and I have enjoyed delivering cupcakes to several of our neighbors. Of course, we always taste them first, just to make sure they're okay ;-)

Anyway, back to Jelly Donut Cupcakes. Here is the finished product!

And the recipe:

1 cup sweet butter (2 sticks) *I just use normal, unsalted butter

1 cup superfine sugar

2 cups self-rising flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. vanilla extract

4 eggs

1/2 cup raspberry jelly or jam *We could only find preserves, and that worked out fine

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line or grease 18 muffin cups. Combine all ingredients except raspberry filling in electric mixer. Mix for 2-3 minutes. Fill muffin cups about 2/3 full. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden-brown. Remove from oven and cool for five minutes. Take the muffins out of cups and cool on wire racks.

Meanwhile, you have a couple of options.

Option #1: Make your own frosting. The recipe included this frosting recipe-

1 cup cream cheese

1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted

1 tbsp. lemon juice

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Slowly beat the cream cheese and confectioners' sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until creamy and soft. Add the lemon juice and vanilla, and beat briskly until well-combined.

Option #2: This is the path I took. Buy creamy vanilla frosting and read a book while the cupcakes cool.

When cool, slice the top off each cupcake, hollow out a small hole with a teaspoon and fill with the jelly. Replace the top. Spread the frosting onto cupcakes.

For a little extra color, I put a dab of raspberry filling on top of each cupcake. I also think it would have been really fun to put a nice, fresh raspberry on top of each one; whatever you want to try.

Enjoy these extra-sweet, extra-yummy donut cupcakes!

~Hannah Grace

A doozy of a storm

I very much intended to post about Hurricane Irene either while or directly after it had taken place. That obviously didn't happen. After nearly 24 hours of torrential rain and wind, Irene left our house, taking the electricity with her. Actually the electricity left about ten hours into the storm. We went without air-conditioning, lights, TV, phone, and computer for 51 hours. Thankfully, Mom was able to use her iPhone and the roads weren't bad so we were able to get out for some much-needed cooling off (after the actual storm was gone, the sun came out, and our house got quite hot without the usual AC!)

I was able to take some pictures. They didn't come out great, but will give you an idea of what the storm was like and what we spent our time doing during it.

Lots of rain...

Candlelight dinners :)

And more rain...

We actually played every.last.one. of these games.

There you have it! I took a few more pictures, but they are all pretty blurry.

On a more serious note, keep everyone still experiencing the after-effects of the storm in your prayers. There are still power-outages up and down the East Coast, irreparable damage to homes, and lives that were lost due to the storm.

Oh! And I haven't forgotten about the cupcakes. I promise. We're buying the ingredients today, but I may not be able to make them until next week. Jordan's coming home this weekend for her first visit (yay!) and plans to bake cookies to take back with her for friends, so I may not have access to the kitchen. For now, I leave you with this link: http://www.joyofbaking.com/VanillaCupcakes.html and encourage you to try a new cupcake recipe yourself this week!

~Hannah Grace