Blueberry Cheesecake Trifle

I have seen lots of recipes for trifles and always wanted to make one so I decided to give it a try. Most recipes I found said to let it sit for 4-6 hours or longer. Well… I of course had to look at that gorgeous bowl of blueberry cheesecake heaven  sitting in my fridge and after about an hour I couldn’t take it anymore, so we dug into it. I could tell immediately why you are supposed to wait. It was good but needed to be colder. So the next morning we dug into it again and the say “good things come to those who wait” is so true! It was delicious. I do wish I had some granola to top it with but it made so much I am sure I will have time to pick some up and add it to it before it is all gone…hopefully 😉 The great thing about this is it is not a really sweet dessert. It has a sweetness to it but it is not overly sweet like most desserts.

1   baked angel food cake ( cut into bite size chunks) – this was the first Angel Food cake I had ever baked and it was the easiest cake I have ever made. I see a lot more of these cakes in my future! You can use a store-bought cake if you want to make it even easier.

3   8 oz. packages of cream cheese (softened)

1/2 cup of vanilla yogurt

2   16 oz. container of cool whip

1   3 oz.package of cheesecake flavored pudding

2 cups of milk ( to make the cheesecake pudding with)

2   21 oz. cans of blueberry pie filling

First cut the angel food cake into bite size pieces and set it aside.

Next prepare your cheesecake flavored pudding by the instructions on the box and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl add all of the wet ingredients (only one container of the cool whip, the other container is for topping) do not put the pie filling in either. It is for layering.

Next blend all of the wet ingredients until they get nice and fluffy.

Then put half of the creamy mixture into a trifle bowl or very deep glass container.

Layer it next with half the angel food cake. Then gently push the cake down so that you have room for the rest of the layers.

Put a whole can of blueberry pie filling on as the next layer.

Repeat the next layer with the mixture and then the cake. Then the last can of pie filling.

Carefully top with the last container of cool whip.

Place into the refrigerator 5-6 hours or overnight.

I think this will be great topped with granola. Also for the Fourth of July I plan to make this and use cherry and blueberry pie filling and then I will top it with fresh blueberries and cherries.

 

Philly Cheesesteak Stuffed Peppers

 

I adore stuffed peppers. But we have had them so many times that we have gotten a bit tired of them. Everyone in my family also loves Philly cheesesteaks so when I seen pictures of the stuffed peppers with the Philly cheesesteak I decided to create my own recipe with everything we love and see how they would go over with the family. Well..They were a huge hit and I will be making them again in the very near future! Here is what I did…..

 

 

Servings-8

4 green peppers

8 slices of provolone cheese

4 oz. package of fresh mushrooms or canned

8 oz. of Philly style shaved meat frozen or 8 oz. fresh thin sliced roast beef

1 tbsp. of minced garlic

1 large sweet onion sliced as thin as you can get it

2 tbsp. butter

2 tbsp. oil

Toppings: add to taste –  salt & pepper, sub oil, and crispy fried onions

 

Pre-heat oven to *400 degrees

Wash  the peppers.

Slice the peppers in half . Remove the ribs and de seed them.

While I was sauteing the onions and mushrooms I placed the green peppers on a baking sheet and pre-heated them for about 10 minutes so they would not have a really strong flavor.

Caramelize your onions and minced garlic, mushrooms in butter. About 15 minutes on med-high heat.

Remove onions and set aside.

Place oil into hot pan carefully and heat the meat thoroughly.

Add the onions and mushrooms back into the meat and heat the mixture thoroughly.

Remove the peppers from the oven and place a slice of provolone inside of each pepper.

 

Then add the  meat,onion, and mushroom mixture into each pepper, Then this is when I sprinkled them with sub oil, salt, and pepper.

Top with another slice of provolone and then top with crispy fried onions.

Bake in the oven for 15 minutes at 400 degrees. Enjoy!

Anyone have any other suggestions on toppings?

 

 

 

 

Strawberry, Mango, and Pineapple Smoothie

I love it when I can make a sweet healthy treat that is appropriate for anytime of the day or night. I also love it when I can change the flavor just by changing the ingredients and always end up with one that the kids will love. You know the saying “you can’t always please all the people all of the time” well…I think this smoothie recipe begs to differ.Unless they hate fruit and then I don’t know what to tell ya 😉

For these I chose frozen strawberries,mango, and pineapple( you can use fresh fruit too) this time but like I said you can use whatever fruit your kids like and it will still taste great. You can also use different flavored yogurt and get incredible results. You can also try different juices too , just make sure the flavors compliment each other. And for older kids you can add a tsp. of honey to sweeten it even more but I never give honey to a child under 2. So go ahead and try some different combo’s and tell me what you or your kids like the best. My kids love these because they say they taste like the dreamsicle ice cream pops!

1 1/2 cup of orange juice

1 1/2 cup of frozen strawberry,mango, and pineapple mixed fruit

1 cup of vanilla yogurt

1 1/2  cup of ice

Put it all into the blender and mix till it is nice and smooth.

 

Upside Down Taco Bake

I have been making taco bake forever and it is one of the few things my kids have always loved no matter what age. But tonight I was in a rush and thanks to the rushing I came up with an awesome idea! After the meat was done I mixed in the beans and heated it will stirring it all through instead of layering them onto the meat (saved me some time too).And the only thing I don’t like about the taco bake is how the chips get mushy on the bottom so this time I layered it a bit different and let’s just say that this is how I will be doing my taco bakes from now on.

1 lb. of ground beef
1 packet of taco seasoning
1 bag of tortilla chips
3 cups of shredded cheese
2 cans of refried beans

Suggested toppings are lettuce, tomatoes, black olives, salsa, and sour cream.

Preheat oven at 350 Cook ground beef in skillet until it is no longer pink.
Drain the grease and add your taco seasoning and 1/2 cup of water. Allow to simmer for 10 minutes.
Add in refried beans and stir till the beans are heated thoroughly.
In a 9×13 dish put all of your been and meat mixture. Layer with 1 1/2 cups of shredded cheese.
Then layer with chips and then put the rest of the cheese over the chips.
Bake for 10 min. at 350.

When it comes out it should look something like this.

Now plating it was fun too. Just dish it out and flip it upside down before you put the serving in the bowl.

Next just top with your favorite toppings and enjoy!!

We sure did            🙂