Going Octo-Bananas

Who sets an alarm on a Saturday morning to get up and make a trifle? This girl! And yes, as shown by the photo, I've gone bananas!

At the request of my father-in-law, whose 87th birthday we celebrated today, he wanted something like the banana cream pie-type dessert his wife used to make. Thank goodness he was amenable to a dessert in the trifle format so I wouldn't have to compete with that memory. It was tasty. I'll share the recipe in a bit.

We went to lunch at Anchor Bay and he was surprised with a cupcake for dessert. We had a nice group – Baird and Sherry (you can see in the background), plus Colin, Amy and their kids, and Jim and I plus Clay and Becca – and Mr. Carter who arrived late last night!

We all came to our house after lunch to settle our full bellies and the have dessert. Dad looks pretty good for an octogenarian, doesn't he?

Tried to get a picture of the grandkids. You can see Carter and Colin cooperating in the back row but Eli, Dad, and Mya were looking elsewhere. Still, it's sweet. My favorite peoples.

By mid-afternoon the crowd had dispersed and Carter hit the road as well. It was so nice to see him for a short visit but it's also Mamie's birthday weekend so we understand why he wanted to head back.

Since we're laying low with an empty house, I figured I share what I threw together to make my first ever Go Bananas Trifle.

First of all, I could've baked a banana cake from scratch. But when we saw this I figured I can't compete with Dolly Parton on any level. So let's go with that. I baked that yesterday afternoon and today I sliced up cubes to make the bottom layer of the trifle.

Next layer was Banana Cream Pie pudding. I ran across the Snack Pack version before finding the instant version, so that's what I went with. Please know that if you try this at home you'll need to by 3 of these – 6 packs per layer. I sliced up some REAL banana and lay those pieces on top of the pudding layer.

The crunchy layer – as I call it – was Vanilla Wafers x 2. I used a rolling pin to crush up some of vanilla wafers pictured above and used a knife to slice up bits of the wafer cookies with vanilla creme.

That went onto the top of the pudding layer before I started again with banana cake cubes and repeated layers. The tip-top layer was whipped cream and some banana slices.

As a side option, I had both chocolate and strawberry syrup in case anyone wanted more of a "banana split" type taste. Overall, positive reviews. So go bananas! 

P.S. If anyone like banana cake, I've got about half of one left I could gift you with whipped cream or whatever!

Don't Judge a Trifle By its Layers

By the grace of ReddiWip in a spray can, I was able to salvage my dessert that just last night was one layer short of a trifle.

As I mentioned yesterday, with the distraction of our sweet grand-pup Rey, I put my last 2 layers in the wrong order. But as predicted, it didn't matter. I've never made this the same way twice anyway – whether it's the ingredients or the order of layers – so this was today's Pumpkin Spice Trifle. 

The bottom was cubed up frosted pumpkin bars. So good on their own! Next layer is the game changer.

Instead of pumpkin or vanilla pudding, add Cinnabon Pudding. The creamy cinnamon brings out the spice! Also yummy on its own. I topped that with a thin layer of whipped cream then added the crunchy layer...

Put a row in a Ziploc bag and go to work with your rolling pin! I nicely crushed crunchy layer.

I meant to repeat those layers but forgot the crunch layer BEFORE that final whipped cream layer, so I added that at the end. Wasn't a complete fan of that, so this morning – thanks to a back-up can of ReddiWhip, I added another thin layer on top with some Halloween sprinkles.

Whew. I could leave the house with my Trifle Queen dignity intact!

And yes, we all know it's only pretty until the first scoop anyway, but still. Ha. And it was tasty! The birthday girl liked it. And definitely no one complained. And it went fast, as usual. I brought home the bowl with a small serving left in case hubby wants it. 

If not, I'll take it. Or just lick the bowl. It was that good. 

Give it a try. Keep in mind that some of these layers are seasonal. If you want to use those P.S. Oreo's, you'll have to get them soon. Also, the only place I've found the Cinnabon Pudding is in the snack pack area at Walmart, but it might be in other stores, too.

Or if you want ME to make it... Plan the party and save me a seat! 🎃

A Trifle Hot

We are in a heat advisory in the Midwest so I became a trifle bit of fraud when making this trifle. Trust me, I would've been arrest or, at a minimum, kicked out of the house if I turned on the oven to bake the cake and cookie layers.

So I cheated.

I mean look at this. Not only was it 94 with a real feel of 106 degrees at 5 p.m. But it's only getting down to maybe 85 at 8 p.m. Uffda! 

So about the trifle... I made it a friend celebrating a huge personal milestone in her life. She deserves to be treated and happens to enjoy peanut butter & chocolate. Who doesn't? Making this trifle, I found my new secret ingredient (well, until I tell you) for PB & C trifles. Here you go:

• Bottom layer if store-bought (gasp!) chocolate cake with Reese's THINS Peanut Butter Cups cut in half and outlining the trifle bowl.
• Next layer up is Cheesecake-flavored pudding that I added PB2 (a TB of powdered peanut butter powder) to make it Peanut Butter pudding. I'd recommend White Chocolate-flavored pudding if it's available. It just blends better with the other flavors. (In my opinion – no one complained.)
• Next layer on top of pudding is just a smattering of crushed Chips Ahoy Peanut Butter Cup cookies (again with the store bought!) and... for the win... chopped up Little Debbie Nutty Buddy bars. Game changer, folks!
• Repeated those layers then added a thin layer of Cool Whip on top with Reese's Peanut Butter Cup minis scattered for appearance – and added flavor of course.

And yes, it was as delicious as it sounds. Still, it's almost too hot to eat anything. But, if I'm going to go for it in an extreme heat advisory, I'll take a trifle every time.

Wouldn't you?

Be careful out there, friends! 🔥

Why, It's Pi Day

Without knowing the history of made-up holidays, I can almost guarantee it was someone in America who declared March 14 (3/14) as Pi Day... and ultimately Pie Day!

What is Pi for real? Pi (often represented by the lower-case Greek letter π), one of the most well-known mathematical constants, is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter.  For any circle, the distance around the edge is a little more than three times the distance across. Typing π into a calculator and pressing ENTER will yield the result 3.141592654, not because this value is exact, but because a calculator’s display is often limited to 10 digits. Pi is actually an irrational number (a decimal with no end and no repeating pattern) that is most often approximated with the decimal 3.14.

Also the date March 14. 

I saw a funny today (mocking Hallmark and other greeting card companies) that said Pi Day was a holiday made-up by mathematicians so they could sell more math!

That's good.

But all the talk at work was the PIE version of Pi Day. 

So someone went down the street to Perkins and suddenly we were observing the holiday like true mathematicians.

I sincerely apologize for ever mocking this made-up holiday, because Peanut Butter French Silk Pie from Perkins is to die (or Pi) for!

Hope you found a delicious way to celebrate this deliciously fake holiday!

Everything AND the Kitchen Sink

Today was a big day. We have a kitchen sink for the first time since September 17! Of course, there's some plumbing and countertop finishing touches to do tomorrow. But that's progress. You can see a bit of the concrete countertop but I won't reveal all just yet. We love it though!

So tonight we did one more meal out, of course. Went over to Kellner International so we were close to home. I had a big lunch today so I only had an appetizer, but then the waitress just had to mention the dessert options.

Share a piece of Pumpkin Cheesecake for dessert? Yes, please! So yummy. And oh so filling.

Got home in time for my other date night. Crossed the street to watch a TV show with Cindy. Lessons in Chemistry is based on a brilliant book we read for book club. Unfortunately, it only on Apple TV. But fortunately, Cindy's got it! 

We only watched the first 2 episodes but it is very well done. If you don't have Apple TV, then read the book. In your free time... during these dark, dark nights that start at 5 p.m.!