Caramel Apple Trifle

For about 10 years I was a Taste of Home subscriber. I'm not now that they've been bought out by another company and filled their magazines with ads, more ads, and uh, more ads... (where are the recipes!?) LOL... but I was for about a decade - I got three of their magazines actually!

This is from TOH and I think would make a great summer dessert for the family. I'd tweak it a bit - adding and deleting as your family likes, but the general idea, flavor and presentation is fabulous. I use a glass trifle bowl for my desserts but you can use a punch bowl or similar... whatever you have!




Caramel Apple Trifle

1 pkg. (18 1/4 oz) yellow cake mix
6 cups cold milk
3 pkg. instant vanilla pudding mix(3.4 oz)
1 teaspoon apple pie spice
1 jar(12 1/4 oz.) caramel ice cream topping
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans, toasted
2 cans(21 oz each) apple pie filling
2 cartons (16 oz. each) frozen whipped topping, thawed

Prepare and bake cake according to package directions, using two greased 9 inch round pans. Cool for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely.
In a large bowl, whisk milk, pudding mixes and apple pie spice for 2 minutes. Let stand for 2 minutes or until soft-set.
Cut one cake layer if necessary to fit evenly into an 8 quart punch bowl. Poke holes in the cake with a long wooden skewer; gradually pour a third of the caramel topping over cake. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup pecans and spread with half the pudding mixture. Spoon one can of apple pie filling over pudding; spread with one carton of whipped topping.
Top with remaining cake and repeat layers. Drizzle with remaining caramel topping and sprinkle with remaining pecans. Refrigerate until serving. Yield: 42 servings. (3/4 cup each)

Another Version of a Stuffed Bread Bowl Sandwich

I have posted about my love of 'deli bread bowls' more than a few times on my blog and even showed photos of how I like to cut them. While surfing online I came across another version and well, anything that has olives and ham and roasted bell peppers and well.... everything you see here has got to be good!

I added it to my collection and hope you will too. I have intentions of making this one this week. I'll let you know what I think!


1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/3 cup olive oil
10 large pitted green olives, chopped
1/3 cup pitted, chopped black olives
1/4 cup chopped roasted red bell peppers Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 (1-pound) round bread loaf (about 7 inches in diameter and 3 inches high)
4 ounces thinly sliced ham
4 ounces thinly sliced Italian bologna
4 ounces thinly sliced salami
4 ounces sliced provolone
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1 1/2 ounces arugula leaves

Whisk the first 3 ingredients in a large bowl to blend. Gradually blend in the oil. Stir in the olives and roasted peppers. Season the vinaigrette, to taste, with salt and pepper. Cut the top 1-inch off the bread loaf. Set the top aside. Hollow out the bottom and top halves of the bread. Spread some of the olive and roasted pepper mix over the bread bottom and cut side of the bread top. Layer the meats and cheeses in the bread bottom. Top with the onions, then the arugula. Spread the remaining olive and roasted pepper mix on top of the sandwich and carefully cover with the bread top. Cut the sandwich into wedges to serve.

Blueberry, Raspberry and Marionberry Pie

I'm currently sitting here this morning munching on pie and coffee for 'breakfast'. Not that I'm a breakfast eater (I'm not) but it's 7:00 am and I've been up since 3:00 am so officially it would almost be brunch time for me.

I made the pie yesterday and don't shoot me... but no, I didn't use a 'recipe' - but that's ok! You can still make it. Remember, I always tell my readers that recipes are only for ideas and general directions. I want you to feel comfortable around food to take liberties and have fun. And this might be a good way to do it.

This particular pie is a blueberry, raspberry and marionberry, only because that is the mixture of berries that I bought at Costco last month. They sell a large bag in the frozen food section and although I planned to make jelly or jam out of it, it came in handy yesterday for an impromptu pie. If you want to make this one with just blueberries, or just some other kind of fruit, you can do that.


Fruit Pie

1 unbaked pie crust with another crust for topping it
4-5 c berries, fresh or frozen
3/4 c sugar
1/3 - 1/2 c flour (depending on the kind of fruit you use and whether it's frozen)*or about 3T corn starch
spices - cinnamon, sugar, ginger, lemon juice, etc.


Because I don't really measure I'm going to show you the photo of the ingredients and give you an estimation. Put about 4 - 5 cups of fruit into a bowl. Top with the thickener which can be either corn starch or flour. I used flour here. Because I had raspberries and marionberries and they were frozen, I knew there would be plenty of liquid so I used a heaping 1/3 c of flour - almost 1/2 cup. Add about 3/4 c sugar for most pies although with blueberry and raspberries they have a bit of a bit to them so I would use 1 cup. Add about 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. Mix.

Now, at this point you can add other spices although you don't have to. For my blueberry pies I like to add a 1/2 t of cinnamon (about - add more if you love it), a slight sprinkle of ground ginger and just a touch of vanilla exact. See the photo (click on it to make it bigger if you'd like) to see amounts.


Mix well.

Pour into a prepared crust. You want it to be tall and heaping - try to fit all the fruit in it! The fruit will cook down and the pie will be almost flat by the time it is baked and cooled. (See finished photo up top.) Heap it up and top with the second crust. Pinch the edges to seal.

I top mine with additional sugar and cinnamon. If you don't want to, you don't have to - but you can add more cinnamon and/or sugar inside the pie instead if you would like.


Place on a cookie sheet (to catch fruit drips or run overs) and bake in a preheated oven - which is also forgiving - I had mine preheated to 425 and then when I place the pie into it I immediately turn it down to about 375. Bake for 1 hour. Cool completely to allow the juices to completely thicken up.

Tuna Penne Salad

When warm summer weather hits I get a craving for tuna salads. It only happens about once or twice a year though as a general rule. But it's all I have been thinking about this week! LOL. So I looked through some of my files and found a version that called for lemon juice, tomatoes and penne. While I kept looking for these particular ingredients mixed I found this same version many times over, sometimes served hot and sometimes cold. My version is cold... because well, it's hot outside and I'm craving a cold tuna pasta salad of course!



Tuna Penne Salad

8 ounces penne pasta - cooked al dente and drained
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
3/4 cup halved cherry tomatoes
Juice of 1 lemon
Juice of 1 orange
1/4 cup chicken stock
2 cans (6 oz. each) Albacore tuna, packed in water
Basil leaves, snipped
1/2 cup kalamata olives
2 T minced Italian parsley
2 T fresh snipped chives
4 ounces Feta cheese

Toss pasta with the 1/4 cup of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Add tomatoes, lemon and orange juices to the pasta and toss to combine. Mix 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the chicken stock. Toss all to combine. Drain the tuna and separate into small chunks. Add olives, herbs, cheese and tuna to the pasta and toss to mix. Taste and adjust seasonings. Chill.

My Grandmothers cake with Handmade Tootsie Roll Roses

I had forgotten about this cake until I was going through some old photographs this week and saw a picture of a double birthday party we had at our home a few years ago.

It was 1996 and we had just moved into a home in the upper Midwest from Tennessee. For the first time in 8 years we lived close enough to family (about 3 1/2 hours drive) that we could hold a family birthday party where Grandparents and Aunts and Uncles could come. We had a 5 year old, our 3 year old (almost 4) and a 9 month old baby. I got my sons Spiderman themed party planned and then found out my parents were going to be able to bring my Grandmother as well! I was so excited, not only to get to see her, but it was extra special because she shared a birthday with my son! It was his 4th and her 82nd.

I wanted her birthday to be just as special as my sons so I whipped a cake at the last minute for her as well. Now, I didn't have much money and I couldn't buy anything at the store so I had to use what I had on hand. When it came to the frosting and decorations I only had a little bit of powdered (confectioners) sugar, but I had heavy cream I could whip to make a delicious frosting to do a 'basket weave' on the cake. When it came to the top decorations though I was stumped. With no money I turned to something we did have on hand... a lot of little tiny midget Tootsie Rolls as we had just attended some parades and local fairs and the kids had a lot of candy leftover.

I didn't really know what I was doing, but I decided to use them to make 'roses' by hand. I started out by working with the candy in my fingers until it was pliable and then broke off bits and pieces, smashing them into flat quarter and nickel sized bits. I would roll each one up like the bud of a rose and then use another piece to careful wrap around the bud and continue with about 5 or 6 pieces until I had a finished rose I liked.

I had previously used royal icing (a couple months before) to make a lot of green leaves and let them dry hard before packing them away in a baggy, so I got out the Ziploc bag, and embellished my Tootsie Roll roses with little green leaves.

In the end, this was her last minute birthday cake. It turned out pretty good (although I realized as we were cutting it that we didn't have any pictures of it - so I quickly snapped two pictures even though it already had a couple slices cut! LOL).

The reason it holds a special place in my heart today is that my Grandmother that I made this for, passed away in November. I dearly love her to this day and I'm blessed that I got to make a special cake just for her.