Wednesday, January 20, 2010

i heart ... orange creamsicle trifle




for my niece brennan's birthday dinner
i asked her what dessert she would like me to make.
she said "orange trifle".
well,
i've never seen an orange trifle,
but why not?
you can make a trifle out of whatever you want!
so i thought about it,
then put it together,
and it turned out soooooooooo good!
seriously!
way beyond my expectations!
and it had an orange creamsicle flavor
so i decided that would be the official name.
it sounds more cute, too.


paula's orange creamsicle trifle
2 pound cakes
orange juice (no pulp)
12 navel oranges from my backyard because they're the best!
vanilla pudding (recipe below)
whipped cream
1) section the oranges. you can learn how to do that here. this removes all of the white pith.
2) make pudding according to package directions, plus about 1/3 cup extra liquid to thin it out a little.
3) cut angel food cake into 1 inch cubes.
4) pour 1/2 cup o.j. into a bowl. dip cake cubes in o.j. (don't soak, just quickly dip)
5) layer bottom of trifle dish with cake.
6) layer sectioned oranges over cake (i used 6 oranges for each orange layer).
7) pour half of pudding over oranges.
8)start again with another cake layer,
and continue on with layers in the same order as before.
9) top with whipped cream


vanilla pudding

Vanilla Pudding

http://www.bhg.com/recipe/pudding/vanilla-pudding/

Directions

  1. In a medium heavy saucepan combine sugar and cornstarch. Stir in milk. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir for 2 minutes more. Remove pan from heat. Gradually stir 1 cup of the milk mixture into egg yolks.
  2. Add egg mixture to milk mixture in saucepan. Bring to a gentle boil; reduce heat. Cook and stir for 2 minutes more. Remove pan from heat. Stir in butter and vanilla. Pour pudding into a bowl. Cover surface of pudding with plastic wrap. Serve warm or cold (do not stir during chilling). Makes 4 servings.






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Wednesday, January 6, 2010

i heart ... 2009




my favorite pictures of 2009


(and it should come as no surprise
that most of these are pictures of my nieces & nephews!)





january


thomas just learning to crawl


clayton & samuel


clayton, paulina, & natalie

february

clayton - the boy with the golden feather!


natalie on the trampoline


clayton finding out he was going to be a big brother again


i've never seen a baby who loves books as much as thomas!
and i'm so happy thomas has a big brother like ammon
who is happy to read to him!


valentine's day party
natalie, brennan, kaitlyn, paulina, & sierra




march

ammon's ginormous orange


sierra through the kaleidescope


ava & paulina


natalie's birthday





april

thomas jefferson attends his first political rally
and totally gets into it!


a visit to my cousin jennie's family
jacey, jaren, jayton, & jackson






may


paulina


my beautiful sonoran desert


have you ever seen a baby so joyous to pet a dog???
thomas


my sister-in-law rebeca's graduation


here comes air force one!


and lookie here...
see who flew in on air force one
to personally congratulate rebeca on receiving her doctorate?


sisterly love
natalie & paulina


memorial day bbq


more sibling love...
clayton & ava


kaitlyn gets beignets for her birthday


thomas' first trip to the library

june


cooling off at nielson's frozen custard
kaitlyn, brennan, & ammon

this is all i've got for june.
i think i was just too hot to take pictures!




july


ava

paulina


ammon & thomas reading, again!


thomas & noah



august

thomas, noah, & samuel at our family reunion


the punk rock show!
brennan, sierra, kaitlyn, & ammon




caleb & ammon

thomas on the saddle from sundown ranch


shelby


noah & ammon

caleb & sierra


stephanie & shelby


sierra - always with a flower in her hair

clayton


clayton - the spy!


eli & ava playing peek-a-boo





september

i love that smile!
thomas


kaitlyn & ammon


a kiss from thomas


brennan






october


(this photo needs no introduction!)


samuel scrambles an egg for me!


noah with a goatee
(or a mishap with a suction cup!)


caleb


caleb is my favorite artist.
oh, and renoir too.


shelby


samuel
oops! i mean, count dracula!


ammon, sierra, kaitlyn, thomas, & brennan

clayton, ava, & natalie


paulina



november

cowgirl kait


veteran's day parade
ammon & natalie


natalie flying her flag for veteran's day

paulina


samuel, clayton, noah, & caleb

samuel


caleb & shelby watching the fountain
all of my nieces & nephews!
when we all were together at thanksgiving time
i took this picture for our christmas present to my mom.


my cousins and i have a picture like this
from when we were children
and i wanted to recreate it,
but by this point in the day the children were so over
having their picture taken!


ava & clayton


paulina, natalie, & ava


thomas & clayton

eli


thomas playing wii.
doesn't he totally look like he knows what he's doing?
he doesn't!
he just copies what his brother & sisters do!



december


this is the first time i heard natalie read!
like, really read! not just for pretend!


natalie's ballet recital


look at the shadow of thomas' eyelashes...

i was driving down the street & look who i saw...
my niece kaitlyn & my cousin summer

bruiser!
a missing tooth and bandaged head.
(clayton)
first a bruiser,
and now a monkey!
the missing tooth & bandaged head are making more sense now!


paulina being her crazy self!
anyone who knows her knows just what i'm talking about!

ava


eli the hedgehog


ava & ammon
as joseph & mary

my new kitty
lucy!



... and that's the end of 2009!












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