SpruceHill

Triple chocolate candy bar trifle

Yesterday for the 4th I made an absolutely incredible dessert. The great thing about it is that it is so easy but absolutely yummy.

Here are your ingredients (this is a double recipe, it made two small trifles or will make one big one!)

2 large boxes of devils food or chocolate pudding (prepare as directed on the box)

1 devils food cake mix-bake as a sheet cake (prepare and cook according to directions on the box)

2 pints of heavy whipping cream

2 Tablespoons powdered sugar

1-2 packages of your favorite candy bar cut into small pieces

Prepare and cook your sheet cake and allow it to cool cutting in in small squares after it is cool. Prepare you pudding mixes and refrigerate for about 45 min. In a large bowl add whipping cream and powdered sugar whip until it becomes the consistence of whipped cream.

 

  

After all of your ingredients are cooled and chilled, whipped and cut up, you are ready to assemble your trifle. I do not have a trifle dish so I used a glass bowl and a crystal ice bucket. Start by covering the bottom of your dish with cake. Pack it in there so it gets all snug and moist. (at this point I added prepared caramel that you would use in a sunday) layer the diced candy bar on top of the cake, and then spoon on the pudding. Now you want to put a layer of whipped cream on top of that. rotate the layers in the same layer until you reach the top of the dish.

 

 

Insert picture of whipped cream here!

 On top add more candy and drizzle caramel or chocolate sauce or both if you like! Chill for a few hours in order for it all to soak up the other layers. I have a friend who drizzles kahlua on to the cake but I did not not because the kids were eating it. But for adults it is very good!

 

 

I liked the cake but next time I make this I am going to use brownies and perhaps hot fudge. You can use your favorite candy bar or even your favorite cookie like an Oreo cookie crumble. It is all about what you like and it is so easy and good!

If you try this recipe let me know how your like it!

 

 

 

 

 

Arial's Sunflowers are out just in time for our country's birthday! Happy 4th!

Little E's Locks Of Love

After I was diagnosed with breast cancer in January of 08 Little E told me she wanted to grow her hair out for Locks Of Love. Now I just thought that was the sweetest thing. She saw me loose my hair and I think it was her way to do something for someone else going through the same thing. I think that is pretty great thinking for a 5 year old.

Yesterday was the day for her big hair cut. She has been so excited about it!

 

We had a little photo shoot before we left.

 

 

I think she was really enjoyed it, maybe a little too much.

 

When we got there she wanted to go first.

 

Our hair dresser put her hair in a pony tail and cut away.

 

 

She was so proud of herself and skipped around the salon and flipped her hair around while her sister got her hair cut.

 

When we got home we had another photo shoot.

 

 

I am really proud of my little girl! Her donation will make someone very happy and more comfortable with the way they look. What a wonderful gift to give!

From My Garden

When we get back from out vacation I am always surprised at the amount my garden changes in one week. When I am here and check on it everyday I do not see the changes as clearly. After a week away though it was very clear that my garden had changed a great deal.

 

When I left my lilies where still tight buds.

  

My mums went form this to.....

 

 

To this.

 

My Echinacea is blooming and has come up everywhere, Spreading from the few plants I had last year to almost taking over.

 

I just love these Liatris blooms, Some of them are almost as tall as I am!

  

They are so pretty with their little spiky tops.

 

The bees just love them!

 

Arial's sunflowers have really taken off and all have little flower heads on them.

 

 

I love how fuzzy they are, kind of like her :)

 http://flowersfromtoday.blogspot.com/

Everything Austen Challenge

I am participating in the everything Austen challenge over at Stephanies Written Word.

The Everything Austen Challenge will run for six months (July 1, 2009 – January 1, 2010)! All you need to do is pick out what six Austen-themed things you want to finish to complete the challenge.What is considered Austen-themed? Obviously, any of the books Jane Austen wrote herself count, so if you’ve been contemplating reading one of her novels, now is the time! Or, maybe watch the different movie versions of Pride and Prejudice. You could even try reading one of the many sequels written by various authors or listen to one in your car on your way to work. Truly, the list can be endless! All you need to do is pick six Austen-themed items to read and/or watch to participate. Note that you can mix it up a bit – maybe commit to watching three movies and reading two books – or if your TBR pile is huge, pick out six movies you would like to watch – YOU DECIDE!

So Now I need to pick out some Austen-themed things to watch and read! I am very excited, Jane Austen is one of my favorite authors. The movies of her books I have seen many many times. Sense and Sensibility is my all time favorite movie! I will post my choices as I do a little more research. My first choice will be Mr. Darcy Vampyreby Amanda Grange. It looks very intriguing!

Go on over and see a full list  of options on Stephanies blog and come join in the fun! Happy reading!

Settling In

We are back from our week long vacation at the beach and have settled back into out regular (summertime) routine. Yesterday after having my coffee on the porch and sending my Hubby off to the airport with his little sister I promptly took 211 photographs. Well I did not take them all at once, but that is how many pictures I took yesterday.

We headed out to the barn so Miss H could ride Tempest and we needed to go visit Arial. She left while we were away and I needed to get my fix.

 

As we walked up the hill to her paddock I called her name and she whinnied and came trotting over the hill. She was so happy to see us.

 

The fact that Little E had a bag of carrots had nothing to do with it.

 

I really miss having her here. I still look out of my bathroom window every morning to check on her even though she is not there. I guess it is just habit. She went on a little ride with her new little girls yesterday, and did very well. I think she will have a wonderful summer, enjoying the girls and riding everyday. The farm is truly a beautiful place.

 

The girls got some scratches and kisses in before we left.

 

Arial's face in this picture speaks volumes. She loves little girls.

 

We had a little shadow while we were visiting the barn. This is Jasper, he likes to fetch. He likes to fetch anything, at the barn they hide his ball. So he finds other things to fetch, one of his favorite stand-ins is a walnut.

 

We headed back over to Tempest's stall to see how she was doing with getting tacked up for her ride. Miss H has been away for two weeks and has not ridden her. She really missed her rides with her best buddy.

 

She got ridden everyday while she was gone, so she was not too full of beans when Miss H went out.

 

Jasper made sure everything was done correctly in the barnyard.

 

While Miss H went out on her ride we sat in the car and kept busy. It is not very hard to keep busy, I kept my hands busy taking pictures and twitting.

 

I just love this fence post. It has so many textures and things to look at. I must have taken about 20 pictures of it.

 

It was the perfect day back to real life and regular routine. I have about 75 more pictures to edit of my flowers and garden. I will be sharing them tomorrow.

Arial's sunflowers have really taken off in the past week!

Sand dollars and beach treasures

Miss H and I have been walking on the beach together every morning. Finding shells is our mission. I have had a run of luck this year, and have found some really pretty little shells.

 

Every day since I have been here I have found a sand dollar. It is not a very common thing here on the Delaware coast.

 

These sand dollars that I found are about the size of a dime. They are so small and fragile. It is hard to believe they made the trip from the sea to the sand intact.

I have found some other treasures too.

 

 

 

 

I hope I find another sand dollar today!

The Shell Seekers

This morning a group of girls and I set out on a walk to the beach to shell seek. It was a bit windy out on the beach, The color of the sky and the waves was just breathtaking.

 

 

We walked and found some treasures.

 

 

 

And put our toes in the water.

 

 

 

 

Little E kept herself busy in the sand.

 

I enjoyed the quiet and the wind blowing through my hair.

 

And the feel of the water between my toes.

 

 

And spending time with some of my favorite people.

 

  

Soaking up each beautiful moment.

From my garden

I am posting this for my Dad, because I think he will not believe me.

 

What is that peaking out there?

 

An almost ripe cherry tomato! Before the 4th of July! I took this picture this afternoon.

 

I also finally spotted a zucchini today too. I was wondering when one would come up.

 

I also wanted to share with you how tall my dill is. See Little E pointing to it? That is how tall it is. I have never had dill that tall before. Must be my secret organic ingredient.

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We are heading out tomorrow on vacation. Beach bound, I can't wait to put my toes in the sand and surf!

Volunteer sunflower crop

When we got Arial she was just a baby. She was only three years old and was very under nourished and under loved. Our goal when we got her was to immediately fatten her up. She really needed some groceries. Arial always loses a bit of weight over the winter. This spring I have been feeding her sunflower seeds in her feed. They add a bit of fat to her diet and make her coat nice and shiny too.

 

Last week when I was giving Arial her evening scratch I noticed that there were a bunch of tall weeds in her field. I went over to check them out to see what they were. To my surprise I realized that they were pretty tall sunflowers plants.

 

I could not believe how tall they were. I had planted a bunch of sunflower seeds this year and they are still really wimpy. The sunflowers in Arial's field are not at all wimpy.

 

Tonight I dug them up and planted them in my flower garden. When I dug them out they were all located in the middle of a manure pile. I am sure this is the reason they are so big. Ah! The joys of natural fertilizer. I can officially say these sunflowers are completely organic.

 

This is a picture of my wimpy sunflowers.

 

Here are my "organic" field grown sunflowers planted next to my wimpy sunflowers. Quite a difference!

    

Thank you Arial for the new bigger and better crop of sunflowers! Love your Mumma.