Lemon Blueberry Trifle

If you have noticed a pattern in the recipes in this blog, it's that the ingredients are rarely over-processed. This recipe does not fall into that pattern, so if this is not your thing, don't look! This is 99% over-processed goods that barely pass for food, but I don't care. This trifle is so easy to make and is a repeat crowd-pleaser. You could certainly put the homemade twist on this recipe by making your own cake and whipping your own cream. I'm sure it would taste heavenly, but I love the "throw it together" nature of the original recipe. 

Normally, the only berries in this trifle are blueberries but today is the 4th of July. I had to make it red-white-and-blue, so I topped it off with raspberries for the occasion. Also, the original recipe from Pampered Chef uses two packages of lemon pudding. I found that it was too much lemon, so substituting one of those packages with the cheesecake flavor helped to balance out the flavor better. I also doubled the amount of white chocolate because chocolate is not something that should you should be stingy about!

Ingredients
1 large frozen pound cake
2 lemons
1 & 1/2 cups milk
1 (12oz.) container Cool Whip, thawed
1 small package lemon instant pudding & pie filling
1 small package cheesecake flavored instant pudding & pie filling
2 to 3 clam shell packs blueberries (approx 1 pint)
4 squares (1 oz. each) white baking chocolate

Directions
1. Cut pound cake into 1-inch cubes; place in large colander bowl. Using a lemon Zester, make several lengthwise scores in one lemon, top to bottom; slice into 6 slices. Cut each slice in half and set aside for garnish. Zest remaining lemon using short strokes; set aside. Juice lemon. Sprinkle lemon juice over pound cake; toss . 
2. In a bowl, combine milk, sour cream, half of the whipped topping and reserved lemon zest; whisk until smooth. Add pudding mix; whisk until mixture begins to thicken. 
3. Set aside 12 blueberries for garnish. To assemble trifle, place 1/3 of the cake cubes into bottom of chilled bowl. Top with 1/3 of the blueberries. Grate 1/4 of the chocolate over blueberries. Top with of the pudding mixture, pressing lightly. Repeat layers 2 more times, reserving the remaining grated chocolate for garnish. Spread remaining pudding over entire top of trifle, creating a smooth surface. 
4. Attach open star tip to a decorator; fill with remaining whipped topping. Decorate by piping 12 rosettes around edge of bowl. Place one lemon slice between rosettes and one reserved blueberry on each rosette. Grate remaining chocolate in center. 

Serves 10

Watermelon Cucumber Salad

Normally, I would never buy a whole watermelon for just me and Mark. But a farmer at the Green Market was selling watermelon, which was one of the tastiest watermelons I've ever had. A week later, we still had half of the thing using more than its fair share of real estate in our fridge, so it was time to find something useful to do with it. This is a creative salad that will help use up your watermelon. It's pretty quick, and it is really, really yummy.

Adapted from Food Network

Ingredients
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
4 cups diced watermelon
1 cucumber, seeded and diced
handful thinly sliced mint
chopped cashews
1/4 cup olive oil
juice from 1/2 a lemon

Directions
Soak the red onion in cold water. Pat the diced watermelon and cucumber dry, then toss with the mint. Drain the onion, squeeze it dry and add to the salad along with the cashews. To make the dressing, whip the olive oil, lemon juice, and salt. Gently toss the watermelon mixture with the dressing.

Serves 4

Capellini with Lemon Basil Summer Squash

This is a delicious light and summery dish that can be made fairly quickly. When summer squash is unavailable, I will use zucchini.

Ingredients
1 pound summer squash, washed and gently patted dry
1 pound capellini, or angel hair pasta
6 large cloves garlic, crushed
4 tbsp olive oil
Juice of 1/2 lemon
6 large basil leaves, coarsely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Prepare pasta according to package directions.

2. While pasta is cooking, heat the oil and butter in a small pan.

3. Add the zucchini or summer squash with garlic and cook until almost tender (about 2-3 minutes).

4. Add the lemon juice until heated.

5. Remove from heat and at the last moment add the basil.

6. Season with salt and pepper and serve over the hot pasta.

Serves 6

Capellini with Tomatoes and Basil

This is a really simple and quick dish that is great for weeknights.

A quick tip for julienning basil: Stack the basil leaves on top of each other then roll them up like you would roll up a cigar. Slice the basil "cigar" from one end to the other, and when it is unfurled, you will have nicely julienned basil!

Ingredients
1 pound dried capellini or angel hair pasta
½ cup good extra-virgin olive oil
4-5 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced
18 large basil leaves, julienned
1½ cups freshly shaved Parmesan cheese
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions
1. In a large bowl, combine the olive oil, tomatoes, basil, salt and pepper, and stir until blended. Set aside.
2. Cook the pasta according to the package instructions. Drain the pasta, add it to the tomato sauce and toss to mix. Taste and adjust the seasonings with salt and pepper. Divide the pasta among individual bowls, top with parmesan and serve immediately. 

Makes 6 servings