Back to My Trifle

 I got a little side tracked there after checking in on my Mario Batali update. How I love pasta... ("macaroni" as Grandma would say).

I have been thinking about a name for my trifle and since I made it for my Mom's birthday;
"Mom's Birthday Trifle" seems fitting.

The Players: vanilla custard; cheese cake filling; brandied, brown sugar whipped cream; pound cake; strawberries; bananas; and blue berries.

How did I choose the ingredients for my master piece? Why did I even think about making a trifle in the 1st place? Major family eating events over the last couple of months included various pies, ricotta cakes and tres leches cakes. I wanted a change of pace and something very special for Mom's birthday.

As my sweet husband followed me in and out of the aisles of the local warehouse grocer, cart wheels a blazing, my brain was a buzz. In went the 3 pack of pound cakes, a quart of heavy whipping cream, a gallon of milk, 2#'s of fresh strawberries, 1# of fresh blueberries, and 3#'s of bananas.

Now, what was I going to do with my haul? I flipped through 3-4 of my favorite get to business cookbooks. I knew I wanted a custard layer, but none of the recipes struck my fancy. I went to my pantry and dug out some boxes of cook and serve vanilla pudding. Not quite what I had in mind. So off to the Internet I went... My trifle search turned up a recipe with a picture that sent this creation into motion. http://www.food.com/recipe/eggnog-trifle-289223 (this link in on my face book page too).

I went to my pantry. This leads to one of my basic cooking philosophies... "Use what you have!" If you are trying to follow a recipe but do not have all of the ingredients... get creative or adventurous. Substitute something you have for something you don't have. (more on this thought later)


I need some sleep... more about trifle later.