Summer Celebration Trifle

K-ster's uncle invited us for a clambake on the 4th of July, so I brought a dessert.  I don't think I've ever made a patriotic dessert before,  but I wanted to use my Pampered Chef trifle bowl, so I got cracking.

I knew I wanted to use blueberries, strawberries and cool whip.  And I was debating lemon filling or banana filling.

I went with the lemon filling.  I'm not a boxed pudding mix kind of person, so I went to www.allrecipes.com to find a lemon pudding recipe.  I ended up using a lemon custard recipe that was good, but I'd go with banana the next time.  I'm sure you could use boxed puddings and no one would be sad.

Except for me, but I probably won't be going to your cookout anyway.

I totally made up the layering, but I'm sure you can find a real recipe out there.  Here's what I did:

layer angelfood cake around the bottom

add enough pudding to just cover it

spread enough cool whip to cover that

sprinkle some blueberries over it, focusing more toward the edges of the bowl

cut the strawberries lengthwise and place them up against the glass- you're going to put cake and filling inside this and it looks decorative when the strawberries are out like that

 continue layering until you run out of everything

If I had used banana pudding, I would have also use some bananas for layering.

I only had 1 angel food cake and could really  have used two.  I also only got a small thing of cool whip and I would use 2 next time.

I used 1 container of strawberries and I think I used 2 containers of blueberries but I can't remember!  

I recommend using 2 of everything, including 2 recipes of the filling or 2 boxes if you prefer.  I felt like I  had to make it all work because it's all I had and it made the layering a little stressful!

Once the first spoonful comes out, no one cares how it looks because it gets mushed together, but it's pretty when you carry it to the table and it looks like you put some effort into the look of it.

And I love that the Pampered Chef trifle bowl has a lid for transporting it!

You can see that it's also standing on a pedestal but I didn't bring it with me because I was afraid it would get left behind.  I love that it comes off and stores inside when not in use, but carrying the pedestal to a cookout seems a little strange.

And by the way, that clambake?  I thought we'd have a few lobsters to share, some clams and maybe some corn.  I can't tell you my shock when there were enough lobsters for everyone to have their own and then some plus more clams that anyone could eat at one cookout.  And the corn was fairly plentiful too. 

What did you do/eat for the 4th?

Did you know that I do facebook Pampered Chef parties?  You only have to play along with me and invite your friends to join in and you get all of the hostess rewards and freebies!  Check it out.  https://www.facebook.com/joannaspamperedchefpage

Linking here:
http://www.thesitsgirls.com