I made Mama's Banana Split Flag Pie!

I was asked to make Mama's Banana Split Pie this year!

In our opinion, perhaps the most perfect summer dessert you can eat.

Here the flash made the pretty patio candles look a bit like fireworks...how appropriate around the flag!

Here's a look at Mom's festive dinner table.

Candles are always in order for a good meal!

:)  Blessings

Patriotic Lemon Berry Trifle

I hope that everyone had a blessed and fun Fourth of July!!!  I have always loved this holiday, not only because it's our country's birthday and a celebration of freedom, but because it's packed full of family celebrations.  Parade, street fair, fireworks, grilling, great food (surprise), relaxing outside and just having a blast with the people I love!

I have always wanted to make a trifle dessert, but until this weekend I didn't even have a trifle dish!   As soon as I bought one, I decided to make a festive patriotic trifle filled full of bright berries, lemony pound cake and a light and fluffy cream cheese filling.  (Wow, this is good.)  It was almost as fun to put together as it was to eat!

I tried to layer everything with red, white and blue to resemble the flag and just bring a little more celebration to the table.  I would also love to try this recipe with crushed pineapple and maybe even raspberries!  You can't really go wrong with the fruit combinations here.  This is one of those fun recipes that you can get creative with.  Trifles are basically all that way!  You know, I typed in "Patriotic trifle" on Google and after reading through several recipes I decided to just make it the way I wanted to--not adhering to anyone's recipe, but to our favorite flavors.  Two being lemon and cream cheese!  Whalla!  My own Patriotic trifle is born!  

This is somewhat of a take on a strawberry shortcake. Kind of.  My favorite  thing to use for strawberry shortcake is a pound cake (although I mostly use angel food cake) and even better is a lemon pound cake.  Kroger has the most delicious and moist pound cakes, so yes, I took advantage of that convenience and bough one for this recipe.  Also making this much easier to whip together!  The berries are juicy strawberries and blueberries and the "cream" is a mixture of cream cheese, heavy whipping cream, sugar and vanilla.  

It is as good as it sounds!!!

I know this is a little late for Independence Day celebrations, but why not make it all summer long?! Like I said earlier, you can always substitute the red and blue fruit for other kinds if you don't want it so patriotic looking.  I have to warn you though--to get out your cutest paper plates and fluff up the patio pillows because your friends and family will want to be here when you make this cool and refreshing summertime dessert!  

Patriotic Lemon Berry Trifle

1/2 lemon pound cake (bundt cake)

1 1/2 - 2 lbs. strawberries, chopped

1 pt. blueberries, chopped

2 pkg. reduced fat cream cheese, softened

1 small carton of heavy whipping cream

1/3c. sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 can of whipped cream (or homemade.  i cheated.)

Put the chopped berries in separate bowls and add just enough sugar to allow the juices to come out of the fruit.  Set them aside for at least an hour. You want the strawberries to release their juices.

In a large bowl,  place the cream cheese and beat with a mixer until fluffy. Add the sugar and vanilla and mix well. Turn down the mixer to low and slowly add the whipping cream.  Once all of it is in, turn the mixer back on high and whip in the cream until very light and fluffy. This will take a few minutes.  Set mixture aside.

Take the pound cake and cut into 1 inch cubes.  Set aside and get ready to assemble your trifle.

Start layering, by putting a small amount of the creamy mixture on the bottom of the trifle dish.  

Next, add a layer of pound cake being careful to fill the side around the dish where it's seen.  

Next, add half of the strawberries once again, heavily around the edges.  You want to see the different lines of color.  

Spoon in and spread around a generous portion of the cream cheese mixture.  Try to keep the sides neat.

Add most of the blueberries.  Once again, being aware of the sides.

Pound cake, strawberries, then the rest of the cream cheese mixture.

I topped it off by pilling the remaining blueberries in the center.  Add the whipped cream 5 circles (like a star) on the top around the blueberries.  Place each whole strawberry on the whipped cream.  

Refrigerate until ready to eat.

I'm linking up with:

Southern Watermelon Benedict

Beautiful, isn't it?

This is a perfectly refreshing summertime addition to your breakfast or brunch that will pleasantly surprise your guests!  We ate this at the Azalea Inn whenever we stayed there on our recent Savannah trip.  Every night at the Inn, they put up on a pretty chalkboard what was for breakfast the next morning, and whenever we read "watermelon benedict" we were kind of perplexed--curious for what we were going to be served.  Of course usually when you see some benedict, it's usually eggs.  (So I thought umm....eggs and watermelon?!!)  Our interest was peaked and we were pleasantly surprised by what was presented to us as the "first course".  A colorful dish that consists of sliced watermelon and kiwi on granola with a thick drizzle of yogurt.  Lovely on the eyes and yummy on the tummy! :)

Here's a picture of the original watermelon benedict we fell in love with at The Azalea Inn & Gardens.

This is a very easy recipe that looks much more elegant and difficult than it really is!   My husband is the one who made these for breakfast this morning, and he did a fabulous job!  He had the bright idea of how to do the granola.  We have chewy white chocolate chip granola bars from Cascadian Farms.  First, he flattened them out with his hand, then he split them in half and put them side by side and molded them together to make one square.  Next, he used a biscuit cutter to make the perfectly round shape each one of them has.  The sweet white chocolate in the granola was a subtle complement to the fruit!  I wish that we had taken picture of assembling this, but we didn't. All this takes is basically some cutting and assembling...so easy!  We used Greek yogurt because we like that the best, and it has a lot of protein in it.  

So here is a simple recipe for Watermelon Benedict!  Please try this refreshing dish out for yourself and just imagine being out on a veranda in Savannah enjoying every bite!

Watermelon Benedict

2 white chocolate chip chewy granola bars

 fresh seedless watermelon

1 kiwi

1 small carton Greek yogurt

1 tsp. honey

mint sprigs for garnish

As I mentioned before, take each granola bar and cut it in half.  Place both halves side by side and press together to form a square-like shape that is big enough to cut a round shape.  Do this to both granola bars so there are 2 squares.

Using a 2 1/2 to 3 in. biscuit cutter, make a circle from both granola squares.  Set the granola circles to the side.

Using the same or one size down (what we did) biscuit cutter, make circles from 1/2 inch slices of watermelon.  You will need 4 circles.  Set watermelon circles aside.

In a small bowl, mix together yogurt and honey.

On the plates, start to assemble the benedict.  First place the granola circles, then stack 2 watermelon circles, and lastly 2 slices of kiwi.  Next drizzle a generous portion of yogurt on the top.  Enough to spill over the sides.

Garnish with a freshly washed mint sprig.  

Serves 2.

(Completely enjoyed this first bite!)

I"m linking up with:

(Remix!) Toasted Coconut covered Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies are a remix of the delicious Sea Salt Double Chocolate Chip Cookies I posted about a couple of months ago!  

We hosted an ice cream social at our house last Friday night, and I had to have some cookies to go along with the ice cream.  So I thought I'd make some yummy chocolate chip cookies but instead of just baking them off as normal, I rolled the dough in coconut for a tropical twist--they were so good!  The coconut toasts up in the oven and gets a little crispy around the soft cookie as it bakes.  This is just a fun way to spruce up your cookies!  Originally I really wanted to dip half the cookie in melted white chocolate and then in toasted coconut (after baked and cooled), but because I was running behind on the time I just decided to roll them in the sweetened coconut before baking them off golden brown!  Well, I'll just have to try my other idea another time.

You can be so creative with a simple cookie recipe.  There are so many ways to remix your favorite cookie, depending on the add in, what you drizzle over, or roll it in.  I love this part of baking--the creative part--almost as much as the eating part!  Try these if you want something slightly different while keeping the good ole familiar taste of a gooey chocolate chip cookie.

I'm linking up with:

My Cozy Little Patio!

Yes, so I know that I'm not a home decorating blog (by any means!) but I wanted to participate with Savvy Southern Style in the "Blog Party" and showcase a bit of my outdoor space!

Unfortunately it was quite cloudy yesterday when I took these pictures.  Storms were rolling in all around, but I decided to go ahead and do the photo shoot anyways!  So, whenever you see the sky just imagine it being a beautiful robin's egg blue instead of dismal gray!

So today I am giving you a nickel tour of our back patio.  We just love being out here!!  Coming from apartments our entire married life, to a house with our own outdoor space has been amazing!

This is the table and chairs we'll eat lunch or dinner on occasionally, or drink the morning's coffee.  The patio is facing East, so it provides a pretty sunrise!

I apologize for not having a more homemade dessert out here, but I though this fruit looked absolutely mouthwatering and oh so summery!  What's better than melon and strawberries?

We live in the country, and have a beautiful view of the surrounding fields.

I've always appreciated the simplicity of country living-- even the new hay bales are pretty to enjoy in June!

Notice our terra cotta chimnea that we love using on cool nights!  They make wonderful toasted marshmallows for s'mores!

This year, Mr. Cozy and I decided to spruce our bare patio up with splashes of color with plants and flowers.  We are so happy with the way things look!

I  love being able to go outside in the mornings to water my flowers and see the new blooms!

Yes, I enjoy the small things in life.

Mom gave me these feminine, peach mini roses.  I heart them.

I love the vivid colors in this arrangement.  You can't even see them all from this photo. The colors remind me of the checked napkins on the table!

I love bunnies, so my Grandmother found this sweet lantern with a bunny on it.  How cute is this??!  It provides a nice glow come dusk.

We like mixing grasses and flowers together for a lush arrangement.  I found this pot on sale at Lowes for next to nothing!  Actually, most all of these pots were either given to me or a sale find!

This is a window box that we used here.  We wanted different heights and shapes for our flowers!

For the pictures, I thought I'd dress up our deck box with Mr. Cozy's Great-Grandmother's handmade quilt.  It looks lovely for the summer!

She stitched it with love. :)

But she was really known for her good cookin'!

These look so dainty and delicate right after the rain shower.

This was taken a couple of weeks ago on a sunnier day, and  I can see that my plants have grown so much since then!

I hope you've enjoyed seeing a small piece of what we call "home".  We love where we live!  Waking up and stepping outside on these warm mornings to see my happy pets and pretty flowers make me very happy! 

I like decorating with color and having pretty things, but I think that what makes our home so inviting is all the love that is here.  :)

God Bless!

 

I'm linking up with:

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