Strawberry Cake Trifle

As I’ve mentioned in previous blogs, I’ve had a goal of recreating the strawberry cake my Maw Maw always made for my birthday, but from scratch.  I feel like I’ve accomplished that goal and I’m happy with my recipe.  But I have another version of the strawberry birthday cake that I came up with quite some years ago that I use for parties or potlucks because the original cake doesn’t travel very well.  This version uses most of the ingredients of the original (boxed cake mix, strawberry jello, vanilla pudding), but I’ve turned it into a trifle.  It’s super easy to make, pretty tasty and moist and perfect for a summer gathering.

Strawberry Cake Trifle

Ingredients:

1 box Pillsbury Strawberry cake mix

3 eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 cup water

1 (4 serving size) strawberry jello mix

1 pint strawberries, sliced (save a few large one for top)

8 oz whipped cream

1 tbsp powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 large package vanilla pudding mix

3 cups milk

Directions:

Make vanilla pudding according to package directions

Whip cream with powdered sugar and vanilla

Combine vanilla pudding and whipped cream, set aside

Dissolve gelatin in 1/2 amount of water called for in package

Take cooled cake and crumble on bottom of trifle bowl

Drizzle with gelatin

Cover with whipped pudding mixture

Cover with sliced strawberries

Repeat

Cover top layer with big strawberries

New Orleans Jambalaya

This is a fairly traditional, New Orleans jambalaya recipe.  I got the original recipe from my brother in law and I’ve tweaked it slightly.  It’s super easy and delicious!  And much better than the store bought variety.

New Orleans Jambalaya

Makes approx. 8 cups

Ingredients:

2 cups converted white rice (must use converted)

16 fl oz onion soup

16 fl oz chicken broth

1 (14 oz) can tomato sauce

3 tbsp olive oil

1 pound smoked sausage, sliced

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, diced into 1" cubes

1 bell pepper, diced

1/2 cup celery, sliced

2 stalks green onion, chopped

1/4 cup parsley, chopped

1/2 tbsp garlic powder

1 tbsp season all seasoning (or creole seasoning)

1/2 tsp cayenne

4 bay leaf

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. In a large, oven proof dutch oven, fry sausage for just a few mins to get crispy.  After about 5-8 mins, add all other ingredients and stir to combine.

Bake @ 350 for 1 1/2 hours. Stir every 1/2 hour for the first hour and every 15 mins for the last 1/2 hour.