Saturday, January 26, 2013

Do you have a trifle bowl and a couple more questions

I do and got it out on Thursday as I had some strawberries that needed using up.  So I decided to make a trifle.
The only time I like hundreds and thousands, aka sprinkles is on a trifle and I LOVE them on top of the cream:
This trifle consisted of a bottom layer of strawberry jello/jelly with 1 lb fresh strawberries sliced in it.  A layer of custard, of course made with Bird's Custard Powder and a layer of whipping cream.

I have a couple more questions that I need answers too so I figured I would ask you guys.

First a food question.  I have a bottle of Zesty Italian Dressing and it needs using up.  Any suggestions on what I can do with it as I have no idea?

Also for those of you who have a wood burning stove or a fireplace, what do you do with all the ashes?  We use our fire 24/7 for six months of the year so have a lot of ashes.  Other than just dumping them around the property what else can you do with them?

Now finally I saw this over on Little Home in the Country's blog.  Really interesting and I agree we need more people like this to do these things.


29 comments:

j udy said...

HMMM I think I found tomorrows desert. As for the dressing I use it on quartered potatoes before baking and also as a marinade on chicken. If I only have a breast or two(the chicken not me) then I marinate it overnight, slice with pepers and onions and fry up together and serve over rice.

Lena said...

Yum! This looks delicious! You could use dressing as a marinade for chicken.

Dc said...

We dispose of half of ours onto our garden after sieving (on a non windy day) after leaving them for a few months this gives the garden potash, (we only have a small garden), the rest get wrapped in newspaper and go into our council compost bin.

Angela said...

Five Ash Ideas here
http://www.rd.com/home/extraordinary-uses-for-ashes/

as to the dressing - I would either use it as a rub on a roast chicken OR toss some potatoes in it before I roasted them [cut them into 2" cubes]
Or do both for the same meal!

I love trifle - I have my MILs retro 1960's trifle dish and five of the six individual dishes that came with it. I like chocolate sprinkles on my trifles.

Have you ever made "Hot Swiss Trifle"? [I think that was a 1970s recipe] Your post reminded me of it - I must make one again myself soon, as they are lovely as a pudding on cold winter days. Will blog about it if I do!!

One day I hope to have a woodburning stove...

weekend blessings xx [keep warm and safe]

stitchersanon said...

If you are only burning wood or turf with no accelerants in them, then you can use your ashes on the garden, in the compost heap. If you burn coal or briquettes then they are toxic and need to be disposed of with your household waste. I am not a fan of trifle but must say yours looks very nice xx

Boyett-Brinkley said...

Good morning, Gill --

I don't have a trifle bowl but my daughter does. I would like to get one -- it would make Sunday desserts much easier -- tired of the usual cake. I used to use Bird's custard 'til I couldn't find it anymore. Have to look again. The salad dressing -- just put some chicken in the crock pot, pour the dressing over it and cook it. When we had a wood burning fireplace Hubs would take the ashes out and scatter them around the yard. Amazing video -- yes, you are right, we should all do more of this sort of thing although I can't imagine it ever happening in a city such as I live in. It could happen in my own garden, though, if I could just get the Hubs to agree and if I could find a sunny enough spot. This has got me to thinking, however. Great post.

Cindy@NorthofWiarton said...

Yummy Gill, we should live closer then we do so we could "share" all our goodies with each other. The ashes go into the garden as it is good for the soil. Also if you have moles it keeps them away too.

Country Gal said...

Oh I could est that Trifle for breakfast we love Trifle . Looks good thanks for sharing . Have good day !

Stella Jones said...

Yes I've got three trifle bowls of differing values. I love trifle of all types and they look so pretty too don't they.Keep making them Gill.
Sorry I can't help you with the Zesty dressing. I don't use them at all.

Anonymous said...

You can make a cold pasta salad using the Zesty Italian dressing as a side dish. Cook any type of pasta and toss in an assortment of veggies. Make alot and it will keep for a couple days in the fridge. Bess

Country Gal said...

I clean the ashes out of our wood stove and put them in a tote with a lid and when that is full I dump it on our gardens wood ash is great for the gardens !

Meanqueen said...

I don't have a dish like your's, and I don't make trifle because I would eat it all in one go, because I love it. So best not to have it. I would put the dressing in a stew.

Debby said...

We dump our stove ash in the garden, not sure if it helps or not but a girl can dream right! I use the dressing for Pasta salad, marinated chicken or pork roast. Your desert looks so good, yummmm. I don't have a dish like yours, it's so fancy!

Em Parkinson said...

I would just use the dressing on new potatoes with some nice fish and green beans but perhaps that's just lazy! Love the hundreds and thousands in those colours by the way.

50 and counting said...

Yup, have several trifle bowls.

It seems to be a UK thing to use jello in trifle as my Cdn born friends don't, it's more pudding and cake.

I'm queen of lazy cooking, so make custard? You jest! Ambrosia or Walmart/RCCS/Safeway canned custard. It's worth the $2 and change to prevent me from burning the custard pan.

Like others have said the dressing goes great on pork chops, chicken breast, glaze your garlic bread with it.

Oh, and Cadbury's Flake crumbled on whipped creme is de rigeur for trifle here!

Rose said...

We always dumped wood ashes on the garden...very good for the soil.

I love vegies: tomatoes, cauliflower, cucumber, bell pepper, onion cut up and soaked in Italian dressing. It is one of my favorite things in life!

Also, have heard to soak/or coat chicken breasts in it and then grill them. Have had several people say they are delicious that way. But since we love the broiled steak seasoning salt on them, we have never tried it.

And I have had just pasta alone cooked, drained and the dressing added and it was good...but not as good as the vegies. LOL

Connie said...

Look at that beautiful trifle. I wish I lived closer, I'd be knocking on your door for dinner dessert. :)

I second the pasta salad with veggies. It was what I made mounds of at my foodservice job once upon a time. I finely diced veggies and added Italian seasoning (if yours Zesty isn't zesty enough).

Crafty Gardener said...

Yes I have trifle bowls, but really don't use them for trifle very much.

When we had a wood burning stove we would save the ashes to dig into the garden, add some to the compost, and even sprinkle some of them on icy patches for a bit of traction (not really sure if it helped though)

Rose said...

Just finished watching the video...that was incredible....really wonderful ideas there.

DeniseinVA said...

Thanks for the Ted video, I shall enjoy watching it. I've enjoyed several others. Your trifle looks delicious. Looks like you've had a lot of good ideas on your questions. Can't beat that.

angela said...

Your trifle looks yummy! Make up a pasta salad and pour your Italian dressing on it. As for the ashes use a little around trees to stop the black slugs that eat the new leaves, but only a little. Mix it in your compost or sprinkle them on the paddocks to sweeten them.

Karen said...

I use all kinds of different salad dressing as a marinade for all kinds of things. Try Catalina or French on roast chicken.
I wish I had a trifle bowl! I put cubes of stale cake into jello that is just barely starting to set, then in my trifle. no nice bowl though...

Piece by Piece said...

I have several fancy glass bowls that I use, don't have a "trifle bowl". Yours looks delicious. Bird's Eye Custard, love it, my two youngest gd's call it Tubby Custard, from the Tele-tubbies TV show.
I agree with a lot of your readers comments for the use of the dressing and the ashes.
Keep Warm
Patricia

Anonymous said...

Sure do have a trifle bowl, I also use cubes of cake, and Jell-O. Before I knew about custard powder, I used instant pudding mix. I know lots of people who make chocolate "trifles" with chocolate pudding, crushed Skor bars etc!

EG CameraGirl said...

No, no trifle bowl here.

The video was quite intersting!

Unknown said...

Your trifle is a work of art and looks delicious. I have never made trifle without a layer of cake. Do you use cake at all?

As for the dressing - rasted potatoes are good with it, steamed broccolli is good with it, pasta salad is good with it, chicken wings marinated in it and then broiled or grilled. Actually you can probably dump it on just about anything.

Hawaii Planner said...

My youngest is so obsessed with sprinkles that he stuffs them into my fresh baked bread right when it comes out of the oven. Nothing like finding snowflake sprinkles buried in your sandwich bread!

Also, I owuld use the dressing on pasta salad. Cook up some small pasta, add some cheese (we like feta), cut up any leftover veggies in the fridge, toss & chill. We love it with sandwiches. Or, if you have any ham or chicken, you could add that & make it a meal on its own.

Sue Sharp said...

Stick a piece of meat or chicken and some veg into the slow cooker and pour the salad dressing over. Leave to cook until done. This has worked with every salad dressing and meat/veg combo I have tried...

CannedAm said...

I'll use the Italian dressing for marinade (chicken breasts), for roasting potatoes, and for pasta salad. Usually we only eat the pasta salad in the summer or warm weather, though.

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