Southern Sundays

Happy Southern Sundays!

I hope everyone had a great holiday.  I felt a little off since it was during the middle of the week, and had to go back to work the next day.  But I'm thinking I could get used to a schedule like that....I mean the weekend was here in no time!  Yippee!!

I think that going out to the Hollywood Bowl on a Friday night (which is not usual for us...) made the weekend seem longer as well.  But I'll take it!  So yesterday I posted a cute little take along dessert which I've sneaked in to this week's Southern Sundays party.  If you have a minute check out my post.  I just LOVE food in mason jars...it's my new thing.  We like to go on picnics and I'm always looking for great food that travels well.  So I'd love you to show my your great recipes for a crowd, or a picnic, or just summer items that celebrate the season.

Last week we had so many great entries, thanks for participating.  I just love looking at all the different recipes.  However, two entries were certainly adored!   I'm featuring those top two this week.

Congratulations of your featured entry!!

White Chocolate Strawberry Cordials

by Searching for Dessert

YUM!!

Cajun 4th of July Menu

by Marguerite of Cajun Delights

Wow!!! Love it all!

Please take a moment to go stop by the wonderful artists of these dishes and say 'Hi!".  They both have terrific sites and and soooo creative!

So let's party!  I can't wait to see what you all bring this week.

Guidelines:

Please become a follower by joining my site with Google Friends Connect in the right side bar.
Link back to your specific recipe and not to your main site.
Link back to Southern Sundays either in your post, or grab my Southern Sundays Button located in the right side bar.
Please visit a few of the links in the post and say hello to your fellow bloggers!
Enjoy, have fun, cook lots of food, and relish your Southern Sunday!

Take Along S'mores

A wonderful way to start off the weekend is by taking in a concert at the Hollywood Bowl.

MGG and I love the Bowl.  We try and go two, three, sometime four times each season.  Last night was our first adventure this season, and what a beginning to what we hope is a great summer filled with great music.  

Last night's program was call Frozen Planet.   It's a co-production of the BBC and Discovery Channel.  A wonderful film of the two polar regions, the film's debut and and a live orchestra playing the accompanying music.  The composer, George Fenton, conducted the orchestra.  The film was stunning.  Beautiful scenery, and wonderful antics mixed with harsh reality of the animals that live in the regions.  

See the tiny Hollywood sign way up in the right?  Very cool.  So a major part of the fun in going to the Bowl, is in taking a picnic and some wine to have before the concert.  Since it was Friday night and we had to go right after work MGG ordered us two hot meals from Zach's Italian Cafe to take along with us.  Another of my favorite places to eat!  Wonderful Italian food and a restaurant that is set up in an old bungalow house.  

Since I didn't have time to cook, I decided I'd love to at least make us dessert.  So I came up with this wonderful dessert in a jar called Take Along S'mores!  It's so easy to transport since the dessert is in two 8oz mason jars.  I just love that!  And, who doesn't love s'mores?  A favorite of mine since childhood, this dessert has all the flavors but using slightly modified ingredients from the original.  Perfect for the Bowl, a picnic, or even to take a treat for work!

My s'mores consist of crumbled Soft Paws (Teddy Grahams) for the graham cracker flavor, Chocolate Fudge pudding (instead of a chocolate bar), and marshmallow fluff (for the roasted marshmallows).  All layered in a cute little mason jar!

I hope you will try these soon.  What is your favorite dessert in a mason jar?

Take Along S'mores
serves 2

2 (8 oz) canning jars with lids
1 (.4 oz) package of sugar-free Chocolate Fudge instant pudding, prepared according to package directions and chilled
2 Teddy Graham soft paws, crumbled
4 T Marshmallow Fluff
2 T mini marshmallows

Prepare the pudding according to package directions ahead of time, chill in medium bowl until set.

To assemble your jars begin with placing 1/4 of the crumbled graham crackers soft paws in the bottom.  Follow with a layer of pudding, followed by 2 Tbsp of Marshmallow Fluff. Repeat with another layer of Soft Paws and pudding.  The jar should be almost full.

Top with mini marshmallows, place on lid and seal.  Keep in the refrigerator until ready to take with you!  

Strawberry Angel Cake

Did everyone have a wonderful 4th of July?

We had a beautiful one, but I'm tired now.  Who thought of putting a holiday in the middle of the week anyway?  Don't get me wrong.  I love the work 2 days of 1 day and work 2 days.  I think I could get used to that...but not when that one day off is a late nighter....watching fireworks and all!  We had a nice time grilling and swimming, then going over to one of the studio back-lots for a fireworks show.  Lots of fun!  How did you all celebrate?  I'd love you to share your stories.

On to today's post.  This one is for all those that are experiencing HOT HOT weather right now.  During the summer months I try to keep the oven off as much as possible.  But we still want to have dessert on occasion.  One that is light, tasty, and uses fresh ingredients such as seasonal fruit.  This Strawberry Angel Cake is just perfect for that!

I had in mind to make a favorite cake of mine called Angel Lush Cake from Kraftrecipes.com which takes a angel food cake, cut into 3 layers, and filled in with vanilla pudding and pineapple and topped with strawberries..yum!

Then I was looking around on Cookinglight.com and found a similar idea for a Strawberry Angel Cake  which uses a strawberry and cream cheese mixture as the filling.  It was beautiful because it was actually "iced" with non-dairy whipped topping!  This stuck in my head.  It was so simple, but just beautiful looking.  The very next day, I got a post from Robyn of  Add a Pinch and it was her version of the Cooking Light Strawberry Angel Cake!  Robyn has a gorgeous site!!  You should all take a trip over there and say "hi!"  Anyway, Robyn made this even simpler  and I was overcome by the need to make this.

This is a no bake recipe, that you can put together in under 20 minutes.  Taking some help from a store bought angel food cake, you are halfway there!  Don't you just love those types of recipes? 

I went a step further with her version and modified it a bit by making it a little more carb friendly.  I bought a sugar-free angel food cake.  Tastes just as good as the sugar version, however, the carb count is dramatically reduced which helps with the diet you know!  

This turned out so light and refreshing, just perfect for a summer dessert.  A no-bake dessert, that would be perfect for the a holiday, or any other nice occasion.  It looks so pretty too!  Like you spent a lot of time, when in reality, you didn't!

Enjoy!!



Strawberry Angel Cake Recipe
adapted from Cooking Light

serves 10

1 pint strawberries 

1 T. sugar

1 prepared sugar-free angel food cake
1 (8-ounce) container lite Cool Whip

Hull and slice strawberries placing them in a bowl. Add 1 Tablespoon of Sugar and mix. Allow to sit for 10 min while you start to prepare the cake. Slice the cake in half and spread a layer of lite Cool Whip on the bottom layer of the cake.  Top with the sliced strawberries, being generous with you layer.  Place the top of the cake back on.  Taking your lite Cool Whip frost the top and sides of the cake.  Lightly cover and place in the refrigerator for about 1 hour to set up.  Slice with a serrated knife and serve.