I am a big fan of the summer trifle. It's so easy to put together and if you serve it in a glass pedestal or trifle bowl, it becomes a real showstopper.

I use cool whip in the US and whipping cream in the UK and I find both work equally well. Another nice variation is to use French Vanilla or cheesecake flavored pudding and adding about 1 cup of blueberries also works especially well.

You can find Jello Instant Pudding and Angel Food Cake mixes in the UK at places like Skyco, but in most cases, they are so much more expensive in the UK (maybe about $5-6 for a cake mix) that I try to plan ahead and stock up if I know I am going to be making a trip to the US.

Strawberry Trifle

1 (5 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
3 cups cold milk
1 (9 inch) angel food cake, cut in cubes
4 bananas, sliced
1 (16 ounce) large package strawberries (fresh is better but frozen works too)
1 (12 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed

Prepare pudding with milk according to package directions. In a trifle bowl or other glass serving dish, layer half the cake pieces, half the pudding, half the bananas, half the strawberries and half the whipped topping. Repeat layers. Cover and chill in refrigerator 4 hours before serving.

Easy!

If you haven't had any asparagus lately, I encourage you to run out and get some because it is in season and so so good right now. I usually grill or stem asparagus, but I tried a new recipe this weekend that I absolutely loved.

I made baked asparagus with balsamic butter sauce and it was outstanding. It is honestly the simpliest recipe in the world so even if you are the world's worst cook, there is no way that you can mess this one up.

Better yet, this recipe only calls for a few ingredients: asparagus, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, butter plus a little salt and pepper. If you are trying to cut back on fat, you can skip the butter and it is still really good.

Over the weekend, I made this really delicious strawberry spinach salad, which is a great spring or summer salad.

Yorkshire Puddings and the Sunday Roast Dinner, is there anything more quintessentially British? While it’s true that I’ve been hearing about Yorkshire pudding for as long as I’ve lived in London, I haven’t actually tasted any until recently.

Americans sometimes confuse popovers with Yorkshire pudding. Yes, there are some similarities such as they are both made with batter, but trust me, there is a difference. A Yorkshire pudding is extremely light and fluffy and goes exceptionally well with gravy.


Why all this talk about Yorkshire pudding? Have you ever watched Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares? It’s this television program where Gordon Ramsey basically goes in and sorts out all these poor performing restaurants.

Gordon is pretty brutal, but he is usually right and the program IS funny. I watched an episode where Gordon visits the Fenwick Arms where they started a Campaign for Real Gravy. The Fenwick Arms made these amazing Yorkshire puddings, but served them with pretty appalling gravy until Gordon Ramsey stepped in.


Everyone seems to love Yorkshire puddings and I wanted to try them too. Instead of going to a restaurant and ordering a Sunday Roast Dinner, I had a Martha moment and made them myself.

Before I started, my husband told me that it would be difficult, the batter wouldn’t rise, it was a tricky thing and that I shouldn’t be disappointed if it didn’t turn out very well on my first attempt. Let me tell you, I proved him wrong because MY Yorkshire puddings were, excuse me, ARE sensational!

I found a fabulous recipe from All Recipes.com. I use All Recipes A LOT and I really love it. I find the recipe reviews SO helpful. You can find the recipe that I used below or by clicking here and as you will see, it’s quite simple to make with only four basic ingredients.





INGREDIENTS:

4 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk until well blended. Whisk in the flour one cup at a time until frothy and well blended. Set aside.

3. Distribute the oil equally among 12 muffin cups, a little over a teaspoon per cup. Place in the oven for 5 to 10 minutes, until smoking. Remove from the oven and quickly ladle about 1/4 cup of batter into each cup.

4. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven. Serve immediately. I turn my oven off and leave the door partially open with the yorkies inside to keep them from deflating while waiting for everyone to ask for seconds.

I do have a LOT of cookbooks and I decided it's time I start putting them to good use in my kitchen--my little test kitchen.

I found the recipe for Chocolate Strawberry Pots in Celia's Entertaining Vegetarians. I am a big fan of Celia's and I am taking another one of her cooking courses in a few weeks. Basically, you dip some strawberries and let them dry in the fridge. If you've ever tried to dip strawberries in chocolate, you know that it can be difficult to let them dry without ruining one side.






How great is this little invention? Just stick a toothpick in the hull of a strawberry, dip it in some chocolate and stick the other end of the toothpick in an apple to allow it time to dry perfectly.



After you've finished the strawberries, you mix up a combination of milk chocolate, butter and cream and then pour the mixture into a shot glass. The recipe tells you to then place one of the chilled strawberries on top of the chocolate mixture.

I did this and my strawberry sunk straight to the bottom of my glass because the chocolate mixture was still too warm to hold the weight of the strawberry. So, just pop the shot glasses of chocolate in the fridge for 30 minutes and then place a strawberry on top. Problem Solved. The little chocolate pots are delicious but VERY rich so a shot glass is just the right amount

I went to a wonderful charity shopping event in October. The event was held at Divertimenti, my absolute favorite cooking supply store, on Brompton Road in Chelsea.

Chefs from the Divertimenti Cookery School prepared and demonstrated how to make a great selection of canapes including Gingered Salmon Cakes with Lime and Coriander Mayonnaise, Butternut Squash, Sage and Parmeasan Tarts and Parmesan Shortbreads with Fresh Basil Pesto.

Whenever I am watching a demonstration, I always say to myself 'oh that's so easy' but somehow it never turns out quite the same when I try to recreate it at home. You can see my version of the Parmesan Shortbreads with Fresh Basil Pesto, goats cheese and roasted tomato. They didn't look as pretty as the ones created by the chefs but they were just as tasty. I used my new piping bag and nozzle to add the cheese because the cheese kept sticking to my spoon.

I happily picked up a number of new items for my new kitchen knowing that a percentage of the sales were going to support the Punch and Judy Family Centre and Kensington Refuge.

I think this is my final hurrah to summer. I made this gorgeous chocolate raspberrry pavlova tonight. It's one of Nigella's recipes and I think mine almost looks as good as hers. Just nod your head in agreement with that statement, please.

No seriously though, this recipe is fabulous!! It's simple to make, tastes wonderful and looks good enough to use for entertainining! Go on, make yourself just one more pavlova before the summer ends! Trust me, this is one recipe that you can't screw up.


Click here for Nigella's version and the recipe.