Tuesday, June 11, 2013

introducing a recipe linkup: from our kitchen to yours!!

I am so so so thrilled to be hosting my very first linkup with Whitney! We've become good buds through blogging and our Carolina roots! If you don't follow her, you can find her here at The Observant Turtle. We are both South Carolina girls who spent some time away from home (she's currently in Houston and you all remember my year in Illinois), went to schools that EVERYONE confuses (Wofford and Winthrop), and were super active in our sororities (and maybe still are active!). 

After I posted about meal planning last week, she and I started brainstorming ways to collect recommended recipes by our favorite bloggers! Originally I thought about making it newlywed-related, but it is more fun opening it up to everyone because lezbehonest--- you married ladies have some hidden recipe gems!

So, here's the deal. 

Next Tuesday, June 18th the linkup will go LIVE! It is really simple and easy- post your favorite recipe you've made lately. I'm sure most of us enjoy quick and easy weeknight meals (oh and healthy), but if you want to get exotic and complicated--- go for it! Just show us your favorite recipes so we can make in the future!

Snap a picture of your dish and post the ingredients and directions. Any helpful hints and where you found the recipe would be great, too. Is a new Pinterest recipe? Your grandmother's secret recipe? A hidden treasure in your church cookbook? Something you made up all by yourself? Let us know!

Sooooooo PLEASE come back next week and link up with us! You can also grab the button below to prepare!


From Our Kitchen To Yours
<div align="center"><a href="http://charlotteperrow.blogspot.com/" title="From Our Kitchen To Yours"><img src="http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn282/inlovesince22808/recipebuttoncopy2.jpg" alt="From Our Kitchen To Yours" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Get cooking ladies! 

And please share the link-up with your best bloggy friends! We want us all to have a whole new notebook full of new dishes to try!

And to hold you over until next week, here's a fabulous dessert I made last week!

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My friend Ansley sent me a picture of this beautiful trifle that she made last week and I immediately added it to my "to-make" list. I had fresh blueberries from her dad that my dad brought me last weekend.




When Luci came over last week, it gave me a reason to make this yumminess AND use my new trifle bowl that my aunt and uncle gave us as a wedding gift. It is a beautiful dish and I was thrilled to use it!
Ingredients:
1/4 cup plus 2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (one lemon made almost 1/4 cup)
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 premade angel food cake, cut into 1-inch slices (or you can get adventurous and make your own!)
1 pound cream cheese, at room temperature (I used light cream cheese, but I think you'd better use the real stuff!)
2 cups heavy cream, at room temperature
2 pints blueberries
2 pints strawberries, hulled and sliced
** Use local fruit if possible!!





These were the best blueberries I've EVER had. I normally don't care for the texture of blueberries, but they were perfect and firm. And sweet!!


Homemade whipped cream- what is better?


I sadly couldn't find local strawberries in my grocery store and am ashamed to have used these!





Proud to use South Carolina blueberries!






Directions:

Heat 1/4 cup sugar, the lemon juice and 1/4 cup water in a saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring, until the sugar dissolves.
Remove from the heat and stir in the almond extract.
Brush both sides of each slice of cake with the syrup. 
Cut the slices into 1-inch cubes.
Beat the remaining 2/3 cup sugar and the cream cheese with a mixer on medium speed until smooth and light. Add the cream and beat on medium-high speed until smooth and the consistency of whipped cream.
Arrange half of the cake cubes in the bottom of a 13-cup trifle dish. 
Sprinkle evenly with a layer of blueberries. 
Dollop half of the cream mixture over the blueberries and gently spread. 
Top with a layer of strawberries. 
Layer the remaining cake cubes on top of the strawberries, then sprinkle with more blueberries and top with the remaining cream mixture. 
Finish with the remaining strawberries and blueberries, arranging them in a decorative pattern. 
Cover and refrigerate 1 hour.


Enjoy!

4 comments:

Amanda aka Manda said...

Looks yummy! Can't wait to link up next time!!

Ashley W said...

This looks like so much fun, Charlotte! I'm glad you opened it to everyone -- us single/newlydating ladies have to keep some good recipes in reserve so we can impress our men ;) Can't wait to link up with y'all!

In the Pink said...

Yum this looks so good! I will definitely have to get some recipes together for the link up!

Megan said...

While I can't cook or bake very well, my boyfriend says I need to work on my wife skills, I will be looking at what is posted.

And not going to lie, when I read the "lezbehonest" portion, I died of laughter. ;)