A Goldilocks Life

Trifle

The definitions of the noun Trifle in the Merriam Webster Dictionary© are, 1. Something of little value, substance, or importance, or 2. A dessert typically consisting of plain or sponge cake often soaked with wine or spirits and topped with layers of preserves, custard, and cream.

Though it would be stimulating to write about definition 1, something people think of as little value, substance, or importance (e.g. babies in the womb or the differences between male and female), instead, I’m going with definition 2, that is, a layered dessert recipe.

I’ve made Strawberry Trifle many times, like my mom used to for family parties. Since I consider a recipe just a suggestion, I tweak it depending on the ingredients I have on hand and the people who will be enjoying the food with me. Tomorrow as I prepare the dessert that I promised to bring to my friend Sue’s house where we’ll enjoy a meal together, I will adjust the recipe since she eats mostly gluten free. I bought a gluten-free box cake mix and will use that in place of the usual angel food cake. I have baked an angel food cake from scratch exactly once in my life. You must beat a dozen egg whites and sugar together for what seems like forever to reach the consistency required to make a perfect cake, and the box mix works well and takes less time. Also, there will only be three or four of us sharing the dessert, and the cake mix I bought makes a small cake.

It will be an adventure fixing the gluten-free version, with other variations. I plan to skip the Jello and ice cream and adjust the quantity of milk in the pudding. I will include fresh, cut-up strawberries and skip the frozen ones. I figure the cake, pudding, and whipped topping should be enough to hold the trifle together. Below is Mom’s recipe—with no tweaks. :^)

Strawberry Trifle

By Pauline Semmerling

Make a day ahead. If necessary, you may freeze the layers to make the same day.

1 angel food cake (12-13 ounces), baked or bought, broken into chunks in a 9 x 13 pan

1 – 3.4 oz. pkg. instant pudding, vanilla flavor

1 cup milk

1 pint (2 cups) vanilla ice cream (softened)

1 – 3.4 oz. pkg strawberry Jello

1 cup hot water

1 – 16-20 oz. pkg. frozen strawberries with sugar

1 cup fresh strawberries, sliced (optional)

Whipped cream or Cool Whip© for topping

Mix milk into pudding, stir for 2-3 minutes. Add ice cream, blend. Pour over cake. Refrigerate. Add Jello to hot water. Stir per package directions. Add frozen strawberries. Stir and break up with spoon until berries separate. Stir in fresh strawberries. Let stand until soft set.

Spoon Jello and fruit mixture over cake and ice cream mixture. Refrigerate overnight.

Top with whipped cream or Cool Whip before serving, if desired.

Serves 8-10

Perspectives

There’s a majestic oak tree at the forest preserve where I ride my bike. I’ve shared a few pictures for you to see its beauty for yourself.

One of the photos is taken from the northeastern part of the trail. As I traveled south and west and took the second picture, you can see the oak, but it’s harder to admire from that angle.

Perspective is everything. Riding along that eastern section, the view is stunning. The southwest end, not so much.

That’s true with life generally. Some days my outlook leans toward grumpy, especially when I succumb to negative thinking. Like this morning, preparing to go on our vacation, all I could think of was my to-do list, and soon I was grumbling to myself. I stopped and reminded myself, “You’re going on vacation. In a few hours you’ll see beautiful scenery and enjoy a restful get-away.” Soon I found myself humming a hymn we sang on Sunday—”Jesus Paid it All.”

All to Him I owe, says the song. And that means all my best, because Jesus gave His all, the very best there ever was, for me. My heart’s desire is to please Him. The Bible tells us in Philippians 4:8 to think on what is right, noble, true, pure, lovely, and admirable. Turning our attention to our God and pleasing Him will bring about that change of perspective we need when negativity tries to steal our joy.

Keep Soaring!

Photo by Jesu00fas Esteban San Josu00e9 on Pexels.com

Finally, it’s outdoor bike-riding season! How I’ve longed for the temperature to rise above 50 degrees so I could hit the trail. We’re blessed to have an exercise room in our building, but getting my heart rate up on the stationary bike just isn’t the same as putting on my helmet and heading to the county forest preserve.

As I cruised along one morning, birds of every sort flew and sang around me. In one section, I noticed many kinds of tiny, colorful finches, and in another I heard the bossy chirps of Red-winged Blackbirds.

Way up above to my north, I spotted a Turkey Vulture in flight, but not without interference. A series of smaller birds harassed it, nearly flying right into it. That’s not an unusual occurrence for large scavenger birds. As these small pests tried to peck at the vulture, it flapped its huge wings and soared away, leaving the nuisances behind.

I smiled ruefully at the vulture’s plight as I considered some hinderances in my life. The enemy of my soul tries to keep me from my calling with put-downs and obstacles. One example is when I sat down to write this blog post, I noticed my to-do list and reached into my greeting card pile to send a birthday card to a nephew. Then a phone call on the same list had me dialing and waiting on hold to take care of a medical matter for my dog. Wait—isn’t today supposed to be my writing day?

I disconnected the on-hold phone call and turned my attention back to my computer screen, asking the Lord to let my words encourage someone. The truth is I am a child of the King of the universe because of Jesus Christ, and I have power to rise above the distractions that come at me from every direction. If you are Christ’s, keep soaring above the fake threats of our enemy who wants to steal, kill, and destroy us.