New Patio Cushions!

Hello there, friends!
First off, today is my dad's 75th birthday ... so HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD!!

I wanted to show you our new super fun patio cushions!
Ours needed replacing, oh really a couple years back, but they had to be replaced this year.
Unfortunately, when I opened the deck box to get them out a month or so ago,
(we store them in a deck box on our patio to keep them dry & from fading in the sun)
there was a big ol' colony of ants that had taken up residence on every single cushion.
I mean, a whole lotta ants!
Never seen anything quite like it & hope to never again!
I sprayed the ants with Raid, bagged up the cushions, & set them out for trash.

And the search for new cushions was on!

We went to our favorite big home store first, Old Time Pottery.
We immediately liked these red quatrefoil patterned ones, but there were only 4.
So we decided to head over to At Home & Walmart.
(I pulled up Walmart's website while we were in Old Time Pottery & saw that their prices were better too.)

There were tons to choose from at At Home, but more pricey & there were only 3 or 4 in each pattern.
Walmart was next up (all these stores are just right around the corner from each other).
There we found these red stripe cushions & yet again, only a few.
It was then & there that James had a bright idea!
Buy the 4 quatrefoil patterned ones & buy 2 of the stripey ones for the chairs on each end of the table!
Genius!

I hadn't planned on sharing these pictures on the blog (I took them to message to our kids),
thus the tablecloth that needs straightened, but I'm so excited about our fun & festive looking
new cushions that I figured why not!
I'm excited to put some table decor together for this.
Right now I'm thinking a vintage Americana look ... just in time for the 4th of July.
I'm still trying to not buy much in the way of home furnishings (trying to live simpler, ya know ... less stuff),
so I'll see what I can round up around here.

The first day of summer rolled around yesterday, so celebrate summer & make the most of it, friends!
It'll be cold & we'll be sharing pictures of our Christmas trees before you know it!

Who doesn't love a good party?!
You can find me here linking up with these great blogs.
Monday           Amaze Me Monday     Coastal Charm    The Dedicated House
                     I Should Be Mopping the Floor     The Hankful House     The Modest Mom
Tuesday        A Stroll Through Life
Wednesday   Raising Homemakers        Savvy Southern Style      
                              The Thrifty Home   A Wise Woman Builds Her Home
Thursday   Katherines Corner   3D Lessons for Life   A Delightsome Life     Lamberts Lately  
Friday      Rooted in Thyme   Flea Market Friday   Missional Women
 Best of the Nest  Anything Blue Friday   French Country Cottage  The Girl Creative
Saturday       Simple Saturdays  

Banana Split Trifle

Anyone use the 'bottom of the jar' method when cooking?
You know the one where you prowl through your fridge to see what jars or bottles only have a little
in the bottom that you can finish off in whatever current recipe you're making!
Say like a pot of chili that you can add in some hot sauce or some ketchup ...
whatever needs finishing off & emptying up.
I really like doing this!
(I'm a finisher!)
We like condiments at our house so I'm always glad to finish things off for some more space in the fridge.

Well, I don't know if I've ever incorporated that 'bottom of the jar' method when making a dessert until today!
I needed to come up with a quick dessert for unplanned activity + I needed to use some delicious chocolate chip angel food cake that I bought at our favorite little Amish grocery store.
So, I quickly decided that I'd make up a dessert using the items I had on hand!
(Kinda like the TV show 'Chopped'!)
I got busy looking through the fridge & pantry & here's what I came up with:

Isn't she a pretty little thing?!

 

I knew I'd layer some things with the chocolate chip angel food cake making a trifle of sorts,
and as I was gathering, it started reminding me of a banana split! 
And thus, the name of this made-up dessert!
My 'bottom of the jar' ingredients were a tiny bit of pecans (finished off the bag & moved on to the walnuts), about a fourth a cup of marshmallow ice cream topping, a couple ripe bananas, & of course, the cake.

Oh ... & I forgot to add these into the above pic.

I had 3 little vanilla pudding cups that I added to the ingredient stash.

In the bottom of this little adorable ruffly dish (TJ Maxx $5.99), I placed pieces of cake
that I had just torn into large bite-size pieces.
Unfortunately (& usual), I didn't take pictures as I was layering!
It was a simple process though:  cake, banana slices, raspberries, pudding, whipped topping, & nuts!
And repeat!

When all my ingredients were layered in & I reached the top of the dish, I poured on the marshmallow topping,
a final layer of whipped topping, a sprinkle of nuts, & some raspberries all lined up in rows.

This got rave reviews from all the family!

The little chocolate chips in the cake were the perfect chocolatey touch!

What an easy & gorgeous dessert!
And a very adaptable one.
You could easily use plain cake, any variety of fruit, leave off the nuts & pudding ... or not.
If you are using ingredients you love, I'm not sure you couldn't mess this one up!

1/2 angel food cake, torn into pieces
2 bananas, sliced
6 oz. fresh raspberries
1 cup vanilla pudding (approximately -- I used 3 small pudding cups)
8 oz. whipped topping
1/4 cup marshmallow ice cream topping
1/2 c. chopped pecans or walnuts


In trifle bowl (or any med-lg. serving dish), layer ingredients in this order:
cake, bananas, raspberries, pudding, whipped topping, & nuts
At the top, finish it off with a layer of whipped topping, a sprinkling of nuts, & raspberries.
Refrigerate.


If you like this recipe, here are two more that I think you'll enjoy!

Angel Food Trifle

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Who doesn't love a good party?!
You can find me here linking up with these great blogs.

Monday           Amaze Me Monday     Coastal Charm    The Dedicated House
                     I Should Be Mopping the Floor     The Hankful House     The Modest Mom
Tuesday         Titus Tuesday  A Stroll Through Life
Wednesday   Raising Homemakers        Savvy Southern Style      
                              The Thrifty Home   A Wise Woman Builds Her Home
Thursday    Between Naps on the Porch    Katherines Corner3D Lessons for Life
           Hope in Every Season   A Delightsome Life     Lamberts Lately  
Friday      Rooted in Thyme  The Thrifty Groove   Farm Blog Hop   Flea Market Friday   Missional Women
 Best of the Nest  Anything Blue Friday   French Country Cottage  The Girl Creative
Sunday    Nifty Thrifty Things   Simple Saturdays    Sew Many Ways