Hello everyone, Winnie Griggs here.
By the time this post goes up it’ll be Labor Day and I certainly hope you all are able to take the opportunity to have a relaxing day with family and friends.
Around our house, Labor Day usually means outdoor cookouts. But for my family, instead of BBQs and picnics, we like to send the summer out with a seafood boil. This year it’s going to be shrimp.
I love a good seafood boil. In addition to the shrimp and appropriate seasonings, the pot this year will contain corn, potatoes, sausage, mushrooms, cauliflower, onions, garlic, lemons and limes- a veritable banquet!
Here’s a photo taken from a prior Labor Day feast – doesn’t it look yummy?
Of course, no feast would be complete without a great dessert. So today I thought I’d share with you one of my favorite summer treats. It’s a sort of trifle that my family calls a punch bowl cake. It’s super easy to make and as a bonus, especially on these hot summer days, it’s no bake!
Ingredients:
- 1 pre-made angel food cake
- 1 large tub of whipped topping
- 1 package of either vanilla or cheesecake flavored instant pudding (6 serving size)
- Approx 1 lb berries of your choice (I prefer strawberries but I’ve made it with mixed berries as well)
Directions
- Prepare pudding according to directions.
- Mix together with whipped topping and set aside
- Tear cake into bite-sized pieces
- In a large bowl, layer ingredients as follows:
- 1/3 each of angel food cake, berries and then cream mixture
- Repeat twice more
- If desired, garnish top with additional berries, nuts or grated chocolate
- Refrigerate until ready to serve
So what about you? Do you have any special Labor Day traditions? Any favorite end of summer foods? Share your answers and I’ll put you in the running for a copy of any book in my backlist.
Winnie Griggs is the author of Historical (and occasionally Contemporary) romances that focus on Small Towns, Big Hearts, Amazing Grace. She is also a list maker, a lover of dragonflies and holds an advanced degree in the art of procrastination.
Three of Winnie’s books have been nominated for the Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award, and one of those nominations resulted in a win.
Winnie loves to hear from readers. You can connect with her on facebook at www.facebook.com/WinnieGriggs.Author or email her at winnie@winniegriggs.com.
Winnie- Happy Labor Day, I want to come hang out at your Place. I LOVE shrimp and boiled shrimp is my favorite. Your desert sounds fabulous.
Growing up we always seemed to spend it at the lake, now that I’m older and work, I never got it off as I managed a pig farm with 80,000 pigs and 17 employees and those little piggies didn’t take vacations. Ha ha!! But if everyone worked the holiday, they got the day off within 60 days at their own descretion paid. Most, Me included, took it with our 2 days off for a 3 day reprieve.
I now work for The Kansas Department of Health & Environment and get holidays off, so I’ll just be hanging out with my hubby, I’ll read, clean, and we will have our own small cookout. Relax and enjoy the day is on our agenda mostly. You have a great day & eat an extra helping of Shrimp for me.
Hi Tonya. A nice relaxing day sounds lovely. And eating an extra helping for you will be no trouble at all 🙂
Happy Labor Day, Winnie! Wow, your food looks and sounds delicious. We’ll just spend a lazy day together around home and then later on go for a ride in the early evening air. It’s supposed to be perfect weather here today–followed by a week of rain–so we’ll enjoy good weather while we can.
Hi Eliza – Happy Labor Day to you too. Glad to hear the weather is cooperating for you – enjoy!
Your punch bowl cake sounds really good and easy. I’m going to save the recipe and try it soon. Happy Labor Dy!
Glad you like the sound of it – hope it turns out well for you.
SOunds delicious. We have no special traditions. Just a picnic
Hi Debra. A picnic sounds special to me. Hope you have a lovely day
The cake sounds delish. We don’t have any tradition for Labor Day. Sometimes my sister has a cook-out but she had it last weekend this year.
Family get-togethers are always nice, no matter when they happen. enjoy the day!
Oh yum! I love relaxing and eating all the yummy food. 🙂
Two of my favorite pastimes!! 🙂
hello!!! Happy Labor Day. A special dessert or treat my step mother would make in the summer when i went to stay with my dad on the weekends, was a chocolate peanut butter fudge sickle. I made them for my kids when they were younger and my daughter who moved out a month and a half ago made it for her boyfriend.
Its a box (the large one) of jello fudge or chocolate pudding, instant pudding is easier
milk and a cup of peanut butter, I use the chunky peanutbutter so it has nuts in it,
mix it all up, put it in a 8/8 pan or larger depending on how thick you want it and freeze it for a good 4 hrs, when done, cut it in to little cubes,
I remember my step mom making this, and it was such a treat, I was always sneaking in to her freezer to snag a piece.
Oh that does sound yummy – especially for a hot summer afternoon!
I’ll have to add it to my recipe collection
no special plans
Happy Labor Day. We don’t have any traditions for this holiday. After a big football weekend, we are just going to a movie today.
Taking in a movie sounds like fun! Hope you enjoy(ed) it.
Happy Labor Day! I have been enjoying time with family… having BBQs all weekend… enjoying a wonderful variety of food! 🙂
Ah, multiple feasts, I like that!!
No special Labor Day traditions here. I do have some corn on the cob, baked beans, potato salad & hotdogs for my husband to grill for dinner. Too hot to do anything else (for the Oregon coast today! Mid 80’s whew) 🙂
I’ve never had a seafood boil, but have seen plenty of pictures of other people’s feasts and it looks so delicious!! Your punch bowl cake looks divine and the recipe is pretty simple. I don’t own a bowl like that though, so I’d have to improvise something else. I’d use strawberries because that’s our favorite fruit. And going to the farmer’s market to get fresh ones makes my mouth water thinking about it! I wished you could share a piece of that through the computer Winnie…yummy!
Thank you for the chance to win one of your books.
Hi Trixi. Your cook out menu sounds really yummy! As for the dessert, any large bowl will do, in fact that’s why we call it punch bowl cake – my mom used to make hers in a punch bowl 🙂
Happy Labor Day, Winnie! I wish I was at your house for your great seafood boil. We have spent the day with old friends visiting, laughing, and riding down country roads. We have had a wonderful day!
Hello Melanie. That sounds like an absolutely lovely way to spend the day!
Usually We have all the children and their families over for a cookout. However, this year things were so chaotic we didn’t plan anything. Our oldest daughter just moved her family to Chapel Hill, NC so she could attend law school. We helped her move and have made a couple of trips the past month. It is a 6 hour drive so they weren’t coming home. School started for her last Monday. Our middle daughter lives nearby, but had much going on. They are shorthanded at work and she has been putting in a lot of overtime. Her son and my husband spent a grandson-grandfather day on the golf course. Our son also lives nearby and too advantage of a day off and good weather to go rock climbing. I spent the day trying to go through the disaster that is our house. I am sorting things for a yard sale at church and household good for a Red Cross partnership that helps provide items for homeless vets who get into housing. We also have two big events to raise funds for the Honor Flight organization in this area. We are also Red Cross Disaster volunteers, so I am trying to get as much taken care of so I can deploy. We will be in Texas probably until November and depending what Irma does, we could be very busy for a long time.
Sounds like you are a very busy woman these days I wish you well in your endeavors
No special Labor Day recipes though that cake looks fabulous! We try to eat as much lobster as possible during the summer months….
Well now I want trifle… or Punch bowl cake, Winnie!!!! I’m late getting to this, but delighted to see it, my friend!
no special traditions
Hi Winnie. During our farming years Labor Day meant laboring in the tobacco patch. We always had work to do that day so there weren’t any traditions made for this day. Thanks for sharing your delicious dessert!