my lucky day.

so this weekend we went to veeda's first annual fall dessert party. it was really fun & a great end to our great weekend. i decided to bring pumpkin gingerbread trifle. a recipe i found on foodtv.com by paula dean. ever since discovering flynn's msg allergy i have become a major label reader & have made vast efforts to make as many things from scratch as possible. i decided to alter this recipe & it actually worked! i won second place for best dessert at the party! i cannot tell you what i boost this was for my self esteem. i am by no means a baker. so.. here is the altered version of the recipe if you're interested:

1 box whole wheat gingerbread mix
1 (5.1) box of vanilla instant pudding
3 cups half & half (to replace milk in pudding instructions)
1 (30 oz) can of 100% pumpkin
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 pint whipping cream
confectioner's sugar (to taste)
1/2 cup anna's ginger thins

1. bake gingerbread, cool completely

2. prepare pudding using half & half instead of milk

3. add pumpkin, brown sugar, & cinnamon to pudding

4. prepare whipped topping using whipping cream & sugar

5. crumble gingerbread & layer across bottom of trifle bowl

6. cover with half of the pudding mixture, then half of whipped topping

7. repeat layers. top with broken ginger thins

enjoy!

the whole wheat gingerbread has really good flavor & the texture totally works for this dish. i also might suggest making your own but this box was as good as scratch on ingredients. i changed the pumpkin mixture to cut back on sweetness after reading reviews & to avoid corn syrup. i also chose to use an instant pudding box so flynn could be even more involved, but i might recommend birds custard mix if you could find it. i think i ll make just the pudding part sometime it was so good!

**i really really suggest those of you with children try making this this year for thanksgiving. flynn l o v e s cooking & was able to help with everything except baking the gingerbread which i did far in advance. he loved crumbling the bread into the bowl, stirring the instant pudding, & even spooning everything into the dish. it was so nice to have him help & not have to worry about him messing it up or getting hurt.