A Keeper!

Happy Valentine's Day Eve y'all! Hope everyone is having a good week so far. As I was making my grocery list the other day, I was really craving something homemade, sweet, and delicious. The thought of going home after work and measuring stuff, getting out my big stand mixer, and making lots of dirty dishes did not sounds appealing though. I also decided it wouldn't be a good idea to make a big batch of something because I knew I would sit around and eat it all by myself...not good!! I turned to one of my favorite blogs, SkinnyTaste, and found a delicious recipe of Gina's. 

Low Fat No Bake Cheesecake (original recipe can be found here)

8 oz light or fat free Cool Whip

8 oz 1/3 less fat cream cheese

9" reduced fat graham cracker crust

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp lemon juice

Directions: Whip the cream cheese, lemon and sugar together for a few minutes until it's fluffy. Add the Cool Whip and whip for a few more minutes until the mixture is smooth. Spoon the mixture into the pie crust. Let it chill for a few hours and then get to eatin'!

I planned on using my little hand mixer but couldn't find it, so I used my Cuisinart SmartStick instead. It worked like a charm. 

I can probably take the sticker off now...oops!

My mouth was watering due to my excitement of cheesecake for dessert, so I don't think I whipped everything long enough. Other than that, it was DELICIOUS and husband approved! 

Next time, I think I'll add some strawberries or blueberries on top. I also want to try it with an Oreo crust instead of the graham cracker kind. So many possibilities!!

Happy Mardi Gras!

Happy Mardi Gras!!  Today is Fat Tuesday... the day that ends the carnival season.  If you're from an area that celebrates Mardi Gras (lucky you!!), you know that we've been celebrating, partying, eating, and parading for a few weeks.  If you aren't from around here, you need to know Mardi Gras is one of my favorite times of the year! I'll spare you a long history lesson, but basically, Mardi Gras (literally translated is Fat Tuesday) is a French holiday celebrated the day before Ash Wednesday.  Traditionally, all the food/drink/etc was consumed in a big party to rid the pantries of everything before fasting for the Lenten season leading to Easter.  Still with me??  

So how did we get to the weeks of parading we have today?  Well, first, (and haters gon' hate) thank MOBILE, ALABAMA for the first Mardi Gras in the US!  Check out this little piece from AL.com.   You'll see the first carnival celebration went down in Mobile in 1703 (full of French/Catholic settlers)... well over 150 years before New Orleans borrowed our little party :)  Mardi Gras was stopped during the Civil War and was revived by Joe Cain in the late 1860s.  Joe Cain Day is a whole other story... so we'll just stop there.  If you read the article, you know that Mobile will have hosted 38 parades this year.  Fairhope (my hometown) hosted 3... 4 if you include the puppy parade! :)  

So what does Mardi Gras look like??  Here are some pictures I took during the Mystic Striper parade in Mobile last week.

Never park on the parade route!

Striper's Emblem Float

Mascots Southern Style: Striper's Theme Float

Roll Tide!  My favorite float of the night

Roll Tide!  15...

Hawkins and I ready for the Ball

Each masked Mardi Gras society has a ball after its parade.  Attendance at the ball is by ticket/invite only (sounds fancy, huh??!  Not too hard to get tickets... just gotta know someone in the society).  Ladies must wear a floor length gown, and guys must wear white tie/tails (also known as costume de riguere).  The night is filled with way too much food, way too many cocktails, and way too much dancing!  Lots of fun is had by all!

As we wrap up Fat Tuesday, I'll share some of my day with you!

Masked Mardi Gras Tree

1 Hour Jambalaya in the Dutch Oven

Homemade King Cake... complete with baby!

In our family, we leave our Christmas tree up, take the Christmas decor down, and swap it for Mardi Gras beads, masks, and other trinkets.  This will stays up until Ash Wednesday.  Tomorrow, the tree comes down.

I fixed jambalaya for dinner!  I used a great 1 hour recipe that uses a dutch oven!  This is super authentic, super easy, and allows for as much spice as you want!  We'll save this recipe for another day!

Last but not least, one of the best parts of Mardi Gras... THE KING CAKE!  This cake is more like a bread/drier cinnamon roll.  I fill mine with a cream cheese/sugar/fruit preserve mixture... its the only way to go.  This baby is TIME CONSUMING but oh so worth it!  Once baked, a tiny plastic baby is hidden in the bottom.  Whoever finds said baby brings the king cake to the next party!  Complete with icing and topped with green, gold, and purple (Mardi Gras colors for faith, power, and justice), this cake is an amazing yearly treat!

I hope y'all had a fabulous Mardi Gras!  Until next year, laissez les bons temps rouler (let the good times roll!)

Meatless Monday

Please excuse our crazy blog design. I finally figured out how to add our header back but now everything is all out of whack. Hang in there with us...it'll eventually be back to normal!

Even though we're nowhere near being vegetarians or vegan, I like to read Mama Pea's blog. I was always scared to try her recipes but I finally decided to give it a shot a few months ago. I searched through all of her recipes and came across one for Roasted Chickpea Tacos. My husband and I love tacos so I thought, why not?! 

Who knew this would become part of our regular dinner rotation? D thinks that you have to have some type of meat in order to have a complete meal. I finally proved him wrong with this recipe! Coming from a bacon loving, steak eating man, this recipe gets two thumbs up :)

Here's what you need (original recipe can be found here):

2 t. chili powder

1/4 t. garlic powder

1/4 t. onion powder

1/4 t. dried oregano

1 1/2 t. ground cumin

1 t. sea salt

1 T. lime juice

2 T. water

1 14 oz. can of chickpeas (drained and rinsed)

taco shells

Directions: Combine chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, dried oregano, ground cumin, sea salt, lime juice, and water in a large bowl. Add in chickpeas. Let it marinate for at least 30 minutes. When you're ready to start cooking, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray a baking sheet (the kind that has a rim around the edges so the chickpeas won't roll off--I'm sure it has an official name but I don't know it!) with cooking spray. Place the chickpeas on the baking sheet and cook for 20-30 minutes, stirring once during that time. You'll know when the chickpeas are done because they'll be a little crispy. While the chickpeas are cooking, prepare the taco shells according to the directions on the package. Once everything is ready, add your toppings and enjoy!

 

Etsy, Here I Come!

As some of you know, I'm really working to get my embroidery and vinyl business up and running!  Y'all have seen some of my work, my Facebook page, and my preparation for my first craft show!  Now, I'm on to the next phase of taking over the world (ha ha ha)... ETSY!  

Etsy is website for handmade goods, vintage goods, and craft supplies.  I could literally spend hours just looking at some of the cool things people create! I've sort of hesitated in getting an Etsy shop up and running... I was afraid it'd take a lot of time, and I wouldn't get much business.  But a few weeks ago, I decided to jump on in!  With Facebook business pages reaching fewer "likes," (they want businesses to pay to advertise w/ them... I'm not!), I need another way to reach people.  Hopefully my shop will reach those without Facebook as well as others not local to me!  Southern Charms Gifts is open! 

I've learned quite a bit in the short time I've been "open."  Etsy pretty much walks you through your set up; you get to choose your name, picture, etc.  I spent some time researching how to best write policies to my protect myself as well as to keep the buyers informed.  Thankfully, there are so many people willing to share their experiences.  You need to include ship time, payment expectations, etc.  Lots of stuff to remember to add, but it is all very important in case you ever need to settle a dispute (PLEASE GOD NEVER LET THAT HAPPEN TO ME :) ).   Listings are definitely something I'm learning about, too.  There is SO much to include.  Sizes, colors, options, descriptions, titles, tags... it goes on and on.  You want to come up with as much information as possible about your product.  Since none of your customers will ever actually hold your product before they purchase, the goal is to make them feel as if they have.  I usually NEVER have a problem writing/talking/etc (shocker - I know), but it is kind of hard to describe something I know so well.  If any of you are interested, take a look at my listings and tell me what you'd search to find them!  It could be a fun game!  

Etsy also has the ability to create custom listings.  Custom listings allow me to create a listing just for one person.  If someone asked me to monogram a set of month onesies for a baby gift, I can make just one listing, pay 1 fee, and have the buyer be able to make all choices at once.  Pretty cool!

My biggest news has been my FIRST sale!  A customer bought an anchor monogram tshirt similar to this one:

She chose to have hers done on a bright pink tshirt with a navy anchor and white monogram.  It will look so cute!  I was so thrilled to hear the "CA-CHING" sound of the notification :)  Here's to many more!

Exciting News!

We got some exciting news today! A while back, we were contacted by the folks at AllFreeCopycatRecipes.com about our copycat O'Carr's chicken salad recipe. Remember this post from awhile ago? 

Now it is featured here on AllFreeCopycatRecipes.com. Go check it out!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I know, I know, we're in January!  Christmas and New Year's have long passed.  I've been away from posting since I accidentally deleted our blog header.  I've spent far too long trying to learn how to put it back... and I'm still unsuccessful! So if any of our lovely readers can help, don't hesitate! :)

So if I rewind time back a month, we were celebrating Christmas and New Year's in beautiful Fairhope, Alabama!

I have a slight massive obsession with my hometown!  We only live 2 hours away now, but I love to go back and spend time there.  I could dedicate a full post to Fairhope, but I won't... at least not now anyway!

Instead let me show who I spent most of my time with!  This is sweet Abbie!

My cousin (Andrew... here's your first shout out!) and his wife (Amanda... hi!! :) ) had this precious girl in June.  I took more pictures of her than anyone or anything else.  She is just so fun with the greatest little personality!  Sadly, I accidentally backed up my new phone and lost so many other pictures, but you'll get the drift.

Lord help y'all when I have a child!  The internet may explode with the ridiculous amount of pictures I'll probably share.  Luckily, Andrew and Amanda's bebe gets to be the superstar for now!

We had so much fun getting everyone together!  Andrew, Amanda, and Abbie came down from Kentucky/Tennessee.  Aunt Denice, Seth, and Chloe all came from Tennessee.  We ate way too much, laughed a lot, and had a pretty sweet (or about 10 pretty sweet) amazing home made Christmas dinner!  Andrew and Seth would probably melt down if I showcased Abbie and ignored their cooking.  They are pretty much pros in the kitchen, so I ate and ate and ate.   If you ever turn down one of their homemade cinnamon rolls (except for Mary, because cinnamon is her sworn enemy forever) I'm not sure we can be friends.  That's just hyperbole of course.... or is it?  Out of all their cooking, there was only one tiny little kitchen mishap.  Andrew's cut was pretty painful... but there was no blood in the food - so we all moved on pretty quickly!

After a super fun (and way too fast) visit, the family headed back to the great white north (and yes, I realize Kentucky and Tennessee are both southern... but they're too cold for my thin blood).  We found sometime to take family photos thanks to my fabulous in-laws gift to my parents!  This is a rare occasion when we can get my dad and brother to take a picture with normal faces...

Dad missed the sunglasses memo

Hawkins and I celebrated the New Year in downtown Fairhope with Nic, Mary, my brother, AJ, and his girlfriend, Laura.  We had a great time hanging out and watching the fireworks!

  

I hope each and everyone of you had a fabulous holiday season!  

Coming Soon!

Happy 2013 (a little late) from the Edgars!

What's in store for us this year? A lot of house updates! I think the people at Lowe's are starting to remember us.

I know I keep promising before and after pictures...they are coming soon, I swear! My aunt got a new camera for Christmas so she gave me her old one. It will take waaaay better pictures than my iPhone so I promise to do several house updates soon. Our bedroom and the kitchen are almost finished. Here's a sneak peak at what we're currently working on:

1. Replacing this lovely light fixture. Let's just say that it's not really our style :) My mom bought us a new fixture as a housewarming gift. We plan on putting it up either this weekend or next weekend.

2. Taking down wallpaper and painting the guest bedroom. Almost every room in our house needs updating. The people who lived here before us took great care of the house, but everything just needs a little updating. I'm currently working on taking down the wallpaper and border. We plan on painting and finishing the room this weekend!

3. Finishing the kitchen! Our kitchen has come a looooooong way. Wait until you see what it looked like before! We made a trip to Ikea between Christmas and New Years to buy some shelves for our empty wall.

I'm slowly adding decorative pieces and it's really starting to come together! I plan on painting the table and fixing it up a little bit, but it works really well in the space. 

There are lot of other small updates that we plan on doing...putting up blinds, hanging curtains, switching out fixture, etc. It's going to be a busy year, but we're looking forward to making it our own! Stay tuned :)

Better Late Than Never

And we're back! I can't believe we didn't post for so long...the holidays (National Championship included haha) FLEW by! So even though it's a little late, here's a quick holiday update from the Edgars... (Please excuse all of the iPhone photos)

This Christmas, we realized that we are officially an old married couple. Wanna know why? We got a lawnmower and a grill for Christmas...and we were excited about it!

On Christmas Eve, we went to our church with Dustin's mom and stepdad for the candlelight service. I look forward to that service every year. Not only is it a beautiful service, but it's a fun time to reconnect with people that I haven't seen in awhile. It doesn't feel like Christmas if we skip it!

That night we had my parents and Dustin's parents over for an Italian feast. Dustin's stepdad is an amazing cook--he made Stromboli, spaghetti, homemade meatballs and bread. Check out this delicious stromboli that he made for everyone:

Don't worry...it tastes just as good as it looks! On Christmas day, we opened gifts and hung out with our families. Love getting to spend time with my sweet Granna.

My niece, Bailey, uses her own money to buy everyone a gift at the Dollar Tree every year. We look forward to it because the gifts are usually pretty hilarious. Here's a good example:

Yup, that's right...she bought my dad a tattoo sleeve! She also got this ridiculous, high-tech Connect 4 launcher game. Poor girl didn't even get to play that much because the adults took over. I will forever remember Christmas 2012 as the year I finally beat my brother at something :) 

The day after Christmas, my friend Becky and I went to Meghan (and Byron and Baby H). Becky is cool and lives out in Colorado so we only get to see each other every few years. We had so much fun getting to visit to and from Nashville. Even though it was a quick trip, we enjoyed getting to visit with Meghan and see Baby H's nursery. Can't wait to meet him or her :)

So food, games, family, friends and fun...that about sums up our Christmas! Hope all of our lovely readers had a happy holiday too :)

Vegas, Baby!

Hi!  Did y'all miss us?!  Please forgive our lack of posting!  With Christmas, the New Year, and the National Championship (yes, that IS a holiday for us!), life has been pretty much non-stop!  But, we are BACK, and we've got lots of catching up to do! 

I'm going to start before Christmas and tell y'all all about my Vegas vacation!  I guess what happens in Vegas isn't going to stay in Vegas... ha. ha. ha.  I wish I could insert that clever drum riff they play for a bad joke!

Anyway - let's get right to it.  Hawkins was lucky enough to have to go to Vegas for work.  Normally, he gets sent to Tuscon, Saint Louis, etc.  We've been hearing other people talk about their sweet TDY's (Air Force speak for business trip) since he's been active duty.  Well nearly 3 years in and that finally paid off!  Our hotel room was covered since he was working, and my super nice, high flying, always traveling dad hooked me up with some frequent flier miles!  You don't go to Vegas much cheaper than that!

Hawkins went out a few days earlier than me because of work.  I got out there on a Tuesday night.  Here are the views from our room on the 54th floor of the Hilton Elara:

If you're looking for a place to stay in Vegas, I would HIGHLY recommend it.  We were right on the Strip, connected to the Miracle Mile Shops, and paid (well the Air Force paid) way less since there isn't a casino in the hotel.  Well wouldn't you know walking through the Miracle Mile leads you to Planet Hollywood!  And you're ab 3 minutes away from 10 casinos... so save some money! The room was huge and super fancy!  Hello push button blinds on floor to ceiling windows!

Hawkins only worked the morning on Wednesday, so we spent the day touring around town.  I hadn't been to Vegas since I was a teenager (I know... I know I look to young to be describing "back in the day" events... hahaha), so it was fun to see everything again.  But most importantly... FIRST STOP OF THE DAY!

I love In N Out Burger!  I almost cried tears of joy eating that delicious burger, animal style, with well done fries.  I would easily pay $100 for one right this second!  I even had a fantastic picture of the deliciousness... until I accidentally restored my new iPhone to my old iPhone's last back up in April.  That was awesome... and another story entirely.  Now to get back on track... after stuffing myself silly, we went to our next stop!

Y'all had to know that was coming :)  The famous Las Vegas sign!  We happened to go on 12-12-12, so you wouldn't believe how many wedding parties were there!  I promise, at least 10 came up in the 15 min or so that we were there.  

Don't worry, we didn't leave yet! 

We drove around for a bit and got some pictures of the must sees for me!

Planet Hollywood

Caesar's Palace (I really wish we could've seen Shania!)

The Sahara

The Palazzo

The Pawn Start pawn shop.  The line to get in was CRAZY!

Gucci (one of about 10 we saw)

Caesar was wearing a cowboy hat to celebrate the National Finals Rodeo in town

Mandalay Bay

The Luxor

New York New York

Little White Chapel (aka Britney Spears' wedding venue of choice)

I really enjoyed driving around and seeing everything!  We had a great time in Vegas at night, too!

Treasure Island

View from the Palazzo

The Bellagio Fountains

The Mirage Volcano show

The Paris

The Mirage

Bellagio Fountains

Caesar's Palace

The Bellagio

The Venetian & The Palazzo

While we were in town, we saw Manheim Steamroller's Christmas Show at the Venetian.  It was great!  Afterwards, we walked around, shopped, and took in the sights!

Inside the Venetian (or the Palazzo... who can keep that all straight?!)

I can't remember..... hmmm... any ideas?

Inside the Venetian

Inside the Venetian

Loving the houndstooth Manolo's at Barneys New York

Talk about some high end stores!  I just admired and kept walking...

We wrapped up our trip with a trip to the Hoover Dam!

New bridge for traffic (You can still drive over the dam, but traffic is MUCH lighter so they say)

Lake Meade

The Dam is GIGANTIC!

Inside the Dam Power Plant Tour haha

View of Lake Meade 

In Arizona & Mountain Time

We also walked across the huge, new bridge they built looking over the Hoover Dam.  Of course, those pictures disappeared when I restored my phone (see above... and yes, I'm REALLY angry as I just realized those were still on there as I posted to add to the blog..........).  Thankfully we still have lots of good ones! 

We had a great time in Vegas and only lost a little bit of money :)  I hope y'all enjoyed seeing our trip!