Mardi Gras Celebrating: Jambalaya, Hurricanes & King Cake!

Laissez les bons temps rouler! (Pronounced: Lay say lay bohn tohn roo lay)
It means: Let the Good Times Roll!

Fun Mardi Gras masks and beads!

I did not do any major cooking. Mind you, I can make a mean Gumbo; but Mardi Gras was pulled together with ease this year. 

Menu: Hurricanes, Jambalaya & King Cake

The Hubs made the drinks utilizing this recipe...with a few changes.

The Hubs added more pineapple juice...the reason: well, no one light a match!!!

This is the less flammable drink:

2 ounces of rum, 1 ounce of Grand Marnier, 6 ounces of pineapple juice, and a splash of grenadine in the bottom of the glass

Look! Those Disney glasses did get reused after all!

This is such a fun drink!

Jambalaya with lots of cheese. Hit it hard with some Franks Red Hot and its perfect!

On a Tuesday night after work, I had neither the time nor the inclination to make my own roux for a home-made gumbo, nor tackle jambalaya from scratch.

Instead, I bought a box. Yes- I used Zatarans. (Gasp!) And I added sausage, Chicken and Crab.And you know what, it tasted great and it was ready in 25 minutes! No judging;-)

Remy was enjoying some Mardi Gras! The colors of Mardi Gras are purple, green and gold. I read that they were chosen in 1872 to honor the visiting Russian Grand Duke Alexis Alexis Alexandrovich Romanoff, whose house colors were purple, green and gold (mardigrasneworleans.com).

Purple represents Justice; Green represents Faith; Gold represents Power.

I bought this King Cake at Publix.
It was really delicious!

Ok...they came complete, with creepy baby figures...

Mardigrasneworleans.com says that the traditions of Mardi Gras are connected to the epiphany...or the arrival of the three kings to see the baby Jesus. The king cake is in honor of the three kings.

The baby (in the past it was porcelain or gold), now just a plastic toy, is inserted into the cake.

The "lucky" winner of the baby (meaning the one who finds it in their piece of cake) gets to host the party and/or brings the cake next year.

We did not keep these plastic babies or insert them into the cake. Mostly, we just stared at them and talked about how creepy they looked...

We finished dinner with a slice of our King Cake, a French Press and watched The Princess and the Frog...a movie with "man-catchin' begniets" and a "Mardi Gras weddin'".

The cats showed some interest at King Cake time...

Remy (in the foreground) was very hopeful. Being the eldest, and biggest cat in the Cunningham home he thought I said "King Cat" not "King Cake" and therefore thought the King Cat received the King Cake.

Very hopeful...

We caught him before he helped himself to some cake. 

Other than Remy's disappointment in not receiving his own slice of cake, we had a fun time!

At Party City, I found plastic beads for 29 cents and masks for $1.99. The bakery King Cake (with creepy babies) was only $5.99 at Publix.

This was a very easy and affordable celebration.

I love celebrating! I love finding reasons to celebrate!

There has been such sadness, loss and grief in the news and around the world. I'm sad, and grieve, and pray. I also know that these grievous things do not last forever, and there are sometimes that it is important to celebrate, to remember hope, and goodness, and life!

May the Joy of the Lord be your strength, and may you rest in His (Jesus') Love for you!!!

La Bonne Vie Y'all!!!

Oscar Night is coming! I really care very little about the show, but I'm very excited about the food! Stay tuned!

Christmas Decor

How about some Christmas Decor?!

I leave my table set throughout the season.
I have really beautiful pieces that I enjoy throughout Christmas and New Years!

I use fun painted wine glasses at each place setting. They are all different!

In the lights above the table, we hang pretty ornaments.

This year we have a formal tree in the living room.
The Hubs and I love nature, so we chose a woodsy-animal theme.
I used berries, cotton, feathers, and branches to go with our tree-topping deer.

Tussy mussies hold mixed nuts inside the tree...

I found owls, mice, deer, raccoon, and this hedgehog...

I loved this little bird; and the snowflake looks like it was made from birch branches.

We carried the nature theme to the mantel. Our garland has berries and pine cones.

My mom made these festive bows and we attached this fun pick to give it even more whimsy.

This giant red mesh drapes dramatically down the stairwell.

Our beautiful nativity scene is from Fontanini. We have been blessed to meet some of the Fontanini brothers at EPCOT in Disney World. Years ago, their ancestors decided to make nativities with story lines about the characters. They felt that it was important for the world to know that these were people, just like you and me.
Each character comes with a story card.

The Holy Family was given to me as a gift from a co-worker at my very first job.
The Hubs and I have added on throughout the years.

The Hubs and I love the ocean and beach. This feather tree in our room looks like fish are swimming around and around.

We found this ribbon that has glittery bubbles on it.

I guess that brings us to the kitchen complete with Mickey cookie jar and a decorated bottle of Spanish Red!

And just above the sugar and flour we hung Mickey and Minnie Cupcake ornaments!

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!

La Bonne Vie Y'all!

With Great Thanks! Thanksgiving Decor...Easily Adapted for Christmas!

Place settings...I used Fall colored (woodsy themed) ornaments as place cards!

We started our Thanksgiving Day with a 5k walk- The Grateful Gobbler!

Over 3,000 members (families, furry- four-legged friends, Santa...) all walked to raise money for a Family Shelter at the area's Community Kitchen.

Often, families get broken up when they enter a shelter. For example, 10 year old boys can't go with their moms into the women's side of the shelter.

This family shelter will provide a way for families to stay together!

There was a great energy that morning! I loved being a part of it!!!

Ok- back to decorating...

I cut fall themed scrapbook paper into different shapes. I wrote "Thank You" in different languages and tossed them around the table. Guests tried guessing the language for the word...the answers were on the back.

This is easily adaptable for Christmas.

Simple gold chargers added a lot to the overall look.
Since we all sit in different places in our family, I used the place cards to send a message of Thanks!

I love candlelight! I found this pretty bird at Hobby Lobby.

We couldn't forget the kids! Their cards read: "I am Thankful for:" and then I wrote in their names!

All of these fall colored ornaments came from Hobby Lobby. None were over $2.99...and they were all 50% off!

Using scrapbook paper, I cut small shapes with fun scissors. I used a calligraphy pen to write my notes.

Kids ornaments.

All in all, it was a day of Great Thanks!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Coming up next...

Christmas decor, the always delicious Corn Souffle, and the very best Pumpkin dish in the whole-wide world....

La Bonne Vie Y'all!

Homemade Halloween Wreath! Really Easy!

I really like Halloween. 

Not all the scary stuff...I actually can't watch scary movies at all. It's too scary and affects me too much.

But I love dressing up, making Jack 'o lanterns (the Hubs is especially good at that), and all those cute little trick or treaters! Two years ago we had a big sister dressed as a bunny and a little brother dressed as a carrot- it was adorable!!!

We get lots of trick or treaters, so I'm pretty serious about making sure we have enough candy. This year we have over 10 lbs of it! 

So, now to the wreath...

I saw this wreath idea on Pinterest. There were no instructions written out- just a picture. But I used my imagination and here is what I did!

Of course you need the help of cute black cats!
As you can see Remy was helping. You can see Minnie in the bottom left corner wondering,
"What is all this shiny stuff, mom?

I found what I needed at Hobby Lobby and Party City.

Needed tools:

1 foam wreath (your desired size)

enough black boas to cover your wreath

bag of floral pins

black ribbon

hot glue & hot glue gun

decorations (lime/bright green, purple, orange Christmas balls, glittery pumpkins,whatever you choose)

I wrapped my black and silver boa around my foam wreath.
As I wrapped it around I used floral pins to hold it in place.

You might have to unwrap and re-wrap until you get the desired fullness.
Minnie found an orange ribbon to play with in the background.

Apparently, Remy loved the bright green Christmas balls.
These cats were so helpful!

Hot glue the balls and glittery pumpkins to the floral pins and insert them into the wreath to create your desired arrangement.

The Hubs threaded the floral pins into the ball tops and through the foam bottoms of the pumpkins. You can do whatever works best for you. If the Hubs wasn't helping, I would have used the hot glue.

Attach the ribbon with floral pins and hang with the ribbon.

Isn't it cute?!

It looks great with a few pumpkins and a mum on the porch.

We look like we are ready for all of those tiny trick or treaters!

La Bonne Vie Y'all!

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Oh My Stars...And Stripes! July 4th- Decor, Delicious Food & A Day of Thankfulness!!!

Happy 4th of July Everyone!

I hope you had a day of sweet thankfulness, family & fun celebrating the freedom we are blessed to enjoy!

We so enjoyed our celebration!

Here is a peek at our decorating (Mason would be thrilled with our theming) and our delicious 4th- themed food!

I got this cute little crab a a boutique shop in Gulf Shores! The blackboard makes it easy to change party messages!

We started our day with a yummy Red, White & Blue French Toast Bake. It is so easy to assemble and wonderfully delicious the next morning.

Slice a baguette into 1/2" slices and lay flat in a greased (cooking spray) 13 x 9.

Mix 4 whole eggs, 4 egg whites, 1 cup of low fat milk, 1 tsp vanilla extract in a bowl. Pour over sliced bread. 

Put 5 cups of fresh or frozen mixed berries in a bowl (I used frozen mixed berries found in the Publix frozen food section). Add 1 1/2 Tbsp of lemon juice & 1 Tbsp of brown sugar to berries and stir.

Top french toast with berry mixture. Mix 2 Tbsp of brown sugar and 1/4 tsp of cinnamon, then sprinkle over the top of the french toast.

Refrigerate overnight.

The next morning, bake for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.
We use this time to make coffee and mimosas!!!

Top with a dollop of vanilla yogurt and drizzle with your favorite syrup! Yum, yum, yum!

Well, now it's time to get decorating!

I found these fans at Party City for $7.

We attached them to the curtain rod on the back porch.

We used mason jars with pretty red ribbons for drink glasses.

I found these name tags that slide over
cute paper straws at Hobby Lobby!

USA napkins at Party City.

I rolled the silverware in the napkins and
tied jute as a napkin ring.

Happy sunflowers!

Paper fold-out stars from Party City.

The Menu!
Beef Sliders with gorgonzola,
caramelized onions and applewood
smoked bacon on King's Hawaiian Rolls.
Hashbrown casserole, Rosemary and Lemon
Scented Haricot Verts, Watermelon, Key Lime Pie
& Jack's Cosmic Lemonade- Jack Daniels &
Lemonade. (Our three cats always grace the
handwritten plate- can you see them?)

Stars and Stripes square plates from Party City.

The picks are for cupcakes, but we found that they held a
beef slider together pretty well! Plus it looked like little fireworks
on our plates!!!

It was a fun night. But we are quick to remember all those who have given of themselves and many who have given their lives so that we can enjoy this time with family. 

I thought about those who bravely fought to make this an independent nation during the Revolutionary War, those who kept it together during the Civil War, those who fought to preserve us and bring peace and freedom to those we share this world with during WWI & WWII, my grandfather who was in the Korean War, my cousin who was in Vietnam, a brother-in-law who fought in Afghanistan...God, Thank You! Thank You for Your Grace, Your Protection & Provision!

Father- I ask for Your continued Grace for us all!

In Jesus' Name- Amen!

God- Bless America!

La Bonne Vie Y'all!