The Southern Belle: Tips n Tricks

So a few weeks ago I went to Wichita to see a good friend from college. We had so much fun girl time, and she treated me to a wonderful pedicure including hot stone massage. I love going for different nail polishes so I chose  OPI's glitter polish (can't remember the name). It looked a little like this but on my toes...

This pedicure lasted FOREVER. The color and sparkle was awesome - like a little party on my toes every time I looked down. Problem is I was ready to take it off this week and the polish would. not. budge. I scrubbed and scrubbed and nothing. I am now glad to be able to share this "Tip n Trick" with you girls for getting glitter polish off easy breezy style.

1. Soak one cotton ball in nail polish remover for each nail.

2. Place one cotton ball on the nail, press and wrap in a small sheet of aluminum foil.

3. Repeat for additional nails.

4. Leave foil and cotton balls in place for 5 minutes - yes set a timer.

5. Remove foil and glitter polish will wipe off as if the remover soaked cotton ball was saying "Take that"

The Sweet Things: MeebleMail

This is EPIC and I am in LOVE...

I may just be sending more emails than actually necessary.

Click as fast as you can and give MeebleMail a try while it is FREE!

Deep South Eats: Tomato Corn Salad

 This is an excellent summer salad. It is so refreshing and light. While I enjoyed as well as some others that I sent with samples. My husband was not a fan, but whatevs. I really loved how easy and simple it came together making it suitable even for week days.


Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup minced fresh basil
• 3 Tablespoons of olive oil
• Juice of one lime - approximately 2 Tablespoons
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1/4 teaspoon of pepper
• 2 cups of frozen corn, thawed
• 1-2 large tomatoes, seeded and chopped (must confess I have a really weird hang up about the seedy parts of tomatoes)
• 1 cup cucumber, seeded and chopped

Directions:

• Combine the basil, olive oil, lime, sugar, salt and pepper in a jar with a tight fitting lid and shake well.
• In a large bowl, combine corn, tomato, and cucumber.
• Drizzle with dressing and toss to coat.
• Refrigerate until serving.

Recipe adapted from Cherry Tomato Corn Salad at All Recipes.

Deep South Party: Royal Wedding Invite

Anyone out there have a bit of Royal Wedding fever?

I feel like TLC is doing a great job of feeding my obsession with their hundreds of shows counting down to Friday.

My mom told me how much fun she had watching the wedding of Diana and Charles, and she wanted to have a viewing party for the upcoming wedding. I jumped on the idea and created this invite:

I am so excited and cannot wait to show you more pictures of this precious party my mom has planned!

Deep South Eats: Jim and Nicks' Cheese Muffins

Oh my goodness these are good! If you ever get the chance to go to your local Jim and Nicks, you must solely for these muffins. In the restaurant, they are baked a little bit more mini muffin style but for ease and consumption who needs mini when you can have regular.

I did a google search to see if it was even possible to find this recipe and came up with multiple results. I then did a best of three and found two of them to be completely identical. I assumed this would be the best interpretation of this recipe - wrong. After baking I realized I should have made them with the recipe calling for less sugar. While they taste sweet in the restaurant, they were much too sweet on my first attempt. Recipe below includes correction with less sugar.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups of flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 3/4 cup of milk (2% or higher for best quality)
• 1 egg, well beaten
• 4 Tablespoons of butter, melted
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

• Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 400 degrees.
• Butter or spray a muffin tin very well
• Combine flour, sugar and baking powder in a large bowl.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together milk, egg, butter and vanilla.
• Pour the combined liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently but quickly stir together.
• Stir in cheddar cheese until just combined. Be careful not to over mix.
• Divide evenly into prepared muffin tin (I love to use an ice cream scoop for this).
• Bake 15 to 20 minutes until tops of muffins are golden and springy to touch. 
• Transfer muffin tin to rack and allow to cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing.

These are great for breakfast as well! Recipe found here.

The Sweet Life: Say Hello to One of My Little Friends

Since I am out of town for the start of this week and my meal planning is SUPER boring (and yes I do make a meal plan even when we go to the beach - keeps us from eating out and eating junk), I want to tell you today about a little friend of mine.


A while back I introduced you to Motivated Moms which keeps your house nice and clean - right? Recently I have discovered Cozi. My dear husband and I have been searching for the best way to have a family calendar that is easy to use and highly organized. Let me rephrase that...I have been looking for a highly organized family calendar that I could teach my dear husband how to use. Sounds right the second time.


Cozi allows you to have an account with a family password. We can all log-in and add things to the calendar and to-do list which is color-coded - rock on! Sunday of every week, Cozi emails the designated persons the calendar for the week. We have been using it for about two weeks and we are so happy with it. I encourage you to head over and check it out...It's free! There is an app for the iphone with a nominal fee and I have been very happy with the app.


So go and check it out and let me know what you think! I would give some screen shots but that would give a  little too much insight into my life than I am comfortable with.

Saturday Sweets: The Graphics Fairy

After numbering the entries from comments, facebook, and followers the winner of the Cook's Country Giveaway is... 

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:6Powered by RANDOM.ORG

Missy!


Email me to claim your prize!
Are you looking for some super cute graphics for printing and displaying around your house? Look no further than The Graphics Fairy. There are so many things to choose from with lots of vintage whimsy.

I love this sweet ballerina to frame for my little nuts' bedroom.

What about this to blow up and frame in the dining room?

Or this precious alphabet for a little boy's bedroom?

So now go and waste your Saturday dreaming up all the ways you could accent your home with these awesome graphics!

Giveaway Friday

Its Friday, and I just sort of feel like it so....how about a giveaway?

I have been cooking some new recipes out of this magazine this week. I have been so pleased with the appearance and layout of the entire magazine as well as selection of quality recipes.

I am excited to giveaway:

A 1-year subscription to Cook's Country

Three ways to enter.

1. Leave a comment saying Subscribe Me

2. Become a follower of Deep South Sweets

3. Join the Deep South Sweets' Facebook fan page.

Giveaway ends Friday at 11:00 pm EST with winner announced Saturday AM.

Deep South Eats: Dee's Savory Rice

My fave bloggers over at Lullaby Lubbock have done it again. This time, in the form of their old blog I used to read Crazy Cravings and some of the fabulous recipes they gave out (and yes you must try out the Crock Pot Cobbler). I have been cooking this rice for awhile now and it is just become such a staple. It is very similar in taste to the previous Onion Rice I have posted about, but this is much more hands-off and feeds larger quantities of people.


Ingredients:

• 1 stick of butter, melted
• 1 can french onion soup
• 1 can beef consomme
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup (I prefer the low sodium, low fat since there is plenty of salt from the other two soups)
• 1 can of water
• 1 small can of sliced mushrooms
• 1 1/4 cups of long grain rice

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Mix soups with melted butter and add water. 
• Stir in mushrooms and rice.
• Pour in 9 x 13 casserole dish.
• Bake for 1 hour.

This is great with almost anything. Honey glazed ham on a Sunday - yes. Grilled chicken on a Thursday - yes. Chili on a Wednesday - probably not. Steak on a Friday - yes. If necessary, it tastes just fine without the sliced mushrooms (I have some friends who are not huge fans of the little boogers).

Recipe adapted from Crazy Cravings.

Deep South Eats: Oven Roasted Green Beans

When we used to go out to nicer eating establishments, I noticed that my dear husband loved to order the fresh green beans. It was a food I was not familiar with cooking and maintaining their crispiness. A few years back, I found this recipe in a loaned copy of a Cooking Light cookbook. I made these bad boys and from that point forward we became hooked at our house. There is rarely a week that goes by that these don't grace our plates with their presence.


One of my favorite things is that there are so many ways you can change this up...balsamic vinegar, different herbs and spices, nuts, etc.


Ingredients:

• 1 pound of fresh green beans, washed and trimmed
• 2 teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon of fresh ground pepper
• 1/2 lemon, seeds discarded

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees
• Line a jelly roll pan or rimmed cookie sheet with foil and place in oven for 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile, toss green beans, oil, salt and pepper together until beans are well coated.
• Lay green beans on pan in a single layer.
• Bake for 8-10 minutes or until crisp-tender.
• Upon removing from oven, squeeze lemon juice on top of green beans.

I love these served with toasted walnuts, pecans or almonds. They are even delicious with a little fresh lemon rind or drizzled with balsamic vinegar instead of lemon juice.

Recipe adapted from Cooking Light.

The Sweet Kitchen: Whats on the Menu?

This week is short but sweet as I get back in to the grind after being out of town just in time to leave Friday for Easter in St. Simon's. I picked up a copy of Cook's Country before heading out of town last weekend and was excited to find some excellent recipes to try this week. I can't wait to start cooking them. If you see this great magazine at your local newsstand, pick it up and take a look. You won't be disappointed.

Monday: Tex-Mex Chicken Bake (has tomatoes and black beans in it - yum) with Fresh Fruit

Tuesday (Work Night): Flank Steak with Herbed Potatoes and Green Beans

Wednesday: Balsamic Pork Tenderloin, Corn Casserole, Romaine Crunch Salad

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday, Saturday, Sunday: Vacay!

Hope you all have a wonderful week. As always, copy and paste the picture above to your own blog and leave us a link with what you are having to eat at your house this week!

What is Your Way Friday

I am through and through a breakfast girl. I love it. Can't get enough of it. My dear husband thinks that just a glass of chocolate milk suffices for breakfast of champions...but whatevs. 

I love everything about breakfast. Eggs, french toast, pancakes, waffles, yogurt, fruit, sausage, bacon, biscuits... do you have all day? We could be here awhile listing the favorites. Breakfast, brunch, dinner... they are all acceptable!

But...do you ever get a tad overwhelmed when perusing the cereal aisle?

The choices, the choices. Do you go all healthy with some granola or fruit in your cereal? Or are you a fruity, sugary, cinnamony, chocolatey kind of person? Or do you just settle for the hot stuff?

Me? I am a all-for-one one-for-all kind of girl. I love them all except the raisiny bits. Some weeks I am craving Blueberry Morning with dried blueberries and other weeks I cannot stop thinking about Honey Smacks.

Crazy, random....I know!

So...What is Your Way this Friday with your cereal?

Deep South Eats: Island Chicken

This is one of those recipes that I had to look back and see if I had already published previously. It is a staple dish in our house. As many of my recipes do, I found this over at Annie's Eats and was drawn to it's simplicity. It is truly a fix and forget about it meal. Throw it together in the morning, let marinate all day, and then throw it in the oven when you get ready to cook. Simple, simple, simple. It has an amazing flavor and goes well with almost any side dish.


Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup of vegetable oil
• 3 Tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 1 clove of garlic, minced or pressed
• 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp salt
• Fresh ground pepper
• 2-4 chicken breasts

Directions:

• Combine all ingredients except chicken in a large bowl or ziploc bag. Whisk or shake until well mixed.
• Add the chicken breasts to the bowl or bag and make sure they are covered by marinade.
• If using a bowl cover tightly with plastic wrap and if using a bag press out all additional air and seal.
• Place in refrigerator to marinate up to 10 hours.
• When ready to cook, preheat oven to 350.
• Place chicken breasts in baking dish and pour excess marinade over them (or be lazy and just dump the whole bag contents into the dish and spread the chicken out with a fork).
• Bake for 45 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.
• Remove from oven and let rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Recipe adapted from Annie's Eats with only change being the extra soy sauce (I am a lover of soy sauce).

Deep South Eats: Jamie's Spinach Salad

This salad is perfect for an entree salad with grilled chicken on top or a side. It is great for weeknights and parties. The dressing will keep for a good bit in the fridge but won't last long as you will use it very quickly - it is SO good. My little nut also loves this salad as long as I cut the stems off her spinach.


I was originally introduced by my friend Erin (the mom-to-be of the Pop! shower) to this salad and there are very few group gatherings where this salad isn't a participating guest. I hope this salad finds its way into your repertoire.


Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup of slivered almonds, toasted
• 1 pound spinach, rinsed and torn into bite size pieces
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 2 Tablespoons toasted sesame seeds (you can buy these pre-toasted which I recommend as sesame seeds toast and then burn very quickly)
• 1 Tablespoon of poppy seeds
• 1/2 cup of white sugar
• 2 teaspoons of minced onion
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 cup white vinegar
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

Directions:

• In a large bowl combine spinach, toasted almonds, and dried cranberries.
• In a bottle or bowl combine sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sugar, onion, paprika, vinegars, and oil. Shake (bottle) or whisk (bowl) together to combine well. 
• Toss small amounts with spinach until you achieve your preference of dressing to ingredients.
• May store leftover dressing in refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

I love to use this bottle to mix up and store the dressing. This salad is also really nice to take for meals to people who are "shut-in" i.e. new babies, sick, etc. I just recommend sending the spinach mix and dressing separately.

Recipe adapted from Jamie's Cranberry Spinach Salad at All Recipes.

The Sweet Kitchen: Whats on the Menu?

This week kicks off the next two weeks of insanity. They are full of so many fun things but a jam-packed week can be difficult when it comes to meal planning. I will be out of town for half the week (seeing my most awesome friend in Wichita) so I am planning simple meals that will be already cooked or require little prep that my husband can throw together when he gets home from work. I am sneaking in one new recipe because I just can't resist but putting it on one of my low-key days.

Monday (Work Night): My dear husband and daughter are having a date night while I work the night away at the hospital

Tuesday: Pork Tenderloin with Dijon Marsala Sauce, Rice Pilaf, and Steamed Broccoli

Wednesday: Crock Pot Beef Tips, Egg Noodles, Tossed Salad

Thursday: Poppyseed Chicken, Corn, Broccoli (Leftover from Tuesday Night)

Friday: Pizza, Green Beans, Apple Slices

Saturday: Hot Dogs, Chips, Carrot Sticks and Dip

Sunday: Small Group Meal

As always, grab the picture above and post on your own blog what you're cooking in your home this week!

Saturday Sweets: Moo Cow Ice Cream

On this Saturday, I am driving back from my favorite place on earth. The good news is I will be back in less than 2 weeks for a long Easter vacation - it is my dear husband's favorite holiday by the way. The most exciting part about this recent trip is the discovery of a brand new ice cream shop. I have always said that St. Simons was lacking an extraordinary ice cream place. Nothing says beach quite like a great scoop of ice cream.


Driving in this past Sunday I almost jumped out our car upon seeing this sign:

After doing a little Googling (yes that is a real verb in my dictionary) and Facebooking I discovered that not only is Moo Cow Cream a super cute shop but a little laboratory of ice cream experiments. Their Facebook page comments had me at "candied bacon" ice cream. We ventured out on Wednesday for a little afternoon ice cream treat and it did not disappoint. After the first bite, I wanted to run screaming back into the shop and hug the necks of those glorious ice cream creators (they may have looked at me a little odd and then declare they would send the ice cream to me instead of me ever stepping foot in their shop again).


The flavors we all savored:

• Candied Bacon
• Chocolate Pinot Noir
• Roasted Pistachio
• Brown Butter Pecan
• Guinness
• Summer Strawberry
• Peach
• Cinnamon Buttermilk

They were all incredible and I love the uniqueness of their creations. It calls you to jump out of your chocolate-vanilla comfort chair and leap into a world of unknown. Bottom line: if they had a frequent scoop card, it would be burning a hole in my pocket. If you are headed within 1 hour of St. Simon's anytime soon you must get to Moo Cow Cream whether by boat, car, train, flippers, or your sweet feet. I am already x-ing off the days till I get to step back in the shop and discover a new flavor.

What is Your Way Friday

Here in the South we love our pickles. There are hardly any holiday meals without a relish tray holding a bountiful display of pickles, more pickles, olives, and the make-you-think-we-are-trying-to-be-healthy carrot sticks.

So this week....

With your relish tray?

Bread and Butter?

Dill?

Olives?

Carrot Sticks?

My favorite would be some Pickled Dilled Green Beans (recipe to come).

Deep South Home: Chalkboard Wall

I have this wall at the top of my stairs. It is blank and beige. Daily it calls out to me for some wardrobe advice. Sometimes it is playing the wall collage like this:

Other days it is leaning towards a chalkboard magnetic wall like this:

This girl here is leaning towards the chalkboard with some nice metallic trim and doing the wall collage going up our stairs. My question is....

Do you have a chalkboard wall?

Do you have a love-hate relationship with it in terms of mess?