First Wedding Pic!

I am headed out for St. Lucia in the morning with my hubby! A few friends and family have already posted a few pictures to facebook so I just had to throw one quick pic up! I have so many pictures to put up when I get back.

Dried Cranberry and Blue Cheese Chicken Salad

Less than a week until my wedding.  Today a dear friend came over to help me fold all of my wedding programs and I made this for lunch for us.  This is my new favorite type of chicken salad.  I am a chicken salad fiend!  While I am on the subject of superb chicken salads before I put my own creation up, I want to call your attention to two types of specialty chicken salad that the Publix grocery stores deli section now occasionally carry:  Mango Lime Cilantro Chicken Salad and Almond Tarragon Chicken Salad.  They are both amazing and I encourage you to try them.  I may try to make my own versions of them soon.  

This chicken salad is very easy.  I got the inspiration for it by eating a delicious blue cheese chicken salad at Emma's Tearoom in Huntsville:  http://www.emmastearoom.com/Todays_Menu.html  If you are in the Huntsville 5-points area, you should check them out. 

With all chicken salads, you add ingredients to your taste and the exact measurements of items are really irrelevant, but I will try to approximate on this one.  

DRIED CRANBERRY AND BLUE CHEESE CHICKEN SALAD

1 small rotisserie roasted chicken de-skinned and chopped up or 3 baked boneless skinless chicken breasts cut up

1 cup finely chopped celery

1/2 cup toasted walnuts

1 cup blue cheese crumbles (or 1/2 cup strong creamy roquefort) (I love blue cheese so I put more)

1 granny smith or gala apple finely chopped

1/2 cup dried craisins (cranberry)

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

1/4 tsp celery seeds

1 cup light mayonnaise (Duke's is my favorite)

Mix all ingredients together and let sit in the refrigerator at least 4 hours.  I think chicken salads are always better made several hours to a day or two ahead.  I served mine on croissants today with a serving of fresh sliced Baldwin County strawberries.  I picked them up at Burris Farm Market in Loxley, AL coming back from the beach not long ago. 

I got this French transferprint plate this past weekend at an estate sale for $1.  I think it is so pretty.  I looked up the maker's mark and found out it is from around 1928. 

Launching My Own Etsy Store: Mullican & Davenport

A few weeks ago I decided to launch an Etsy store with 10 items as an experiment to see how I would do.  I ended up selling 5 of those items in just a few weeks so I have decided to officially open a shop and have now added more items to it. Every Saturday, I love going to estate sales and I tend to find very unusual paper and kitchen items. I also need to do quite a bit of purging withing my own personal collection.  I am getting married in a few days and potentially moving in the next several months.  This has also helped inspire me to get rid of a few things and making a few extra bucks. I will try not to spend it buying gourmet food and more collectibles! :) Please visit my shop:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/MullicanXDavenport

To celebrate the opening of my store, for the next two months, the coupon code:  MXD25AL will take 25% off the purchase total before shipping costs.  Thanks for looking!

She's Hooked Bachelorette Party: Pajama and Spa (Rice Krispy Sushi)

How cute is this invite?  My maid of honor, Anna M (below), is very creative and came up with this idea!

Here she is posing with the adorable party favors.  She took fish bowl shaped wine glasses and used opaque glass paint to paint all the girls initials which made the glasses look engraved and then filled with with nail polish and an emory board!  So friggin cute!  

Candy Sushi made out of Rice Krispy treats, fruit rollups, and Swedish fish!  So sweet and cute!

More themed yummies: here are gummy worms, swedish fish, and sour gummy fish. 

The delicious drinks: Sangria, Lemonade, and Anna's Signature Concoction Beer Lemonade.  I know that combo sounds strange, but I promise that the mixture of light beer and concentrated lemonade mix gives this drink a great depth of taste with bubbles.  Don't knock it until you try it, this stuff is delicious!

I could shoot myself for not getting a group picture of all the girls for this one.  

We all did self manicures, pedicure, and some tried the fun peel off mask.  I can remember doing those during childhood sleepovers. A very relaxing evening with great friends that gave me such beautiful gifts!

Kitchen Shower in Huntsville

This weekend my moma's besties threw me a beautiful kitchen shower in Huntsville, AL. Below is a picture of me with all the lovely hostesses (Sonia, Me, Joyce, Sharon, Jan, and Debbie).  Everything was so brightly colored and beautiful and I can't wait to start using all my new kitchen items. 

Note: To see pictures bigger, click on them once.

So pretty with all the cut glass serving ware and the glass plates.

Debbie got my favorite petit fours from Peggy Ann's Bakery in Huntsville, AL. 

Jan arranged the beautiful utensil bouquet with Gerber daisies inside my Target utensil holder. I get to keep the pretty tablecloth too.  I now have the whole black iron set: utensil holder, spoon rest, cookbook holder, napkin holder and trivet in black. 

Sonia made these beautiful white chocolate mints!  Aren't these too cute?  I brought the leftovers home to my fiance and he has already eaten half of these.  Love anything with monograms.

Joyce made these cute little fruit cake bars.  Served on an antique silver plate folding tray. I love these trays but they are hard to find.  I have one as well but mine is desperate need of a re-silverplating.

Sharon made the delicious mexican dip! So colorful.

Butterfinger trifle made by Debbie.  This is my mom's favorite.

Didn't quite take the picture at the right time but this is my favorite punch!  Same punch I made in the halloween post:  Lime Sherbert, Pineapple Juice, and Ginger Ale. I have heard it called Methodist Punch and Funeral Punch.

When people received their invites they were mailed two recipe cards that they were to donate recipes to me on.  I got some really great ones I can't wait to try.

My sister-in-law Laura: she was a great picture taking and gift-writing helper. Love this pic!

Me doing an almost cheesecake pose next to all the pretty presents.  Thanks for the Jessica Simpson shoes Gloria! They were a hit and got lots of compliments.

Me making a silly face( the ohhhh I love my present face, I really did!) but it is the only shot I got of me and my moma (in red).  Look at those three cute pairs of shoes! Jan in black was my unwrapping helper, she is also my awesome wedding coordinator.

I had a wonderful time. Thanks you so much to all the hostesses and guests!

Maple Ham and Sweet Potato Biscuits with Carmelized Onion, Fig, and Ground Mustard Compote

This sweet potato ham biscuit is my newest go-to staple recipe for Brinner.... yes, breakfast for dinner, which was what my mom was kinda craving for dinner tonight.  I am staying in Huntsville for the weekend to run several wedding errands and tomorrow I get to go to another fabulous bridal shower that some of my mom's best friends are throwing so be sure to look for the new post tomorrow night! 

I have had ham and sweet potato biscuits several times at different shower events and they are usually very dry with little flavor. After a couple trial runs of trying to make a better biscuit, this is what worked the best for me.  This recipe is sure to not disappoint, it is packed with flavor, and is the perfect moist biscuit recipe to make for wedding showers, teas, and baby showers as well as the occasional brinner.

MAPLE HAM AND SWEET POTATO BISCUITS

1 package Maple Ham (at least 8 sliced cut into 4 wedges)

2 packages Jiffy Buttermilk biscuit mix

1 box Betty Crocker mashed sweet potato (use 1 bag)

1 1/2 cup of milk

1 large vidalia onion (chopped up medium small)

2 tablespoons Inglehoffer stone ground mustard

2 tablespoons fig preserves

2 tablespoons butter

Place onions and butter in a small frying pan and cook over medium heat for about 30 minutes stirring occasionally until all the onions are a nice carmelized color.  I usually like it even darker than what I did today but I was trying to get done faster.  Once carmelized, turn the heat off and add the mustard and fig preserves, stir well and let sit.  Sometimes I like to add a tablespoon of Jack Daniels a few minutes before I turn off the heat, adds just a bit extra sweet smoky-ness.

Follow directions to make the instant sweet potatoes, I add about 1/2 cup more milk than what the package says.  I really like to use the instant mashed potatoes better in this because it has flavorings already in the package that makes the biscuits have a great flavor (brown sugar, vanilla).  It is also much much faster! I have tried the Bruce's brand sweet potato biscuit mix before and I like this version better.

Mix together the two jiffy packs, the entire bowl of mashed potatoes, and 1 cup of water.  Knead together with your hands until all the flour is combined.  Dust a surface and pat the dough out.  I didn't need a rolling pin for mine, pat out to about 1/2 inch.  Then lightly dust the top and cut with either a biscuit cutter or a floured drinking glass.  

Place on a non-greased baking pan and bake at 450*F for about 10-12 minutes.  Mine took 12 minutes.  When they come out of the oven, brush the tops with butter.  As you can see if you have flour marks on the top of your biscuits, the butter makes that go away and makes them very pretty.

Let cool for 5 minutes, cut in half with a knife, layer two sliced of maple ham and top with 1 tablespoon of your onion mixture.  For me this recipe made 18 biscuits.  I promise the flavor combo on this is to die for!