“I Do!” Cheers to the Happy Couple!

What a wonderful weekend we had!  If you’ve been reading for a while, then you know that we’ve been preparing for my sister Adrienne’s wedding!  It seemed like it was so far away, back when they selected their date, but it finally arrived and it was a fabulous wedding weekend!

The wedding details could take up 5-6 posts, but I’m going to try and squeeze it into two posts!  The festivities all started on Friday morning with manicures for the bridal party… which was really the calm before the storm.  Once nails were done, we were off to the Bridal Luncheon at Brick Street Cafe in Greenville’s West End.

 

The food was delicious—I had a quiche plate! 

It was so much fun seeing everyone, especially all of the out-of-town guests!  We had relatives who came as far as California to be with us!

(photo credit: Meredith)

(photo credit: Meredith)

(photo credit: Meredith)

After the brunch, it was time to get checked into the hotel.  Even though my parents live very close to downtown Greenville (where most of the events were taking place) we all opted to stay at the same hotel with the out-of-town guests.  It made things simple for transportation and it was also fun to have everyone close by.

Soon it was time to rehearse the big event.  All of the wedding party seemed happy and excited!  The bride and groom weren’t nervous at all—they just seemed happy and perfectly calm!

The rehearsal dinner at High Cotton was lots of fun.  It was so much fun to listen to all the toasts and learn about the special connections between the guests and the bride and groom.  My sister Meredith and I, along with the sister and sister-in-law of the groom, created a video of pictures to show everyone, and then we all gave toasts.  It always makes me nervous to give a toast, but everything went smoothly! Whew!

The decor was beautiful.  This is one advantage to getting married during the holiday season.

 

(photo credit: Meredith)

(photo credit: Meredith)

 

It was so nice to spend such a special evening with my two sisters and all of our family!  What a fun celebration!

Stay tuned for Part Two of this post… with some pictures from the big day… the ceremony and the reception! 

More Wedding Prep + Shopping with B, MOB, and Co-MOH

It’s finally here… the big wedding weekend!  I’m so excited!  It was no simple feat getting here.  There were multiple complications ov er the past few days, including…

• a trip to the urgent care center for me (back injury—but feeling better now!)
• a second trip to urgent care for Sadie—ear infection
• A Rehearsal Dinner dress malfunction (mine)
• thwarted shopping trip to Charlotte to get a new dress (an accident caused all lanes to be closed which jammed up traffic for hours)
• a busted hose in my car

However, despite the numerous issues, I made it!  It actually worked out perfectly.  Even though I had so many obstacles getting here, I arrived safely and that is all that matters!  Now I am just waiting on the hus and the munchkin to join the party.

Don’t you love wedding lingo?  In case you’re not versed, here are a few abbreviations I might use over the next couple of days:

The B—The Bride

The B&G—The Bride and Groom

MOB—Mother of the Bride

FOB—Father of the Bride

MOH—Matron of Honor

Today, The B, the MOB, and the 2 MOHs went out to run a few pre-wedding errands.

We stopped by the reception venue to check out the setup… so pretty!  Can’t wait to see it all decorated for our event!

And then we had to run a few errands for hair clips, self tanner, makeup, and earrings and such. 

We made a quick stop for lunch, too—at Cheddar’s.  I had a house salad and Chicken Tortilla Soup.  The soup was great!  Loved all the tiny tortilla chips on top for garnish!

Tonight we are looking forward to some casual family time with the out-of-towners!  Tomorrow the BIG events BEGIN!!!

Wedding Preparations

Hey, does anyone remember back when I used to blog???

It's been so busy lately that I just have been neglecting my blog. I am busy helping my sister Adrienne get ready for her wedding!!! Can you believe it is already time? Last night we ha fun chatting while making ribbon bouquets for the rehearsal.

I will be back soon with more, but just wanted to say hello and announce two winners of the cake giveaway... Oops! I am almost a week late making the announcement!

Kate and Julie, you have won free cake!!! Email me your address at liz@aformercouchpotato.com and I will send you your cake coupons!

2-in-1 Holiday Appetizer

I used to love watching “Quick Fix with Robin Miller” on the Food Network.  The thing that really made me watc h the show was how she would transform the leftovers from dinner into something new and different the next day.  I like meals that you can really get your money’s worth out of. 

Today I would like to show you one of my favorite Holiday appetizer… and the great thing about it is… you have breakfast ready for the morning when you make this app!

These easy Stuffed Mushrooms taste amazing and are sure to be a hit at any holiday party.  They are very hearty and have just the right amount of heat.  I try not to make them all year, so that when I make them during the holidays, they are special!  I first tried a version of these mushrooms at a holiday party a year ago when my friend Tracy made them.  They were a hit!  I made a few adjustments to her recipe to incorporate freshly chopped onion and to stretch the filling, and voila! Appetizer + breakfast!

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground sausage (I recommend Jimmy Dean HOT)

1 small onion, chopped (or 1/2 a medium/large onion)

1 block of light cream cheese

1/2 can 98% fat free cream of mushroom soup

whole mushrooms (bigger than a quarter, up to half dollar sized)

Fresh or dried parsley

Prep:

Begin by prepping the mushrooms.  Pop the stems off, one by one.  This will give you a little “well” to fill.  After the stems are removed, you can wash the mushrooms well.  Set them, well-side down, on paper towels to dry.  They dry the tops.  Allow to stand and dry while you prepare the filling.

Brown sausage with onions in a skillet on medium-high heat.  (Throwing the onions in with the sausage will help soften them and add flavor to the sausage.)  Drain the meat after browning it to get rid of excess fat.)  Reduce heat to low.  Add block of cream cheese and stir while cooking over low heat, until cheese melts and is smooth.  Add the soup and mix well.  Add parsley and mix.

Fill each mushroom with filling.  Then bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until mushrooms are soft and filling is bubbling.

(before baking)

(after baking)

Delicious!  You will not regret making these!  And they taste way more complicated than they actually are! 

But now… you probably have leftover filling.  What do you do with it?  Put it in the fridge.  Tomorrow morning, grab a bagel or English muffin, spread some filling on it, and pop it in the toaster oven.  In just minutes you have a hot, delicious, hearty breakfast!

How was your weekend?  Ours was wonderful!  Here are just a few shots from the past 2 days!

Holiday charity Zumba class!

Coffee…

Warm fuzzy socks…

and time with friends around a fire!

 

Who wants cake??? How about FREE cake??? (Giveaway!)

So... I had a complete brain burst yesterday!  I posted about my Cream Cheese Cherry Cake yesterday.  Did you see it?  If not... click here to view!



This cake was very easy to make, but it was delicious!  Light and fluffy cake with sweet cream cheese filling and decadent cherry topping.  (Don't tell... but I may even eat cake for lunch today!)

So what was my brain burst?  I completely forgot that I was doing a giveaway so that you could make a delicious cake of your own!!! 

I have 4 coupons for free Duncan Hines products.  I am giving away two sets of two coupons.  Why two coupons in a set?  You can use the coupons for cake mix, icing, or the new Glazes that DH has on the grocery shelves now!  So you can have cake AND icing!  (Which... let's face it... is the best part anyway, right?) 

So... you could be the lucky winner of two coupons to make a cake this holiday season!

How can you win?  You can enter up to three times.

1.  For one entry, leave a comment on this post telling me what kind of cake you'd make!
2.  For a second entry, share this giveaway post on Facebook.  (Leave a separate comment telling me that you did this.)
3.  For a third entry, you can tweet about this giveaway on Twitter!  Just share the link with your Twitter followers.  (Leave a separate comment telling me you did this.)

So there you go!  Three chances to win free cake and icing!  I'll randomly draw two winners on Friday afternoon.  Check back to see if you are the winner!

(Thanks to Foodbuzz and Duncan Hines for the coupons!  I received these coupons as a part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program.)

Sometimes Cake is Necessary.

Do you ever have a day where cake is not only welcome but necessary?  Today was one such day for me.  Not so much the whole entire day… but just the afternoon.  The plan for this afternoon? 

1.  Get home and find fun package waiting at door.

2.  Go to the Gym.

3.  Run.

4.  Make dinner with roasted red potatoes.  (Or mashed potatoes.)

5.  Relax.

 

The actual afternoon activities?

 

1.  Get home and open package.  Realize all the contents are listed on packing slip but half of them are not in the actual box.  (Including the one item needed immediately.)

2.  Spend 2 hours on the phone with multiple customer service reps.

3.  Drive to Charlotte to get item that was supposed to be in the box. 

4.  Enjoy dinner with hubs and Sadie at The Flying Biscuit.  (Silver Lining!)

5.  Make cake.  (Because sometimes cake is necessary.)

 

As a part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program, sometimes I receive sample items to try out and provide feedback.  Recently, I was lucky to be chosen to receive Duncan Hines cake mix and a can of Comstock fruit filling.  I knew I wanted to do something with the cherry filling.  Cherry pie has always been one of my favorite desserts!  I wanted to make something using both the cake mix and the filling, so I decided on this layered cherry-cream cheese cake.

Ingredients:

1 box of Duncan Hines White Cake Mix (prepare batter as directed)

1 package light cream cheese

3 Tbsp. granulated sugar

1 can Comstock Cherry Pie Filling (I think strawberry would work well, too!)

 

Prep:

Pour cake batter into two small baking dishes, equally splitting the batter.  (I used two loaf pans.)

Bake 20-25 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

While baking, mix cream cheese and sugar.  Let the mixture sit at room temperature to soften.  (This helps it to be “spreadable.)

Slice the rounded top off of each cake—so that they are flat layer cakes. 

Spread cream cheese mix over top of one cake.  Top with other cake.  (Save the rounded tops to eat later at a stressful moment.)

(If you’re in a hurry—it’s ok if you do a sloppy job.)

Slice and serve with filling on top!

 

Let cake cool completely.

 

Eat cake instead of writing dirty email to company who forgot your items.  (Do that tomorrow instead.)