Once Upon a Happily Ever After: The Princess and the Frog

Week 2:

I've been in Florida all this week for work and I was having nightmares about beignets. I know, I am weird. I kept being reminded,just when I was about to forget, about the perils that lie in front of me. For example, while I was in the hotel gym on the treadmill, guess what I saw on the TV? So You Think You Can Dance.....New Orleans. Sigh, o well the time flew by fast and here we are at NOLA night (it is even humid out today)!

Justice and I have both been to New Orleans, so I knew I had to represent the Crescent City's food as best I could (I know, no PoBoys or Muffalettas...I already had enough challenges though!). Here was the big, but not so easy menu inspired by the Big Easy:

For the gumbo (which was mentioned several times...Tiana's dad's gumbo pot, Mama Odie's bathtub, swamp gumbo for Louis, etc.) I used a recipe I received from a friend/co-worker in Houston. I would post it, but I'm not sure if I am allowed.

If the beignets made me nervous, I should've been terrified of this...the roux...let's just say Justice and I both attempted and, just when we were about to give up, I got it to look less like scrambled eggs and more like chocolate sauce (happy clap)! The reaction pictures were taken, but I will spare you guys my face. I'm not sure its internet appropriate! Yes, I did sing a bit..."gumbo, gumbo in my pot..."!

For the king's cake (which pays homage to Big Daddy as King of the Mardi Gras parade and Prince Naveen's heritage), I decided to make it even more fun. Justice likes miniature things, so I made them "firefly friendly". I,also, decided to put coins in some of the cakes (instead of a plastic baby).Here is the special part. Each color of Mardi Gras, purple, green, and gold, stands for something. Purple stands for justice, green for faith, and gold represents power. I made a deal with Justice that, if he found the purple coin (without cheating), I would get him a small surprise from Amazon (his favorite place to shop..haha). I chose the purple coin to represent "the baby", because it is our wedding color and justice's namesake. He kept trying to see which cakes I folded the coins into which he could still see, because little glimpses of color could be seen no matter how much I manipulated the dough(words to the wise, it is hard to fold a coin into a small king's cake). So, until I could ice them and cover over the coins completely, I "hid" the cakes under a paper towel.

Here is the site for the recipe from Pillsbury (very simple..thank goodness):

Here is the finished product!

I swear there is gold on there, it just faded into the white icing a bit. I, also, tried to ice it like a "pinwheel" like a classic king's cake, but sprinkles are gonna go where sprinkles want to go. I tried to stop it..I really did.., but in the end, I just let the sprinkles fall where they may.

Justice did find the purple coin. I helped him by accidently telling him the coins wouldn't fit in the small ones...oops, but he did the rest by himself. I asked him how he picked "the baby" and he said, knowing me, it would be the one I would think was the "prettiest". Yup, he knows me. Right on the money (pun intended).

Ok, here we go, the moment you all were waiting for and that I was dreading attempting. The Cafe Du Monde beignets.

Justice helped me out with these (I guess they really are "man-fetching", Miss Charlottle) and threw in a surprise of his own. He had ordered a Mickey egg ring off of Amazon and used it to cut the beignet dough! AHH!!! Needless to say, I was even more determined than before to make these beignets work. They turned out a little thicker than I'd like and if I owned a fryer (which I have since added to my registry),it would definitely be the way to go! However, even I couldn't totally screw up the goodness of mini Mickeys covered in powdered sugar. Here comes the mouse: