Now, to the awesomeness that was girls night out!

This was the last one at my house since we are moving, so it was bitersweet, but fun regardless!

I decided last minute to go with a “Cajun/Mardi Gras” theme for the food, and less of an amount. Now, if you guys remember, I did this for the kids, but less spice and booze. LOL. I wanted to challenge myself in trying out new methods and tastes, as always.

This was no different.

Now, I’m a huge fan of Jambalaya. Zatarian’s is normally a staple around here during the school year, but since it was summer vacation, I figure to try at making it myself. Now one of the first challenges was to make it without pork or seafood. I chose chicken thighs, chicken andouille sausages, and chicken apple sausages. I wanted a different for the taste, but something I knew I could have and cook for the kids.

My combo came out great! Needs more seasonings, but it was great! All fresh ingredients, and into the crockpot it went. 4 hours later we had a winner.

We needed side dishes. I wanted something spicy too. I made sweet and spicy greens and creole fried rice.

It was so good you guys, and girls loved it, with the spicy cornbread. Now, the cornbread is so easy.

Jiffy Mix+Cheese+Chiles/Jalapenos= Spicy goodness!

Now, the cake was a recipe I tried from someone else, but it was good. I left it too long, but the inside was awesome. It was a bourbon cake. It does hit you after a certain point, but well worth it.

Two Ton Bourbon Cake

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 3/4 bourbon(I used Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey)
3/4 cup milk @ room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups butter, soften to room temperature
1 pound dark brown sugar
6 eggs, room temperature
2 pounds chopped pecans
7 ounces pecan halves

Now, as you guys know, I may write these recipes, one rule remains: if you can’t find the exact ingredients, you roll with it, and make that ish work!

Make sure to heat the oven @ 350 degrees.

Sift flour and nutmeg together. In another bowl, mix 3/4 cup of bourbon, the milk, and vanilla.

In a mixing bowl, beat butter until creamy. Add brown sugar and beat until fluffy. Add fggs to mixture, one egg at a time. Slowly mix bourbon mix and flour mix into sugar/egg mix. Use a wooden spoon to mix the pecan pieces into the batter.

Grease your angel food cake or bundt cake really well. I used Pam non stick coconut spray. Worked fantasic! Pour pecan halves into the pan first, then pour mix into the pan and cover with foil, and bake for an hour and 40 minutes. Check, and remove foil and bake for another 20 minutes. Remember to set the timer, for you’ll burn the cake like I did. LOL.

Once it bakes and cools, remove from the pan, and pierce the cake. Pour the remaining bourbon over the cake.

I warn you, eat a good meal before serving this cake. It goes well with vanilla bean or salted caramel ice cream!

This time I didn’t really make any drink ahead of time, kinda just took request. I made a purple rain cocktail, which was awesome, and some other cocktails and chatted a little bit over just about everything. I’m gonna miss my group of friends I made here, but we always have facebook, text, phone, and email, and I can always visit them once we get settled and such.

Anywho, the dinner was awesome, and I’ll be making some tweaks to the recipes, but they are keepers!

Enjoy this recipe, and let me know wat you think!

~CSM~