Husband's Key Lime Birthday Suprise

It's Husband's 24th birthday today! In his honor, I'm baking one of his favorite's-

Key Lime Pie

I have a favorite (simple) recipe that never fails, Southern Living Cookbook's Key Lime Pie.

The ingredients:

• 3 Large Egg Yolks
• ½ cup Key Lime Juice
• 1 Can Sweetened Condensed Milk
• ¼ Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• Pinch of salt
• 1 ready made 6-9 oz Graham Cracker Crust
• Garnishes: Whipped Cream (with a Stabilizer), Berries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Whisk together the egg yolks and lime juice.  Add the condensed milk, vanilla, and salt.  Whisk until blended.  I added just a tinsy bit of green and blue food coloring...for, you know, fun.



Pour the tasty goop into the pie shell (baked for just a few minutes beforehand) and pop it into the oven for 10-15 minutes.  Pull it out when the top is slightly jiggly, but not runny. 

Watch your crust!  If your oven is anything like the oven we have here in the nest, your crust could burn in just a few minutes. Be sure to have foil on hand to cover pies.

Let the pie completely cool before adding garnishes. 

Theres' nothing better than homemade whipped cream.  And nothing easier. 

Whipped cream

Ingredients:

• 1 Pint Heavy Cream
• Powered Sugar
• Vanilla to Taste
• Stabilizer (I like to use Dr. Oetker's Whip It)

Pour the cream into your stand mixer or bowl with hand mixer and whisk for 1 minute until bubbles begin to form.  Add the powered sugar to taste ( I typically use a half cup per pint).  Add vanilla to taste, typically a half tablespoon.  Quickly add the stabilizer before peaks form in the whipping cream.  Don't over beat.  Stop before the peaks begin to separate.

Wow that was easy.  And look what a pretty pie it makes.

Happy Birthday!

Etsy Find of the Day

Vintage blue glass canisters from Barnshop Antiques . 

There are roughly about a thousand and three things to with empty glass jars, here are just a few of my favorites:

 Showing off your rad crafting supplies 



  Candle Holder. ...Hey, those look familar.

Have a garden anywhere.

This makes even the fussiest flowers look laid back.

The Curious Case of Changing Colors

The fireplace was disagreeable. Unlikeable. Ugly. Especially after covering the walls with lovely shades of blue and green, the dark red tiles that had never been updated stuck out like dreadlocks at the Republican National Convention.

They had to go.

Seeing as the nest is rented… replacing, painting, re-grouting, or removing were not on the books. Fortunately, the use of removable adhesive vinyl is not taboo according to the rental agreement.

6 hours and 27 sheets of 12"x6" white sticky vinyl later.... it was 'bye bye barf' and 'hello, lovely'.

Only You Can Prevent Wildfires....and Make This Album...

Thanks to Vince Emmett over at Melody Hill Farm,  The Wallings Jr. are finally on track towards making our professional debut album (the title of which remains a secret).  The main tracks are laid, the cover art is in progress, and now we need your help to get some session players.

We've started a fund raiser over at Indie go-go, pop on over to our page for more detailed information.

Check out our preliminary fund raiser video-

The important thing to remember is- if you help us out, you get stuff.  Its that simple.  Donate today.

Always Remember...

Studio Mela

You Really Should Read This.

Some people claim that Blogs are dead.

Obviously, I would disagree.  And so should you, seeing as you are reading one of the many FANTASTIC blogs on Al Gore's Internet.  Aside from the 'Nest, here's another not-dead blog you should read if the moment strikes you...Songs for Now . 

SFN is Husband's songwriting blog.  If you find the process of writing interesting or just want to hear a great tune, check into it from time to time. 

Also, Husband writes about me a lot....and I really like that.

Oh the Updates

Hey Folks,

We've been neglecting you, haven't we?  Life has a way of putting things in perspective, and for the last few months, blogging just hasn't been top dog.  But don't worry, I've been making lots of things, Husband has been writing losts of songs, and together we've been making pies and slowly expanding our waistlines.  And now that life has settled just a little bit, we can continue sharing our nest with you.

To make up for our terrible lack of updates, here are a few lovely bridal pictures from Red,White, and Green Photography (whom we love very much):





More to come.

Makin' a Pie for Fourth of July

This was my afternoon before the fun began:

A Red, White, and Blueberry pie!  (Actually, its a Strawberry-Blueberry pie, but it's definitely not as cute)

Annnnnnd Baked:

Happy Fourth!