Cooking

Looking for name change advice or some tips for newlywed life? The MissNowMrs experts have created state-specific name change articles and checklists for you. We’ve chronicled our recommendations for how to travel while changing your name AND how to handle voting during the transition.

We’ve also compiled our best guidance for how to handle difficult sister in laws, holidays as newlyweds, the ever-annoying baby questions, and much more. Why? Because, while we are name change experts, we’re also newlywed wives, moms, and sisters.

We hope our name change advice articles help smooth your transition to your new name, and a whole new phase of life. Congratulations and best wishes from the entire MissNowMrs team!

Holiday Cocktail Recipes for Newlyweds

Tis the season for holiday cocktail recipes! After shopping, wrapping, cooking, and traveling, it can also be a stressful time as you figure out your holiday plans with both families. So, if you need a cup of cheer (read alcoholic beverage) to make the next few weeks more manageable, or if you are entertaining guests, below is a fabulous recipe for a Karma Apple Cocktail. It’s simple to create, and brings together the flavors of caramel, apple, and cardamom. Consider it comfort and joy in a glass!

Karma Apple Cocktail
Makes 1 serving
2 oz. applejack brandy
2 oz. salted caramel vodka
4 oz. spiced apple cider
1/8 – 1/16 tsp. cardamom
1/2 cup ice
Garnish: thin slice of green or red apple
Shake together the first four ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Pour over ice into a lowball glass and garnish with a thin slice of apple. Make one for a friend, too, to ensure good karma.

Interested in more amazing yet easy holiday cocktail recipes? Visit TheScramble.com! You’ll find endless unique recipes for beverages and food. More of a cooking video gal? Check out The Scramble channel on YouTube. You’re welcome and happy holidays!

Photo & Recipe credit: The Scramble

3 Dessert Recipes that Guarantee a Fantastic Fourth of July!

Looking for Fourth of July dessert recipes? One of my all-time favorite holidays is the Fourth of July! No major family expectations to live up to as newlyweds (like Thanksgiving or Christmas), just fun with friends celebrating our country’s independence with food and fireworks. Whether you’re throwing your first BBQ as newlyweds or attending someone else’s shin-dig, here are 3 awesome recipes for Fourth of July treats!

Quick & Easy – Jello Fire Cracker Shots are tiny red white and blue mouthfuls of fun…with or without alcohol. If you’re stumped on what to bring to a friend’s BBQ, you honestly can’t go wrong with this recipe. It took me all of 30 minutes to complete and they look exactly like the photo on the recipe. P.S. they’re also incredibly budget friendly (2 boxes of jello, milk and an envelope of unflavored gelatin)!

Ready to Impress – Are you confident in the kitchen and looking for the ultimate Fourth of July dessert to wow guests? This American Flag Cake looks amazing and difficult, but if you study the recipe it all comes down to how you layer colored cakes to make every slice a piece of patriot pride (seriously…every slice looks like an American flag…check out the photo above)!

Healthy Choice – Trying to avoid gaining the newlywed 15? This recipe for an angel food cake layered with lemon curd and berries is low in calories but high in taste. It’s also quick to assemble and can even be done with a store-bought cake!

However you spend Fourth of July this year, count yourself blessed to be celebrating independence with the person you chose to love and marry! What dessert recipes will you be using? Please share in a comment!

Newlywed Chicken: 3 Totally Different Meals Fast

You’ve heard of engagement chicken, but what about newlywed chicken? Did you envision preparing elaborate and elegant meals when you got married? Thought you’d give Martha a run for her money? Me too.

In reality, it can be very stressful to figure out what you and your spouse will eat every night all week/all month/all year. Here’s an idea that can jump-start your planning this week or rescue you when you feel uninspired or overwhelmed. A chicken is my solution. Yes, a whole roaster chicken cooked on Sunday so you have time to prepare it.

Meal 1: Roasted Chicken with Mashed Potatoes and Veggies

Roast* your chicken in the oven for the amount of time specified on the label. I suggest liberally shaking kosher salt on the inside and outside first. You can also mix crushed garlic and herbs ,such as sage and thyme, with a tablespoon of butter and slide this under the upper skin of the chicken (it’s sort of like giving it implants). This ensure a moist well-flavored chicken. While it roasts you can whip up mashed potatoes and any vegetable you have on hand. Have you heard the expression “winner winner chicken dinner”? That is how your spouse is going to feel about this classic home cooked meal!

*If you’re too busy to roast a chicken, you can put it in your crockpot for 4 hours. Just add 1 cup of chicken broth so it doesn’t stick to the bottom.

Meal 2: Layered Chicken Enchilada Bake

Shred ½ of the remaining chicken and make this quick layered chicken three cheese enchilada recipe. It takes 10 minutes to assemble and 30 minutes to bake. Blend some margaritas while it’s cooking and you’ll have an instant fiesta dinner!

Meal 3: Spicy Asian Chicken Noodle Soup

Shred the remaining newlywed chicken and use it to make Asian chicken noodle soup. If your spouse is like mine, soup doesn’t count as dinner, so you may want to make this for both of you for lunch. Here’s the recipe adapted from The Londoner Blog:
Ingredients:
Splash of sesame oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
4 spring onions, chopped
2 handfuls of shredded chicken
2.5 cups chicken stock
1 cup boiling water
Piece of ginger about the size of your thumb, thickly sliced
3/4 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp of soy sauce
1 handful fresh cilantro, chopped
1 red chili, chopped
1 can of sweet corn
1 big handful of thin noodles (I use somen noodles..but any will work)

Directions:
Put a saucepan onto medium heat and add a few splashes of sesame oil, add your garlic until it starts to sizzle. Stir it around a bit & add your spring onions. Fry until they start to soften.
Toss in the chicken and stir to make sure it gets nicely coated in the oil & garlic. Pour in your stock & boiling water. Add your ginger slices, fish sauce, soy sauce, coriander & chili. Just before it comes to the boil add your sweet corn & noodles. Boil 2 more minutes and serve immediately.

So, from one newlywed chicken on Sunday you ended up with 3 completely diffent meals for the two of you. Not a bad way to begin the week! It took me longer than I care to admit to figure out how to utilize one ingredient a few different ways to make quick and interesting dinners for 2. I also thew out a lot of leftovers and felt badly about it.

I hope you and your spouse enjoy these dishes and that he washes them!

Kitchen Chaos: Newlywed in the Kitchen

Newlywed kitchen chaos happens. Everyone needs to and typically loves to eat. Getting married and cooking together should be no big deal right?

There are all sorts of hang ups and stigmas that can appear once you’re married and sharing a kitchen. There are the sexist concepts from long ago, such as a woman’s place is in the kitchen or barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen depending on who you’re speaking with. There is also what you consider normal kitchen roles based on both of your childhood observations of parents. Add busy work schedules into the mix and you could be headed into kitchen chaos.

My newlywed kitchen chaos was 100% my own creation. My husband walked in the door on a Friday night to find me face down, crying on the carpet. After pulling a 60 hour work week I was frustrated that the roasted chicken wasn’t going to be ready the moment he came home from work. He calmly took me out for Chinese and got to the root of the problem: I was trying to be my mom. She is an amazing cook and always had a gourmet dinner on the table at 5:15pm. The fact I overlooked was that she was a stay at home mom and had more time to prepare family meals.

Newlyweds, learn from my mistake. Discuss which of you can actually cook (take out on plates does not count) and decide what the other spouse can do to help. If you both cook, it may be easiest to alternate nights instead of collaborating. My mother’s marinara recipe versus your Nonna’s can be one ugly argument.

Whatever kitchen formula you come up with, just make sure that it is fair to both partners and results in a meal that allows you to enjoy each other’s company and reconnect after your day.