Bridal Shower Tea

"Mama Watts" (MW) who hosted the bridal tea. Her daughters are the closest thing I have to sisters on the face of this earth. 

I woke up extra early this morning for no real reason in particular. It wasn't a special morning except for the fact that we were planning to visit a new church and maybe do a little shopping. What could it be? And over my quiet little breakfast of oatmeal and banana (while the hubby laid in bed still snoozing) it hit me. Today was my bridal shower tea. Well, today a year ago. And to remember such a special day, I thought I'd share that beautiful occasion. Because a year ago I did not have this blog to share such memories with y'all. (These were taken on my old point and shoot, so I'm sorry to say the detail shots aren't exactly spectacular)

All the china was from MW's own collection. She has been collecting these mix and match pieces for some time now. 

Do you see those scones in the background? Oh, I LOVE scones (one reason I DO NOT keep them in the house...hehe). 

Fortunately I also love fruit, and that I keep lots of in the house. (Would you hate me if I told you I like veggies too? Because I actually do). 

Always experimenting with camera angles. At least now (as of 2 weeks ago) I have an SLR for such photography experiments. It took me a while to save for the SLR, so I'm beyond excited to learn how to use it. 

All the lovely ladies! From left: Elizabeth, Hannah W, Hannah M, Kim, Caitlin, and Liz.

Presents! If only I knew as a bride-to-be how much these gifts would come in handy! Everything counts when you're starting out. 

I ADORE my Pottery Barn Gabriella dish set! Use it for EVERY meal EVERY day. 

And this hangs above our bedroom door. Still love it just as much as the day I opened it. 

*clearing throat* Let's move on to the next gift, shall we?

Tupperware! These I am using all the time! And I consider it a miracle that all of these little Tupperware pieces have returned safe to me from M's lunches (because on occasion he has brought them back a few days late and smelling rather nasty. I'm pretty sure it's a guy thing to leave Tupperware in your desk draw where things might grow in it unwanted. Any of you other ladies have this manism?). 

And there is the sweet Tupperware strange mold grower himself. 

He showed up at the very end. And I love him despite his on occasion forgetting the Tupperwares at the office. Lord knows I have enough faults of my own!

Now this is Caitlin. She was one of my bridesmaids then, and now she's the bride-to-be with a fall wedding date. And I get the pleasure of standing next to her as her Matron of Honor. 

Liz and I acting in a peculiar fashion per usual. 

My Maid of Honor, Kim. 

And just think...we've shared so much over the year- from eating chocolate ice cream and wearing geeky clothes in middle school to celebrating a wedding and marriage. Now when Hannah and Liz marry their Prince Charmings I want first dibs on throwing the showers! 

Squash Lasagna

Here is one of my husband's absolute favorite dinner time recipes that fits quite nicely into our grocery budget. At  a little less than $3 a person this will be one of your favorite recipes too!

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Lightly oil baking pan (I prefer to use two mini-sized pans) with olive oil.

While your oven is preheating, saute about 1/4 of a sliced onion with a little olive oil in a medium sized skillet. 

Add 1/2 pound ground beef. While your meat and onion slices are cooking over medium high heat, pour in enough pasta sauce (I generally use about half the jar) to create your own meat sauce as the beef cooks. Your meat sauce is done once there is no longer any pink on the meat. 

Once done you're ready to layer your lasagna.

You can layer this however you like. I start with a layer of no-bake lasagna noodles, then ricotta cheese, then more noodles, then meat sauce, and finish it up with the squash slices and a drizzle of pasta sauce on top.

Cover with foil and bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes or until lasagna is slightly bubbling. Remove from oven and sprinkle with Grated Parmesan Cheese. 

The lasagna ingredients line-up:

Noodles: $0.50*

Squash: $1.50

Ricotta Cheese: $0.80*

Pasta Sauce: $1.00*

Ground Round Beef: $1.94*

Kraft Grated Parmesan Cheese: $0.15*

Grand Total for Lasagna for Two (plus enough leftover for one lunch): $5.89

And a little tulip table decor courtesy of my sweet husband. 

*Only parts of the starred (*) items were used in this recipe. Therefore I divided the actual cost for the ingredient by the amount of that ingredient actually used in this recipe. (does that make sense? Let me know if it doesn't) 

The whole prices of the ingredients are as follows:

-No-boil lasagna noodles $1.99 at Whole Foods

-Ricotta cheese (RBGH free, no growth hormones used in these cows!) $2.19 at Whole Foods

- Newman's Own Tomato Basil Organic Pasta Sauce $1.98 at Target

-Ground Round Beef $3.89 per pound at Target

-Kraft Grated Parmesan Cheese $3.00 at Target

-Yellow squash $1.50 at Whole Foods

How To Cut A Pineapple

Well, things are getting back to normal... Thanks everyone for the prayers and support for my Dad. He's doing well. I thought I'd get back to a little everyday blogging and try out a new template. What do you think? It needs more work, but I'll get around to it...

Once the weather warms up, I start buying a pineapple every few weeks. It's a yummy sweet treat once it ripens. And I've had several friends ask me how to cut a pineapple. I mean, in the age of canned pineapple it's no wonder we don't think it grows in jars!

And how do you know once the pineapple is right? It'll be yellow on the outside. But the best way to check is to give one of the leaves a nice tug. If it pulls out that means the pineapple is ready to be cut. 

Here are my easy steps in a (hopefully) helpful how-to format:

First lay the pineapple on its side. Then using a knife cut off the top of the pineapple. 

Cut off the bottom.

Then (with a firm grip and fingers out of the way!) cut down the sides of the pineapple to remove the rest of the spiky pineapple exterior. 

You may need to a do a little extra trimming around the top and bottom edges. 

Laying the pineapple on its side again, cut slices about an inch thick. 

Cut around the small hard center core of the slices. 

Pop out the center core and viola...

You've got a delicious (and party hors d'oeuvres worthy snack). 

Happy Pineappling. How do you enjoy your pineapple? Let me know some good ideas. I think it's extra tasty on pizza.