Healthy Spaghetti

How come I didn't know about spaghetti squash before now?  Holy cow, it's amazing.  As if spaghetti couldn't get any quicker to make, along came the spaghetti squash and made spaghetti quicker AND healthier!  I really don't like squash, but this kind I can handle.  And since it's so easy to make, I can give you the recipe all in 3 simple photos!



Step 1:  Cut spaghetti squash lengthwhise and clean out seeds.  Cook in oven for 30-40 minutes at 375. Or you can cook it in the microwave in about 5 minutes - just put the squash (rind side up) in a bowl with a little water in the bottom.



Step 2: When the insides are soft, run a fork along the sides, and the squash separates into perfect spaghetti strands




Step 3:  Looks just like spaghetti!  Top it with whatever you'd normally put on the pasta stuff.  I love it served back in the shell, like the first photo.



Magnet Boards

My new favorite craft is magnet boards.  I'm just loving them right now.  I made one to cover an empty wall and to get all the craziness off of our refrigerator.  I love it.  It's in the perfect spot in our house to remind us of upcoming events and I can keep my kitchen looking uncluttered at the same time.

For a bridal shower gift, I made this cute little magnet recipe holder.  I love it too.  It's so perfect to hold a recipe on your counter while you're preparing dinner.

While buying stuff for the recipe holder, I just couldn't pass up getting supplies for another one.  This one can hold whatever you want it to.  I'm not sure if I'll keep this one or give it away yet.  Have I told you about my  new favorite store?  If you're in the Salt Lake area, and want a place for wood crafts, take a look at The Wood Connection.  I love everything there! 

And of course, no magnet board is complete without some magnets!  These were all made using glass beads with scrapbook paper modge-podged on the back or bottle lids covered with scrapbook paper.  Super easy!

How to Get a Man in the Kitchen

One of our very favorite things to cook together is creme brulee.

I love it because it's a dish that takes total perfection to get it just right.  The ingredients have to be mixed just perfectly, the custard has to be set just right after baking.  There are a lot of variables for it to turn out well.  And I love finding ways to garnish the dish so it looks beautiful when served.

My husband loves making it for this one reason:



The cooking torch

He loves using our cooking torch to melt the sugar on the top.  What man doesn't love an excuse to have an open flame?

ABC Bridal Shower

I've been busy the last month planning a bridal shower.  Now that it's over, I can post the full deal.

The bride-to-be is a schoolteacher, and we really loved the idea of an "ABC Shower" theme. Here are the invitations we sent out:

I love the poem on the invitation - it was a combination of ideas I found online, with some additions and revisions of my own.  Truthfully, I would have done the invitations differently to match the theme, but I didn't get my decor idea until after the invitations were sent out.  Oh well, live and learn.

The ABC theme was so much fun!  The gifts guests brought were so creative, and once I thought about the decorations, they were so easy to come up with (hence why I wished I would have thought about them before the invitations were sent out).  Here are a few photos of the day:


The banners were made out of old dictionary pages I cut and fanned.  I also had dictionary pages, cut in triangles, and hanging around the room, but I didn't get a good photo of those.



Close-up of the Wedding banner.



The dessert table!



To fit with the ABC theme, I made these labels for all the treats.  





Close-up of some desserts. 

This is a new recipe I tried, I found the recipe in the latest Better Homes & Garden magazine. 

The bars were so delicious! I am making these again!



Basket of advice for the bride.





Party favors for the guests.  Purses made out of cute paper, with some treats inside.



The shower turned out fabulous.  We ate, visited, played a couple of simple games, and she opened presents.  Wow! Some people are soooo creative with the letters they received.  It was so fun to see everyone's creativity. 

For the games, I found a simple page online with random items listed, and guests marked what of the items they had in their purses.  Different points were assigned to each item, and the winner got the prize.  Crazy what we women carry around in our purses!!  The second game was a "TV Show Couples" game.  I named a couple, and guests had to write down what tv show the couple was from.  Everyone did so much better than I would have done at that game!  I had a third game planned but we didn't end up playing it.  It was "Scattergories" game basically.  You know, since the theme was all about the alphabet :)

All in all, the bridal shower was such a success!  I love the "themed" bridal shower - it made everything so fun, and so easy to tie everything together and look great!  Hope you enjoyed seeing my ideas!

I'm linking to these parties:

Keeping It Simple
The DIY Showoff