Parma Rosa Spaghetti Squash

So, it has literally been month since I've posted anything about cooking. It's not that I haven't been cooking, it's just that I haven't really had the time to be all that creative with our meals, to document it! So, this next recipe is one of our household favorites. It's actually quite easy and can be made in 30 min or less.

The Ingredients:
1 med spaghetti squash
1 pkg Knorr brand Parma Rosa sauce mix
1 lb ground turkey
shredded Parmesan cheese
Italian spices (I usually use oregano, basil, salt, pepper, onion and garlic powder - all dried herbs are fine)

How to make it:
Cut the spaghetti squash in half and remove the seeds and stringy parts of the flesh. Lightly coat it with olive oil (I like to keep the new spray kind around for things like this) and put it in the microwave flesh side up. Cook on high for about 20-25 minutes or until the flesh feels soft and strings when you run a fork across it. You can also bake the squash in the oven (this is what the directions say to do), but in the middle of the week I just don't have time to wait for it to bake fully and it comes out just as good in the micro. (Sometimes I put it under the broiler for a minute or two after it comes out of the microwave to brown up some of the edges a bit, but this step isn't a must.)

While the squash is cooking, brown the turkey in a pan and spice with the dried herbs and spices to taste. Follow the directions on the Parmarosa sauce packet, but wait to do this until the squash is finished cooking. Once the sauce is started, scrape the squash out of the shell with a fork and into a big serving bowl. It should string into noodle-like pieces as you run the fork across the flesh.

Drain and excess liquid from the turkey and add to the squash. When sauce is ready add to the squash and turkey mixture and toss with a pair of tongs. Top it with a little shredded Parmesan cheese and that's dinner! We usually always pair this dish with a green veggie to make sure we are covered in food groups, and sometimes I add a little red pepper flake to the turkey to make the dish a little spicy if I'm in the mood!

Try it the next day as left-overs for lunch too. Even if you aren't a big squash eater (which to be honest, I am not), you'll like this dish.

Happy eating!

Engagement Photo Fun

Well, our wedding has come and gone and was truly the most spectacularly, perfect day that I could ever have imagined! We worked so hard on every little detail and it made for a beautiful, special and personal day. I am so excited to start sharing all of our work and details with you, and thought it would be appropriate to start with our engagement photos!

We had the pleasure of working with the most amazing photographers, Emily and Brett Faulknor of Emily Faulknor Photography for both our wedding and engagement shoots! After weeks of shopping for the perfect outfits and accessories, we met up with Emily and Brett on a warm afternoon in March in South Park, our San Diego neighborhood. We started by getting a delicious fish taco from Marisco's German Mexican food truck (the BEST fish tacos in San Diego BTW!) and then worked our way around our adorable and colorful neighborhood posing for pictures along the way. We ended up at our favorite dog park on Grape Street where Zeus joined us for some super fun shots in the eucalyptus grove.

After a couple of hours shooting, we ended up with so many amazing photos that it was seriously hard to choose only the best ones, but here are a handful of our favorites!

More wedding fun and DYI projects to come in the next few weeks!

10 things I've learned since being engaged!

I promised myself that I wouldn't give up on my blog after we got engaged, and I haven't; however I have learned that keeping up on a blog while working full time job, planning a wedding and maintaining a household is quite a challenge! With just 64 days left until the big day, I am busier then ever with numerous DIY projects (that I can't wait to share), appointments and final details, but I was feeling like I am long over due for an update. So, here are a few of the things that I've learned since being engaged:

1) Planning your own wedding is A LOT of work! But, it has proven to be one of the best and most fun events that I have planned to date and I am thoroughly enjoying every minute of it.

2) Google Documents is the best online tool out there. I have been able to completely organize all of our wedding "stuff" from the guest list, to the budget, to schedules of when vendor payments are due all in one workbook, that is accessible wherever I can get online. I highly recommend this tool to any bride-to-be and/or regular person to help organize your lives!

3) The Flea Market at the Pasadena Rose Bowl is the BEST place to shop in California! I found so many amazing bottles, frames and vases there and could have easily spent an entire years pay in one day!

4) Taking the time to put together a wedding website is well worth the time. It gives your guests a place to go to reference accommodations, registry info, addresses, maps, etc. so that they don't have to call you for it! And the more personal you make it, the better. People love to read about your stories and learn little things about you that they may not have known. 

5) Your vendors enjoy getting to know you and who you are. They like to read your blogs and be your friends on Facebook. This has been refreshing because I know that I am forming relationships with great professionals that will extend beyond just my one day and I trust that they are going to provide their best service for me. I look forward to sending them referrals and using them for other events down the road.

6) People love to talk about weddings and wedding planning! It is the funniest thing. People who you never thought would think to ask, will be the ones that remember that you are planning and will check in with you frequently.

7) It is imperative to keep a balance between wedding planning and regular life. Take time for yourself, your fiance, your pets and your families. It is very easy to get wrapped up in the all-consuming wedding planning, but taking breaks when you need them is the only way to stay centered and not get burned out or overwhelmed.

8) Your friends and family are incredibly generous and want to spoil you during this time. Let them! It is amazing all the things that people want to do for you. If you have the opportunity to give up control, do. This past weekend, my mom and friends threw me the most amazing "Triple B" (Bachelorette, Birthday, Bridal Shower) weekend! All of the details were a surprise and as they unfolded I could see and feel all of the work and planning and love that had been done.

9) Your fiance is as excited about the wedding as you are and he actually does care. Getting him involved in the planning will make your wedding so much more personal and special for the two of you and he will take pride in completing his "check-lists". He may also surprise you with some really creative and sentimental ideas!

10) Enjoy yourself! It goes by so fast no matter how long or short of an engagement you have. After the wedding you no longer get to say "fiance" so have fun with it all while it lasts!

Object of my Obsession

You know that you are a design nerd when you are more excited about the fabric for your tables than you are about your wedding dress! Okay, maybe not more excited, but definitely obsessing over.

A couple of weeks ago when I was out looking for fabric for the table runners for the wedding, I found this gorgeous P/Kaufmann fabric from Peru that I just had to have. At $45 a yard, it was simply too expensive for my little DIY budget. So, I walked away.

After about a month of searching high and low, I found it online for just $13 a yard! That's right, deal of the century!! It's on it's way and I can't wait.

Wedding Decor & Other Updates

Well, I am finally moving into my favorite part of wedding planning; the decor! We have been so busy for the last two months. On top of planning our wedding, which we have made really great progress, I was sick for over three weeks, my little sister got married, we had our engagement photos taken and Kevin went to NYC for four days for business! Yep, life around our house is a little crazy these days, but we like it! (all but the sick part that is!)

We've booked the venue, caterer, bar tender, photographers, ordered my dress, found a dj and officiant that we like a lot and are now working on the layout, decor and all of the million other details that come with planning such a major event.

I'm going for glamorous-chic with a touch of vintage inspiration. I think the venue, being an old Spanish actor's ranch and all, lends itself well to this sort of look and feel. For the tables and flowers, I've started collecting tons of mix-match glass and vases in clear, white, green and blue. Since the site itself has so many colorful flowers in the landscaping, I plan to keep the flowers fresh and light using mostly whites.

I've been hitting up local thrift stores, flea markets and my favorite home stores such as Ross and Home Goods grabbing up all of these amazing pieces at amazing deals!

Some of my favorite inspiration photos for the table arrangements include a variety of sizes, shapes and colors for the centerpieces and other displays.

 

I really love the look of having a variety of shapes, colors and sizes on the tables. I think it feels more thoughtful than some of the standard centerpieces that you see at most weddings.

I hope to get back to some level of normalcy with my daily life and my blog over the next couple of months leading up to the wedding. I guess only time will tell though!

Where I've been...

Okay, okay, I know I’ve neglected my lovely little blog over the last few weeks, but it’s all been for good reason. I’ve been planning the ultimate event - My own wedding!

We’ve booked the most adorable venue up in Carlsbad, CA called the Leo Carrillo Ranch and will be tying the knot there this summer!

Here's a sneak peek at the venue:

We are now busy talking to caterers, establishing group hotel rates, designing our wedding website, working on our Save the Dates and so much more!

I’ll keep you posted as we go, but for now check out the fun photo booth pics that Kev and I took this weekend at Belmont Park in Mission Beach!

Happy almost Friday!

Entry Update

Okay I know I've been a bit MIA, but I have good reason, we've been busy with wedding planning things. More to come on that soon.

In the mean time, I'm sure you'd like to see what I decided to do with our little entry dilemma that I wrote about a few weeks ago. It isn't 100% finished (but then again is anything ever really done?), but it is a vast improvement from where I started.

Before

The space is small and narrow because it's right next to our back door and in our kitchen/breakfast nook, so I needed to find an entry table that wouldn't stick out too far. We also needed to keep Zeus' bowls in this area as there isn't another place in our small home to keep them. 

 After weeks of searching, I decided that I wasn't going to find a console that was narrow enough, short enough and would allow for the dog bowls to sit underneath, so I decided to hang a floating shelf above the wicker drawers that I already had there. This gave me a place for cookbooks and candles and a bowl to set keys and the mail. 

After

As for Zeus' bowls, I hated the way they looked in that wire holder, and so I found a basket with a plywood bottom, cut two holes in it and spray painted it green. The bowls sit down into the basket and are now a little more of a decorative item rather than just ugly-old dog bowls.

Basket Before - ($7.99 at Ross)

Nifty New Dog Bowl Holder After

 

Lastly, I got a glass, orb terrarium (been eying them for a long time and got one for Christmas this year!) with some cool air plants and hung it in the corner above the shelf. I think it was the perfect finishing touch and added a natural, living element to the space.

I'd like to paint the walls or add a painted wallpaper treatment to the kitchen walls eventually, but for now, I'm pretty happy with how this little project turned out!