"Everything" Spaghetti Casserole-YUM

Those of you that know me are thinking, "Janna would not make something that sounds that unhealthy..." and you would be right my friends ;)  I decided to take a Spaghetti Casserole and make it MY WAY!  I substituted Spaghetti Squash for noodles, used a low-calorie spaghettie sauce that I doctored up and packed it full of VEGGIES! It was actually a two day process and for best results I suggest making it on day one, but waiting to eat it until day two.  As I'm sure you know, anything Italian is better after it has had time to meld.  Plus the vegetarian version was delish, but when we added the meat it became more filling and flavor-full.  Mind you, I had no recipe and threw it all together, so these are all estimations.

Get 2 small (or 1 big) spaghetti ssquash-poke some holes in it and bake it on 400 for an hour.

Once it is done and cooled, cut it in half, scrape out the seeds and sticky part and then pull a fork through the meat, so that it comes out like spaghetti! (Hence the name ;)

While the squash is cooking, prepare the sauce.  I use Hunts canned original and it works just fine.   Pour it in a saucepan on medium and add some minced garlic, basil, italian seasoning, pepper, etc. to taste.  I also add crushed red pepper, but it depends on if you like it SPICY!  Just taste as you go and add what you like!

Spread out the spaghetti squash on the bottom of the casserole dish, pour over some sauce and then begin adding veggies.  We used spinach, bell peppers, red onion and olives...yum!

Then spoon low-fat or no-fat ricotta cheese on top of the veggies (I was pretty liberal lol).  If you want to go ahead and add the meat (1 lb. ground turkey, sauteed and italian seasoned), I would add it between the veggies and ricotta.

Pour the rest of the sauce on top and add more seasoning if you'd like....

MORE veggies ;)

and then top with some cheese if you like, but we didn't and we didn't miss it either!  I just put a little fresh parm on top and called it DELISH!

This was after we dove in and before we added the meat:

This is me adding the meat:

I pretty much just folded in the meat...it wasn't too difficult.

This is after:

Obviously it was good... We both agreed that we liked it both ways, but the meat was more filling and added some complexity.  The great things about casseroles is that as long as you like all the ingredients, it will probably turn out awesome....I know I've never met a casserole that I didn't like!

Tell me how it goes for you ;)

Our One Year Anniversary BBQ

Will made me this ^ for our 6-month [halfiversary?]

Saturday morning we were cookin' by 9am!  The house was all ready, so we got busy to get all the food done in time.  I'll have you know- that we were finished RIGHT ON TIME!  Although, I must admit that if we didn't have our lovely house guest who cut fruit and veggies for three hours straight, we NEVER would have made it.  All that matters is it got done, right?

I was a bad blogger and did not take many pictures of the BBQ :(  BUT in my defense, I was a little busy at my OWN one-year Anniversary!  Luckily, between the few that I did take and my friends taking some for me, I have a few to share...I'll caption them, but all you really need to know is that I feel truly blessed to have celebrated such an amazing day with my husband and that we have met some wonderful people here in the Springs, that made our day feel even more special <3

Gettin' everything set up:

HAD to make some Nanner Puddin'!

Bruschetta!  We all argued all night about how to pronounce it....Is it with a "shetta" or a "sketta"?

 My layered dip disappeared very quickly....

My Hubby's RIBS!!! 

Our lil' sweetheart grace got us a YUMMY Edible Arrangement...First one that I have ever received!

See the #1 for our Anniversary? SO CUTE!

One of the only pics of our lil family from this day :(
There were so many people to entertain!  He did come check on me often and give me a hug and a squeeze, so that we knew we were thinking of each other. We aren't attached at the hip, but we do make sure we feel loved! ps. That's our friend Buck's hand that got in the way!

Aren't all these girls gorgeous?
So happy to have made some friends in town.

        

Excuse the green lawn chair...The weather was not working in our favor, so it turned into an indoor BBQ.  It didn't phase us though.  All that mattered is that we had good friends, good food and good fun.  That's my recipe for a GREAT time.

One year down and ninety more to go!

Our Fairytale...and The Finale- Our Wedding

We have finally come to the end of the "Week of Love".  

This is my final installment of "Our Fairytale" *TEAR,sniff, sniff*

{to catch up visit Chapters 1-5 Here }

Sorry that I'm posting this a bit later than I expected, but with the long day/night yesterday and then with our anniversary brunch this morning, it had to wait ;) I can't believe I got to celebrate the best year of my life today...Cheers to us!

When we got married April 24th, 2010, not many people knew we were getting married...about fifteen people to be exact.  We had started planning "the" wedding and we both realized that it wasn't what we really wanted or even had time to plan, as we only had two months before Will went to Basic Training.  We decided to go ahead and get married our way and then have the "big" wedding later.  The only problem was that we didn't want our small ceremony to steal the thunder of the "real" wedding, so we tried to keep it under wraps.  Yeah, I know...probably not a good idea right? Part of me wished that we could just wait and avoid all the hassle, but we wanted to get married before Will went off to the big Army.  The military does not recognize girlfriends and fiance's, so if I wanted to be with him during his A.I.T (Advanced Individual Training), then we had to be married.  Plus, we had waited more than two years to get married already, so I didn't want to wait any longer!!

  As a female, I've always wanted that- "fairytale" wedding, but I think I've realized that I was probably just conditioned to want that.  What did I need to spend a ton of money and plan a whole shindig, that wasn't really for us.  Weddings are more for your family and friends than it is for you. It's like Christmas- they've become so commercialized that they've lost their true meaning.

So basically, we booked an officiator, reserved a gazebo on our lake, bought a few decorations and had the most perfect day of our lives without all the hassle getting in our way.  All I wanted was to look into my lover's eyes and declare my dedication for the rest of our lives, and that's just what we did ;)

Awaiting the big moment with my Bestie:

My wonderful Step-father and lil' Sister:

The girlies walking down the make-shift aisle:

The Officiator giving the boys a pep-talk:

Does he look nervous to you? Not to me!

"We are now gathered here to unite this man and this woman..."

I still remember how he gently rubbed little circles in my palm as he looked into my eyes, and I could see more love in those eyes on this day than I had ever seen in my life.

The Officiator had us laughing the ENTIRE time!

The rings <3

Isn't he just dreamy?

"You may now kiss the BRIDE!"

Aaaannnd the waterworks start.

Will and his new family!

{Whether he likes it or not}

In case you were wondering, Will picked out what I was going to wear ;)

Now let the fun begin!

My flowers were so pretty!

And then you just toss 'em.

The boys wanted in on the action too!

We fight a lot, but I do love my lil' sis.

After that we adjourned to our pool, ate lots of yummy food that my mom prepared, toasted with champagne and savored the day with our lovely friends and family!

Who doesn't want to drink champagne in a fun floaty on their wedding day?

I wouldn't have had it any other way ;)

Not long after, we realized that hiding our marriage was ridiculous and EXHAUSTING!  When we finally shared the wonderful news with the world, it made everything even more real and felt so good to have the family supporting us and happy about our decision.  It was funny, because honestly- they weren't even surprised...I guess they know us better than we know ourselves...

One year later, we are thriving, growing and blissful.  I am happy to say that I am Mrs. William Bogert and can't wait to spend the rest of my life as his wife.  We are a team and together- we will tackle the world and all the adventures that it holds.

Planning for Our One Year Anniversary BBQ!

This weekend marks many firsts for us.

First house guest visiting for the weekend, first BBQ we're having in the Springs, 

AND FIRST ANNIVERSARY.  

Sounds like it's time for a celebration to me!

Our house guest is our friend Taylor.  She arrived from the East Coast today and will be here through Tuesday.  She and Will tackled the grocery shopping today and did AMAZINGLY well...I had been worried, as I mentioned in the last post, but in all honesty-I think they did as good or better than I would have done!  Maybe I should let Will do the grocery shopping more often ;)

We got everything spotlessly clean on Thursday and then spent yesterday evening catching up over dinner, finishing some last minute decorating and I went ahead and made banana pudding for tomorrow! (I wanted to make sure the 'nilla wafers soaked up the pudding...yum) The decorating was the fun part, though. Will and I had decided a long time ago, that we wanted a gallery wall in the kitchen, but hadn't been able to get to it yet.  I am now happy to say, we've got it finished and we LOVE it!  I will definately have to post about it!  It's gonna look great for the party.

   Wanna know what's on the menu?

Will's WORLD famous ribs!
 I promise that you have never had anything like them.

Burgers and dogs of course...

Chips and my famous layered dip...

A mediterranean Bean salad...

Bruschetta...

Fruit salad...

Banana Puddin'...

Veggie tray with a great new dip I found...

And Will's fave:  My Cold Noodle Asian Salad (made with spaghetti squash.)

Basically, I didn't go grocery shopping for the past two weeks, so that we could wine and dine our guests. Go big or go home.

Hope you all have a wonderful Easter Weekend! 

 I will be posting the big FINALE tomorrow for our Anniversary!  Come back and see!

Our Fairytale...It Only Gets Better

I can honestly say that when you truly love someone, that it only gets better...By this I mean that with each passing day, I love Will more than the day before.  As we grow together and make beautiful memories together, we grow stronger and happier and more in love. 

When the song "I Thought I Loved You Then" by Brad Paisley came out, I was blown away that he had put into words EXACTLY how I felt.

Not to say that we don't have our "issues".  

Like right now for example- I am trying to type this post for y'all and will just flopped his arm across my wrist while he's sleeping...and I can't. move. it.  Dang his big-heavy-muscley-arms. ;)  

But seriously, we get into our little tiffs at times, but it doesn't mean we love each other any less.  I remember one occassion where we were miffed at each other and weren't talking for a bit, and one of our friends looked worried.  He asked if everything was alright, and I said of course it was, nonchalantly.  That made him look even more confused until I explained that when Will and I get upset with each other, that's when our love is most obvious. Even when we are aggravated, we still want to be near each other, despite the silence between us. 

 In past relationships, if we were in a fight I might wonder if it was going to end our relationship, but with this one- I wonder how long before it's over and how great it will be when the issue will be resolved.  That's why disagreements are necessary.  You need to have them in order to resolve issues as they come up, so that you can fix them.  Sometimes we all just get caught up in life and in our own ways and forget to see things from the other's perspectives.  

By the way, there is no right or wrong perspective...

It takes both of us putting our minds together to take on the world. 

 That's why we make the best team. 

Wanna hear the best advice a Pastor ever told me?  

He said that any time you get in a fight with your husband or wife, just get naked and see how long the fight lasts ;)  Hope you find this helpful too!

I really hope that people with stop "settling" and wait for someone who completes them. I know it doesn't seem real, but once you find it, you will know it was worth the wait.

Source: Uploaded by user via Janna on Pinterest

PS.  Will and our house guest are going grocery shopping tomorrow for our BBQ on Saturday- WITHOUT ME!  I'm scared, y'all!  I have made a detailed list, divided it by food categories, attached the coupons and gave price options for other stores, just in case they are a better deal then Costco and Wallyworld.  I have taught him well about value vs. cost and not over buying, but when I'm shopping I'm comparing price tags, guaging the sizes I need vs. the value, comparing store specials and more importantly checking all the nutritional info. I would find it hard to tackle our grocery list myself, using all those criteria, so I am assuming that they may be  a bit overwhelmed tomorrow...we shall see!

Our Fairytale...Chapter 5- Engagement Photos!

These were all taken by our lovely and talented friend Thomas.  They setting is spring in Richmond, Virginia at Maymont Park and The Pumphouse.  Both locations were incredibly romantic and we could not have asked for a more perfect day or setting.

Don't take my word for it-see for yourself....

Thomas is not a professional photographer, but he has an artists soul. He can pretty much do anything artistically that he sets his mind to, and we totally used that to our advantage were very thankful to utilize his talents.

He captured our love better than I thought possible.

So thankful.