Saturday, July 09, 2005

Hostessing...Not For Wimps!


Allison, Paul and their son, Luke...with baby Jack in her tummy. :) The shower was SO much fun! (the cake says, "Hang Ten, Baby Jack!")


Nothing says summer quite like a tropical party! My sister's baby shower was lots of fun. Probably 35 people in attendance so it was rowdy, too! The Beach Boys music, pineapples and coconuts, surfboards, palm trees, all of it providing the perfect setting for the party. It wasn't a fancy, stuffy baby shower but really relaxed with guys and girls in attendance, most of them in Hawaiian shirts and leis. It was perfect. And now...I'm tired. :)

Allison is such a cute pregnant person. You know how some people are just CUTE when they are pregnant. Yeah, I know....groan. :)

David is gone to get us some Chinese food, I'm sitting here blogging with my shoes off, and Noah (my son) and Luke (pictured, his cousin) are playing Gamecube. Ahhh....the house is clean and quiet. It's funny...the first thing I thought of when the party was all cleaned up and all of the guests were gone is, "ok, NOW I can scrapbook!" Hahaha...am I nuts? I'm tired! My immediate reaction to finishing ANYTHING that has been on my calendar is to say, "ok, next!" I need to stop doing that. Just bask in the nothing to do. (but I really do want to scrapbook)

I ordered some fun alphabet letters to use on some future layouts. I'm really excited to get them, mostly because they are packaged in such dang cute containers! Alphabet Soups, made by KI Memories, are acrylic letters in different colors. They come in a soup can! KI Memories is one of my favorite scrapbooking companies, so I can't wait to get these. They will look precious in my Disney layouts. (here's a layout example I found using them. Funny, this layout also shows the little cans they come in. Haha...someone ELSE has an obsession with scrapbooking letter products like I do!)

I think David and I will watch a movie tonight. Put my feet up and snuggle up on the couch with him. Nothing better than that :) I hope we do Pay-Per-View. I really dislike returning rented movies. I don't know why, just do. David likes to get the DVD, though, so he can fall asleep on the couch watching all of the important extra features.

Today at the shower I served a yummy breakfast casserole. I make this every Christmas morning and several times during the year for family get-togethers. It's SO incredibly easy and delicious. I always get asked for the recipe. I make it the night before so all you have to do in the morning is pop it into the oven. Enjoy! :)

Farmer's Breakfast Casserole
from the Strutton Inn bed and breakfast
in Custer, South Dakota

1 large bag frozen shredded hash brown potatoes
2 cups shredded Colby Jack cheese

1 cup diced fully cooked ham (I like to use Boar's Head honey maple ham from the deli)
1/4 cup sliced green onion
9 beaten eggs
1 & 1/2 12-oz. cans evaporated milk

1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt


(Note: Layer the ingredients in a baking dish the night before, then cover and refrigerate. In the morning, pop the casserole into the oven about an hour before serving.)

Grease a large rectangle baking dish. Arrange potatoes evenly in the bottom of the dish. Sprinkle with cheese, ham, and green onion. In a medium mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk, pepper, and salt. Pour egg mixture over potato mixture in dish.

The dish may be covered and refrigerated at this point for several hours or overnight.

Bake, uncovered, in a 350-degree oven for 40 to 45 minutes (or 55 to 60 minutes if made ahead and chilled) or until center appears set and edges are lightly browned. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Serves: 12.
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Thank you, Lord, for my new nephew on the way and for making the shower such a success. :)
Have a happy Saturday!!
- Jennifer

" (A baby...) It was the tiniest thing I ever decided to put my whole life into." ~Terri Guillemets

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jennifer,
You will LOVE the alphabet soup!!!!
I wish you could see thru the can, but I want them all. We had several colors in the store and are reordering them plus the colors we didn't have!
Hope you're feeling better!
Ann

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a super fun party.

Lamech said...

I don't ALWAYS fall asleep watch the extra features on the DVD. Just most of the time.