Squash Casserole

One of John T.'s favorite summertime dishes is squash casserole. I am not a fan of it at all, but I love making it for him because he likes it so much! A guy he works with, brought him some homegrown squash from his garden, so I thought tonight would be a perfect time to make the dish.

His favorite recipe that I have tried is from Trisha Yearwood's cookbook: home cooking with trisha yearwood

Squash Casserole

2 pounds yellow summer squash, trimmed & sliced 1/4 inch thick

1/2 small Vidalia onion, peeled & diced

1 teaspoon salt

1 large egg

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup grated Chedder cheese

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 cup Ritz crackers, crushed (about 15 crackers)

Step by Step

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 2-quart casserole dish.

Place the sliced squash and the onion in a medium saucepan with about a cup of water & 1/2 teaspoon of the salt. Cover and cook over medium until the squash is tender, about 15 minutes. Drain & cool. **It is very important to drain the squash mixture thoroughly before combining it with the other ingredients.

Put the squash into a bowl and beat with an electric mixer; the mixture should remain kind of chunky. Add the egg, mayonnaise, cheese, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, and the pepper and mix until combined. Pour the squash mixture into the prepared dish, top with the crumbs, and bake for 30 minutes.

Summertime Snack

Seeing & eating these yummy fruits just reminds me of summer! LOVE <3

Strawberries, blueberries, grapes & blackberries, sprinkled with a little Truvia!

Friday's Fabulous Find

I LOVE LOVE LOVE these two products!

Both can be purchased at Victoria's Secret.

I bought the lip gloss before we went to beach because it has SPF 15. I have always liked the beauty RUSH lip glosses from VS, and this was no different! I chose the Mega Melon flavor.

I bought the lotion when we were at the beach. My skin started to get really dry after being in the sun so long, and this lotion really helped it. It also has a little tint to it & it shimmers, which I love.

25th Birthday

I know I am super late on my birthday post, but here it is!

I celebrated my 25th birthday on May 26th by eating lunch with my love at Olive Garden. It was so good! :o)

That night, my mom & dad had a little party for me at their house. The theme was "strawberries." Everything looked so cute thanks to my mom! I loved it all!

The night before my birthday, John T.'s family had me a party at their house. Oh my word, the cake Lorrie got me was SO good! :o)

I had a great birthday! I can't believe I'm 25!

Vacation-Day 9

SATURDAY

Sadly, today was our last day at the beach. I think we are both ready to be back at home, we are just not ready to go back to the "real world" :o)

We headed out to the beach around 9:15 & then made it to the pool around 1:00. We decided to skip lunch today. 1, because we were so stuffed still from Chili's last night & 2, because we wanted to savor every second of our last day in the sun!

We came in around 1:30 from the pool, showered & headed to Chick Fil-A for an early supper. We wanted something small & it was perfect. <3 <3 <3 CFA!

We then went to Target & just took our time looking around. I ended up getting a chips & salsa dish & a candle that reminded me of the beach, so I thought it would be perfect for home.

Last night, I downloaded a new (to me) app on my phone called Checkpoints. Leslie @ Lamberts Lately has been blogging/tweeting about it, & I finally decided to download it & give it a try. I definitely became an addict after scanning my items at Target today! If you are interested, click on the Checkpoints link & for a $1 gift card, enter jkarmes as your bonus code when you register! It is pretty awesome. Obviously, I am pretty new to it, but I know that the more items you scan, the more points you earn, which allows you to redeem gift cards at various places, such as Home Depot, CVS, & Amazon. Check it out!

We are just relaxing now...we are all packed up & ready to head back to Tennessee bright & early tomorrow morning!

Vacation-Day 8

FRIDAY

Our wonderful time at Ft. Walton Beach/Destin is slowing dwindling down...

This morning, looked a lot like the others:

wake up.beach.pool.lunch.pool.head across the bridge to Destin!

We had supper at Chili's tonight. I was craving the Cajun Chicken Pasta, and it was so good!

After eating, we went to Barnes & Noble & then headed to Twirl for the 2nd time this week! I got a mix of German chocolate & Tahitian vanilla with strawberries tonight & loved it! We have got to make a visit to Menchies and/or Sweet CeCe's when we go back home!

After fro yo, we drove down Hwy. 98 & ended up in Sandestin at the Blvd. Town Center, a beautiful outside shopping place right past the Sandestin resort. We walked around for a while and then headed back to Ft. Walton. We made a quick stop at CVS, and when we made it back to our condo the skies opened & it started storming for a bit.

We have just been hanging out tonight, & we are looking forward to soaking up the sun one more day tomorrow!

Vacation-Day 7

THURSDAY

Today, we started out early at the beach & stayed for a few hours. I have been reading Decision Points, by President Bush, and it is really good. I have enjoyed reading it on the beach, but I'm not sure when I will ever finish it because it's like 500 pages long! I am in the 100s right now...

After the beach, we went to the pool just to cool off for a bit & then headed to downtown Ft. Walton Beach for a snow cone! I got blue raspberry & JT got pina coloda. It hit the spot!

We came back to the condo for lunch & then took a walk on the beach. John T. went to the pool for a little while, and I came in to take a shower.

After we got ready, we went to the Back Porch, my favorite, for supper! I love that you can eat & have a beach view at the same time. I got a yummy grilled chicken salad & JT got a huge seafood platter!

After supper, we went to Destin Commons to shop a little & go to the movies. We came back to the condo afterwards & took beach pictures. I think they turned out pretty cute! 

Vacation-Day 6

WEDNESDAY

John T. & I both woke up today feeling very burned, so we decided to stay out of the sun for a bit this morning & do some shopping instead. We needed to pick up a few souvenirs for the fam back home, so we thought today would be a good day to finish that.

We started out at Sunsations. When I was little, my best friend, Whittney & I would stay in these surf shops forever! As I have got older, I realize that most of what they have is junk, but I still love their t-shirts!

After getting a few things there, we headed to Best Buy to pick up a camera tripod. We saw a huge family on the beach a couple of nights ago taking beach pictures using a tripod, so I got the idea that we could do this, too! Last year at Hilton Head, we had our pictures professionally done, and I really felt like I could take the pictures myself & they would look just as good.

After leaving BB, we found a cute little store in the same shopping center called Design Avenue. The lady that owned the store was super sweet, and she had tons of cute things! (Lots of SEC stuff!) We ended up getting a new hook board for the house that said "It's Football Time in Tennessee" with Smokey on it. &lt;3 it!

Now, for my favorite part of the day...we got a snack at Twirl Frozen Yogurt! YUMMY!! We LOVED this place. I got a Tahitian Vanilla yogurt with Reece's cups & John T. got a strawberry yogurt with strawberries! I'm hoping he will take me back before we leave! :o)

After shopping, we headed back to the condo & went to the beach for a little while. Today, we sat right next to the ocean, in the water & it was so relaxing! After a few hours at the beach, we went to the pool for a while & then went to Jersey Mikes for subs!

When we got back to the condo, we took a walk on the beach & then crashed!

We only have a few days left...