So, I’m on vacation this week with some girlfriends from college. I have to say – I’m staying at quite an amazing resort. As I type this, I’m sitting on my screened in private balcony sipping a colorful, fruity drink (complete with a aqua polka dot umbrella) overlooking the seashell filled, white sand, private beach watching my friends toast their skin on their pink beach towels. Behind me, inside, the two bedroom, two bathroom villa is decorated in plush oversized furniture in soft yellows, blues, greens, and corals and adorned in white bead-board furniture and cabinets with soft caramel granite – defiantly something that looks like it jumped off the page of a much coveted Pottery Barn catalog. It’s all just so luxuriously relaxing - why can’t my apartment look like this!!!

 I can’t help but wonder about where I’ll go next year, then the next, and better yet, where I’ll end up for my honeymoon. Your honeymoon is the most special vacation that you will ever take – how do you possibly begin to narrow down what’s the perfect place for you and your FH? When we picked The Pink Shell, we were taking a big risk because we’d never been here or to Fort Myers Island at all. Many times, pictures on the internet are a total scam and just don’t give you an accurate depiction on what you will really be walking into. I didn’t want to just give away my pain-stakingly saved money to take this much needed vacation; I would have been so unraveled if I had walked into a dive rather than a dream. How much more so will I be if that were to happen on the most exceptional trip of my life?

While the internet can leave you completely disenchanted, it can also help you plan your trip with ease and simplicity. There are so many resources for brides now on the internet to help you narrow down where you want to go. What helped us most on this trip was reading the reviews for this hotel on www.tripadvisor.com. It helped us narrow down where we wanted to go and where to stay based on several criteria. We wanted something warm but in the US, a quiet spot  without  a lot of tourism, something clean and modern, friendly, helpful  staff (always ask the locals where to go and where to eat!), but that was affordable. There were several locations in this area that were suggested: Fort Myers Island, Naples, and Sanibel Island. We narrowed it down to the Pink Shell on Fort Myers Island simply because everything that I just mentioned we wanted was what they offered. Now, the real test, was the resort really everything they advertised it to be? Trip advisor gives you actual reviews from guests that have stayed here and all the stories were the same – A++ service and accommodations all the way. The only negative was that the spa was a bit outdated but, you know, we weren’t looking for that and it wasn’t important to us at all.

So, in short, brides, perfect honeymoons don’t just happen – they take a lot of thought, effort, and planning.  Make sure that for your special trip, know exactly what you are looking for, pay attention to details, do your research, don’t depend on just the pictures on the internet, and read lots of reviews to see what people are saying about their stays. Happy Honeymooning! ~ Miss K

Dining, going to dinner, brunch, let’s do lunch, barbeque, sharing a meal with family and friends; however you want to say it, it is simply a time to slow down and enjoy the company of family and friends. In today’s rushed schedules, it’s nice and relaxing to take time to slow down and enjoy the company of others. Dining gives us that opportunity. Dining doesn’t have to be a formal setting with white table cloths - it a can be anything where two or more are enjoying each other’s company over a meal. It can be as casual as eating outside on a patio, dining at a fine resteraunt, a picnic in the park, or simply sitting at the kitchen table surrounded by family. It is anytime two or more people are enjoying each other’s company and spending more than a quick few minutes over a meal and are creating memories.

There are some key elements in successful dining. Allow time to engage in conversation so it flows and it’s not forced but happens naturally. Knowing the right combination of people to dine with will make the dining experience a fun and enjoyable time for all involved. Even with family and extended family one may need to be selective when deciding who to invite.  Where to dine will have an impact on the overall experience. If you wish to make an evening of it and you choose a semi fast restaurant that is used to turning their tables quickly, you will be interrupted multiple times as your waiter is trying to get you to move along so they can turn the table, this will most definitely impede the natural flow of the conversation.  Another key factor can be the weather. If you are planning to dine outside, you always need to have a back up strategy in case the weather is not suitable for outdoor dining. Keeping these simple guide lines in mind will make your dining experience successful and one which everyone enjoys and will leave friends and family wanting more.

Remember, time is one of our most precious gifts we can give to another, once the time is gone we can’t get it back. Giving of one’s personal time communicates to the receiver our delight and joy at having that person in our lives.

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Juicing can have powerful healing benefits and rejuvenating properties that can give you a skin care makeover for your wedding day.  As women we want to know simple things we can do to promote good health and beauty…especially on our wedding day when we want to look our absolute best and of course our honeymoon. Evidence has shown that juicing helps the organs and the body cleanse itself, which results in a softer and healthier looking complexion. We also know that berries are one of the best natural sources of antioxidents for our skin. These are a few juicing ideas.

If you have a lot of breakouts, you may want to cleanse your blood. For this, you’ll need:

3 sweet apples
8 strawberries

To enhance your complexion, you’ll want to use:

8 strawberries
2 bunches of grapes

And, to improve your skin overall try mixing:

6 carrots
½ green bell pepper

For all these juicing options simply wash and cut fruits and veggies so they’ll fit into the top of your juicer. Remove any moldy and bruised portions. Here’s to a more beautiful you!

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Have you ever wondered whether or not you need new cookware?  Maybe your handles are loose or your non-stick is flaking out.  I recently conducted an experiment that will put all of that wondering to rest.  This experiment was strongly recommended to me and I strongly recommend it to everyone.  Basically you round up one of each different type of cookware that you or your family own.  This means one of each type of pan in your home, i.e. one non-stick, one cast iron, one aluminum, etc.  Add two cups of water to each pan. You’ll then need a clean sponge for each pan.  To save money buy a green scouring pad or two and cut it into 2 inch pieces.  Now the premise behind this experiment is that each time you cook in a pan, you risk metal, plastic, dirt, and grime getting into your food from the pan.  In other words, as you stir you pull things from the pan into your food and don’t even realize it.  Your food masks the taste, smell, and even vision of flakes in your food.  Now, take the scouring pad and lightly circle the bottom of the pan, as if you were cleaning the pan.  Do this in each pan for 1-2 minutes.  The gentle rubbing of the pan simulates your stirring in the pan.  Then pour the water from the pan into a clear glass.  If you notice anything floating in the pan, it is probably time to buy new cookware. I saw this with cast iron and the water was rusty!  Gross!  The aluminum water was grey.  The non-stick water had flakes all in it.  The high-grade stainless steel pan was the only one that had water come out of the pan as clear as when it went in. Now, I don’t know about you, but I can’t imagine cooking with something that I know is leaching metals and/ or plastic into my food.  This test will completely change how you think about cookware and you health in relation to it.  If you don’t want to drink the water at the end of the test, buy new cookware.   

Okay, so, here’s the truth: I don’t actually care how you are supposed to set a formal table. I typically only use one utensil to eat all of my food, so, I don’t see the need to have multiple utensils at the table – I’m just not that kind of girl…and lots of you aren’t. Now, the problem is, when I do need to know how to set a table, I can’t even remember what side of the plate utensils should go on! Ah, the simplicity of it, and yet, still so complicated for some reason – and embarrassing to boot if you don’t get it right for the right situations. There’s always that one girl who knows – and she knows that you don’t know! Even though this isn’t my standard operating procedure for every day, I’ve come to realize that now that I’ve dabbling in more gourmet cooking, as I’m about to get married and have people over to my new home, this is something I definitely need to become more acquainted with. This is what I’ve learned…

Now I know this picture isn’t exactly as i descibed for the formal place setting but this is a more non-traditional look that is still formal and elegant. This is a perfect example of how a put together table can make all the difference. It also doesn’t hurt to have some of that gorgeous china displayed. I saw this pattern on Simplicity Gourmet’s web site. For everyone who likes to host formal dinners I hope this helps.

 The other night I got home late from work and had NO energy to cook a meal. I couldn’t even think of anything other than a bowl of cereal. Then I remembered the president of our company made the simplest lunch with frozen chicken and frozen veggies. I preheated my skillet on medium and put in frozen chicken breasts in the large skillet sprinkled it with season salt and put the lid on at a tilt and cooked until the chicken released. Next I turned it over and sprinkled a little more season salt . Then I took 2 packages of mixed frozen veggies with cheese sauce and put them on top of the chicken covered with the lid and let it cook for 12 more minutes with the whistle closed. I then used my 2 quart sauce pan to make rice. I like to use fat free chicken broth instead of water. It adds more flavor.  And in 20 minutes I had a great meal everyone loved!! It was so easy and I felt good about eating my healthy, delicious meal. It really is that easy!!!! Dinner in 20 minutes! 

So…I have animals in my house…two dogs…one cat…small house. Get the picture? I love to have people over and cook for my friends and show off my fabulous culinary skills (which is a total scam…it’s all because of the cookware…I have nothing to do with it!). People who don’t have animals notice instantly that my house may “smell” different than another house. Not a bad smell, just “animal” smell - which I am completely immune to. I love my little munchkins but I certainly don’t want to put a bad smell in someones nose when they come to visit me! I always send them on a little vacation to the back yard but what to do about the “animal smell”? One night, I was making one of my most favorite meals for a of couple friends of mine: Citrus Tilapia and Orange, Almond Basmati Rice. For the talapia, I use lemon, lime, and orange slices and of course, orange zest for the rice. So, I had my cutting board out on the counter and I had sliced up half of each of the citrus pieces, I had zested the orange into a little ramikin, and had the slices all fanned out on the cutting board and the open halves just kind of to the side. Well, one of my guests arrived early and she came in my side door which leads right into my kitchen. She immediately said, “Wow! You’re kitchen smells so clean and fresh! I would never have thought of that - and it looks so colorful!” Well…while I was certainly happy for the compliment - it took me a second to follow her gaze to where she was looking and realize she was talking about my citrus on the cutting board. As I glanced over to it, it seriously did look like a picture right of a magazine with the halves strewn about haphazardly and the slices all fanned out. The color was really amazing and all night long, everyone commented on how fresh smelling the house was. So, I’ve figured it out - I’ve started slicing up citrus peices on the cutting board about 15 mintes before people come over and it fills the whole area with this amazing fresh, clean smell and it certainly brightens up the kitchen - and not to mention is makes me look like the perfect little Simplicity Gourmet Homemaker! Martha…watch out!!!

Well Hello There!

The above image is our “New Girl” and we need a name for her.  So we are asking for your help!  All you have to do is leave a comment with the name you think we should use to name our “New Girl”.   So get your creative juices going and submit the name you think we should use.  There will be one winner that will receive a $50 American Express Gift Card. 

She will be used on a lot of things including our blog, as a watermark, on marketing materials and so forth.

There will also be a random comment entry winner that will be picked from a random number generator.  So even if the name you submitted doesn’t get picked your comment will be entered into a random number contest, for a $25 American Express Gift Card

The Rules:

1. Leave a comment on this post, before midnight EST Wednesday, June 11, 2008.

2. Make sure to provide your e-mail address and phone number so we can notify you that you have won!

3. We will announce the winner here on Monday, June 23, 2008 and we will also e-mail the winner to notify him/her.

4. The winner must release a photograph to Simplicity Gourmet of his/her image for any web or print media.

5. You can only enter once!

**We reserve the right to not use the name submitted, but a winner will be chosen for best creativity!**

Good luck!

My first post, yay! I’m super excited about this site. I’m always talking about Simplicity Gourmet to my friends and family, now I can blog about them too!! I love cooking such healthy and colorful meals so quickly! Simplcity Brides has really changed my life. A few days ago my fiance invited his friend, brother and his brother’s girlfriend over to the house for dinner without giving me even 5 minutes notice, lol. I had planned on fixing something simple and fast for dinner, like maybe a grilled cheese sandwich or something like that, but I really like entertaining, so that just wasn’t going to work with all these people. Now before I got my cooking system from Simplicity Gourmet, I probably would have been pretty frustrated that he invited people over without letting me know, mostly because I’d have to spend hours in the kitchen trying to make something nice for 5 adults instead of having fun with them! But here’s what I made:

Fried Chicken breast
fresh corn and green beans
mashed potatoes from scratch (not that box junk!)
a cole-slaw salad cut from scratch (cabbage, squash, carrots and radishes)
a German Chocolate cake for dessert

Here’s the kicker: the whole meal took 35 minutes, I made it ALL on the stovetop (even the cake!) and I didn’t use a DROP of oil (not even for the fried chicken) How healthy is that?!

So instead of being frustrated and spending hours in a hot kitchen I made a delicious healthy meal that everyone raved about, AND I was able to spend most of my time having fun with our friends playing wii in the living room. Awesome

– Lacy