Whenever I was really nervous about a big test or a diving meet in high school, my mom would make me a hearty and delicious breakfast as a special treat.
I’d come downstairs, ready to heat up a packet of instant oatmeal or throw a Toaster Strudel in the toaster, and be wonderfully surprised by a homemade breakfast. It was the best!
One of my favorite breakfasts was her take on a McDonald’s Egg McMuffin®.
She made her own version of the fast-food breakfast staple by toasting an English muffin and adding a slice of Canadian bacon, reduced-fat cheese and an egg on top.
I paid tribute to her modified McMuffin at lunch today.
My lunchtime breakfast sandwich included a Thomas’ light multi-grain English muffin, a wedge of Laughing Cow light original Swiss cheese, an egg and a slice of Canadian bacon.
Thomas' Light Multi-Grain English Muffins
Canadian Bacon + Egg
This breakfast sandwich is so easy to make and definitely takes a lot less time to construct at home than it would to drive through a fast food restaurant and place an order.
Open-Faced McMuffin + Green Pepper Slices
Modified McMuffin
By making my own Egg McMuffin, I saved loads of sodium (the original has 820 mg!) and didn’t ingest the “liquid margarine” or “pasteurized processed American cheese” that may be found in McDonald’s version.
On the side I snacked on freshly sliced green pepper and a small banana.
Selecting a Wedding DJ/ Officiant
This weekend Ryan and I would like to schedule some appointments to meet with potential DJs and possible wedding officiants.
If any of you are from the St. Pete/Tampa/Sarasota, Florida area and have any recommendations, please send ’em my way!
For those of you who are married or have been to several weddings, please share your advice with regard to selecting a DJ or wedding officiant!
I must admit, I feel a little clueless about the whole process!
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I come from a huge family and have been to my fair share of weddings, and am currently helping my brother’s fiance plan hers. I’d say that the DJ is one of the most memorable components of the wedding for all of your guests, so definitely don’t cut corners in that department!! For my brother’s wedding, they’re making do without favors so they could book a really awesome band…a mini box of truffles is gone in a few seconds, but good memories dancing up a storm will last forever 🙂
Good luck with everything!!
good luck with the DJ and/or officiant! we went with friends on both of them, but if you’re hiring someone make sure that they know how to get people on the dancefloor!
Congratulations on getting married soon 🙂
Our officiant wasn’t bad. Make sure when you meet him and before you select him that he answers emails and calls within a reasonable amount of time and acts interested in you. Ours didn’t.
Be picky.
We were just tired of fighting with so many vendors.
That goes for the DJ…ours was always late and didn’t want to play different music other than the boring same stuff played at every wedding. They screwed up a lot of stuff.
Disaster yes. but we loved our wedding 🙂
I totally forgot about egg mcmuffins – I love making them at home but haven’t been for some reason. They’re so yummy & are a great transportable food. I definitely need to get back on that train.
How exciting to be picking out a DJ – good luck!
i love healthy mcmuffins! i love the alternative brand english muffins, try them if you haven’t! they have 8g protein per muffin and are deeelish.
good luck with the plans. we had an officiant picked out and now he is going to be out of town on business so we are back to square one. so frustrating! i feel you on the whole DJ thing.. i am not sure what we are going to do for that one yet!
sending the package today. i have NEVER seen a 1/2 in an address, so sorry for questioning that one.. i learn something new every day!
xo
Keith and I rented out a restuarant and did a big brunch for our reception so we didn’t have a DJ! As for the wedding officiant…it was really cool because the rabbi who married Keith’s parents also married us…it was cool!
DJ: References and experience are key! At our wedding (6 mo. ago) the dj kept everyone dancing until close… but he also knew what to play while we ate.
Officiant: We got lucky. Mainly, we wanted someone who was flexible with the whole ceremony and who was inexpensive. I didn’t and still don’t believe how much they cost.
Hi!
Homemade egg mc muffins are the best!
Thought I would share this idea for your wedding DJ. One of my clients (I make custom wedding invitations) had the guests list a few songs they wanted to hear at the wedding reception on their RSVP. The couple used the money they were going to pay the DJ and bought all the songs, brought in a computer and rented some big speakers and had their young cousins just make sure the music kept playing. This way everyone heard songs they wanted to hear at the reception and they actually were able to keep the music afterwards.
I thought this was a cool idea and you don’t have to worry about hearing songs you don’t want to hear at your reception!
Good luck with the rest of your wedding planning!
We selected a non-denominational officiant that allowed us to create our own ceremony from start to finish. There was also no counseling sessions or other mandatory things that we weren’t inclined to do. We just met with him several times and practiced the ceremony. And we loved creating our own ceremony entirely.
It’s not for everyone, but it worked for us. My husband is catholic and I’m not. I wasn’t going to convert for my own personal reasons. While some catholic churches are changing their practices, his was very traditional and wouldn’t let me get married there without converting. That’s why we ended up choosing this approach.
Our wedding was really small so we didn’t have a DJ but I’d say get someone who is animated and fun!
As far as an officiant, My Dad married it us. It was really sweet.
Ya know, I don’t think I’ve even ever had a real egg mcmuffin, but I love making them at home. Such a satisfying little meal!! 🙂
YUM! Love eggs + laughing cow cheese! My favorite combo is a veggie egg white omelet with laughing cow! Mmmm
We ended up just choosing a mutual friend to officiate our wedding. Neither of us is particularly religious, so it made sense for us.
What a sweet mama you have!
Yummy lunch! We make those every once and a while on the weekends.
Funny you’d ask those wedding questions because that’s what my fiancee and i were discussing this weekend…thanks for the free input:)
I got married in a small town, so there was little choice on the band (we went with band instead of dj) and our officiant was the minister at my church where we got married. Sorry, I just realized none of that was helpful to you in Orlando 🙂
I love the modified McMuffin. I do that a lot with an alternative bagel or english muffin and either canadian bacon or veggie sausage. Saves some grease and actually tastes better to me.
I just got married this past January, and finding a DJ was at the top of my list. Lucky for us, we had just had some friends get married who highly recommended their DJ, and it seemed like from there, I just asked anyone! At the gym, at work, and I also Google searched for my area too.
It’s hard to know what to look for in a DJ since you really don’t get to “see” their work until the big day. If there’s someone you’re considering, maybe contact them to see if you’d be able to “sit in” on one of their events? At least then you’d get to see them in action. I would also recommend going with someone who uses MP3’s rather than CD’s.
Unfortunately, I don’t live anywhere NEAR Florida, but here’s the link to the DJ I used, in case you want to check out some of the Q&A’s he answers.
http://frasierentertainment.com/index.htm
I would recommend him to anyone! Good Luck! 🙂
I just got married this past January, and finding a DJ was at the top of my list. Lucky for us, we had just had some friends get married who highly recommended their DJ, and it seemed like from there, I just asked anyone! At the gym, at work, and I also Google searched for my area too.
It’s hard to know what to look for in a DJ since you really don’t get to “see” their work until the big day. If there’s someone you’re considering, maybe contact them to see if you’d be able to “sit in” on one of their events? At least then you’d get to see them in action. I would also recommend going with someone who uses MP3’s rather than CD’s.
Unfortunately, I don’t live anywhere NEAR Florida, but if you Google search “dj Greg Frasier, Albany, NY”, you can check out some of the Q&A’s he answers on his site.
I would recommend him to anyone! Good Luck! 🙂
Yummy! Egg mcmuffins…my favorite! Looks very tasty NOT on a pretzel roll with a marinated portabello mushroom and fake bacon! haha
Hello! I live near St Pete FL and was married this time last year so the wedding planning is still fresh in my memory….
Our officiant was awesome – Jayne Alford with A Perfect Witness. I have heard wonderful things about her husband (who she is in business with) as well. I believe the website is http://www.aperfectwitness.com
Nothing but wonderful things to say about her. I got compliments from the guests about her afterwards.
If you have any questions, feel free to email me.
Good luck!
The officiant was important in our wedding because my husband and I have different religious backgrounds, and I wanted it to be very neutral (and definitely not use the word obey). We tried a few ministers who wanted to read what they wanted to read…hello…it is our wedding. We ended up finding a great guy who would perform the ceremony as we wanted.
Remember it is your wedding and don’t settle for anything that isn’t what you want.
The food looks so yummy.!!Personally,I love Egg McMuffin a lot and have my own recipe on Egg McMuffin…Congratulations to you.!!
love the egg white there! my egg whites never come out nice 🙁