Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

So...Jonathan is out of town for a couple of days for work, but before he left, I whipped up some of these little delicious treats. They are to die for. I got the recipe from AllRecipes.com (one of my favorite websites...check it out). It's hard to eat just one!! Also, I used our new everyday china to display the cookies. Isn't it pretty? Anyway, here's the recipe:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk
40 miniature chocolate covered peanut butter cups

Unwrap peanut butter cups and stick in the freezer for at least 1 hour. Then, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda; set aside. Cream together the butter, sugar, peanut butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg, vanilla and milk. Add the flour mixture; mix well. Spray a mini muffin pan with Pam. Shape dough into 40 balls and place each into the pan. Bake at 375 degrees for about 8 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately press a mini peanut butter cup into each ball. Cool in the refrigerator a few minutes before carefully remove from pan. If you don't allow them to chill before removing, they'll crumble.


On another note, I have officially started my third year of dental school!! It's been fun, nerve-wrecking, exhilarating, and exhausting all at the same time. I can't remember a time when I've come home more exhausted each day. But I love working with patients. I have met some of the coolest, sweetest people. A patient I saw today was a retired NASA engineer. He had lots of neat stories to tell about the space shuttles. This is going to be an extremely busy and challenging year, but I know that I'm going to learn so much. I'm very thankful for my classmates. We really do depend on one another to make it through each day. Thanks for stopping by the blog...sorry it's been a while since I last updated :)

Wedding Pictures!!!

I'm so excited! Our wedding pictures are on the way via the mail, but for now, David and Red (our fantastic photographers) have posted a "sneak peek" on their blog. Check it out here:

http://davidandred.blogspot.com/2010/07/bilbo-wedding.html

Slow Cooker Pepper Steak

This is a recipe that my mom has made for a long time. It is very delicious, savory, and all-around tasty. It's simple to make, too, because the crock pot makes your life easy :)

Photo courtesy of www.tasteofhome.com

Ingredients:
1-1/2 to 2 pounds beef top round steak
2 tablespoons canola oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 cup chopped onion
1 garlic clove, minced
Few dashes Worchestershire sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
4 tomatoes, cut into eighths or 1 can (16 ounces) diced tomatoes with liquid
2 large green bell peppers, cut into strips
1/2 cup cold water
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Cooked egg noodles (I use the No-Yolk, more healthy kind)

Directions:
Brown beef in oil in a skillet. Transfer to a 3-quart slow cooker. Combine the next 8 ingredients; pour over beef. Cover and cook on low 5-6 hours or until meat is tender. Add tomatoes and green peppers; cook on low 1 more hour. Combine the cold water and cornstarch to make a paste. Stir into liquid in slow cooker and cook on high until thickened. Serve over the egg noodles.

Weekend Fun

This past weekend was wonderful. Some dear friends came to visit, and we had a blast. We stayed up way too late and ate too much good food, but it was worth it. On Saturday night, we participated in a "tiramisu crawl," where we visited different restaurants in Birmingham to try their tiramisu. So yummy! I don't have any pictures from that night, but here are a few other pictures from the weekend.

The giant watermelon we consumed. We still have 2/3 of it left, after 5 people ate a ton!

Seed-spitting contest...I love the South!

Praise the Lord for Godly friends :)

Tonight, I made Creamy Taco Macaroni from this food blog. I followed the recipe almost exactly (I added a little extra garlic and garlic powder. I also used fat-free sour cream and cream cheese instead of regular, as well as used whole wheat macaroni). It was pretty good for a quick meal. Jonathan liked it a lot, so I think I'll keep it on stand-by for those nights I need to whip something up quickly and don't want chicken.

Honeymoon

For our honeymoon, we stayed at a cabin in Helen, Georgia. Helen is built like a European village in a valley surrounded by mountains. It is such a beautiful region, with mountains, rivers, waterfalls, and much more. It was so relaxing and serene. Here are a couple of my favorite pictures:

The above is the view from our balcony at the Grand Hotel in Fairhope, where we stayed our first night.

This is perhaps my favorite picture from the honeymoon. It was taken at a restaurant in Helen. So funny!

We hiked to a waterfall one day, and it was so pretty along the trail. Here's something along the path that I thought was so pretty.

This is a picture of the waterfall (Anna Ruby Falls). It was huge and so magnificent. The picture doesn't do it justice.

Part of downtown Helen

The honeymooners in downtown Helen

The adorable cabin we stayed in

4th of July

For the 4th of July this year, my sister came to visit, so I cooked for my first holiday as a married lady! My menu included:

BBQ Chicken (with my signature homemade BBQ sauce)
Corn on the Cob
Squash Casserole
French Bread
Dessert: Flag Cake

I made the flag cake with orange supreme inside (with real mandarin orange pieces) and a cool whipped frosting on the outside. It was delicious...so moist! Here's a pic of my creation :)


Here's the recipe for the delicious, semi-healthy frosting:

8 oz. container fat-free Cool Whip
1 (3.5 oz.) package instant vanilla pudding mix
1 cup skim milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Directions: In a medium bowl, combine pudding mix, vanilla extract, and milk. Beat until smooth. Fold in Cool Whip until no streaks remain. Spread over cooled cake.

It was a great holiday, and we watched fireworks after dinner. The next day was my birthday, and Jonathan took me to Another Broken Egg Cafe in Mountain Brook for brunch, and we went to Bottega Restaurant for dinner. It was a day full of amazing food with my sweetie :)

Fun in the Kitchen

Here are my newest obsessions. Oh, how I love wedding presents!

My beautiful Kitchen Aid Pistachio Stand Mixer
My Calphalon Contemporary Stainless Steel set

Entering the World of Blogging

I've decided that, since this is a new season of life for me, I will also try something else new...blogging! The love of my life, Jonathan, and I were married 3 weeks ago on June 12th. This blog is going to be about our adventures, as well as my adventures in the kitchen. I love to cook, and I love trying new things. Here we go!