Celebration!

This is why I love Auburn...It's all about family and tradition, baby. I am very proud of my Auburn Tigers for winning the SEC Championship. Glendale, here we come!

I love this picture, too:

Always take time to make a snow angel, even if it's not technically snow :)

Unfortunately, there probably won't be too many posts in the coming days. I have 10 final exams in the next two weeks. Talk about school overload! Please be praying for me!

Second photo courtesy of The August Chronicle

It's Beginning to Look A Lot like Christmas!

We had a fantastic Thanksgiving! We got to visit both of our families, plus, we watched the greatest Iron Bowl EVER! War Eagle!!! One more game to win in the hopes of making it to the national championship :) After we got back home on Saturday, we put on some Christmas music and put up our Christmas decorations. I have been SO excited about this Christmas season since it's our first Christmas as a married couple. Here is the product of our work:

Our Christmas Tree

Fireplace Mantle (can't wait to get a fire going!)

The two together :)

Brazilian Shrimp Soup

This weekend, Jonathan and I did a whole lot of relaxing and a whole lot of nothing. We did hang out with our friends Sara and Robby, and we also went to see Harry Potter 7, which was great. Tonight, I made this delicious soup from the fantastic blog, Annie's Eats. As usual, her recipe didn't disappoint. Now, I'm not sure if it's actually an authentic Brazilian recipe (my good friend and classmate Lila would know), but it tasted just like something you would get in a restaurant. It had a subtle tropical flavor due to the coconut milk and cilantro, but it was still very savory. It was simple to make, too! You must give this a try:

2 tbsp. olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
¾ cup long-grain rice
½ tsp. red pepper flakes
1 ¾ tsp. salt
1 ¾ cups canned crushed tomatoes
5 cups water (I used 4 cups chicken broth, 1 cup water)
1 cup canned unsweetened coconut milk (I used the light version)
1 ½ lbs. medium shrimp, peeled and cut in half horizontally
¼ tsp. black pepper
1 tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
½ cup fresh cilantro, chopped (don't skip this...it makes all the difference!)

Heat the olive oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the onion, bell pepper and garlic and cook until the vegetables are tender, about 7 minutes. Add the rice, red pepper flakes, salt, crushed tomatoes, and chicken broth/water to the pot. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook, covered, for 10 minutes or until the rice is almost tender. Stir in the coconut milk. Return the mixture to a simmer, then stir in the shrimp. Simmer just until the shrimp are cooked through, about 3-5 minutes. Stir in the pepper, lemon juice and cilantro. Serve immediately.

Deliciousness in a bowl :)

Auburn wins the SEC West!

Yay! What a great end to a good week. Tonight, we went to a couple from our small group's house to watch Auburn play Georgia. We had a wonderful time and were so proud to be Auburn Tigers! Atlanta, here we come :) I made these chocolate peanut butter covered brownie balls, and they were a HUGE hit. Everyone kept coming back for more. Here's a picture:

(Recipe at the end of this post)

In other news, both Crest/Oral-B and Phillips Sonicare decided to be generous to us dental students this week. Here's all the SWAG (a reference to Michael on The Office who calls free stuff, "Stuff We All Get"...love that show!)
And here's the recipe for the brownie balls:

-1 box of your favorite brownie mix (Word to the wise: choose something without chocolate chips in the mix; it gets really messy when you're trying to form into balls)
-2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
-1/4 cup peanut butter

Prepare brownie mix according to package directions. Bake until toothpick comes out nearly clean, and cool for about 20-25 minutes. Using a medium cookie scoop, scoop out a chunk of brownie and form it into a ball. Continue rolling until brownies are gone. Place balls on wax paper and freeze for a couple of hours.

Place chocolate chips in a double boiler or melt in the microwave, then stir in peanut butter until smooth. Roll brownie balls in chocolate and place back on wax paper to cool. Can serve chilled or at room temperature (I thought they tasted better at room temperature).

Mini Pumpkin Butterscotch Muffins

Well, I survived one of the craziest couple of weeks of school in a long time. In the past two weeks, I've had 5 tests, on top of clinic and lab work. Thursday night, my brain could cram no more information in, so I decided to use up the extra pumpkin I had left over from the double layer pumpkin cheesecake. I found this recipe from allrecipes.com, so I decided to whip it up:


1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 (6 ounce) package butterscotch chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease mini-muffin pan with cooking spray. Sift together the flour, brown sugar, white sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Whisk together the eggs, butter, and pumpkin in a separate bowl. Mix the flour mixture with the egg mixture. Stir in the butterscotch chips; pour into each cup of the muffin pan to about 3/4 full. Bake in preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 15 minutes.

Note: I cut the recipe in half because I didn't need 48 mini muffins.

These were delicious. Jonathan and I aren't huge butterscotch fans, but we both really liked this recipe!

Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake

This week, my clinic rotation got canceled, so I get to go home early in the afternoons if I choose. Most days, I'll probably hang around the school and do lab work, but today, I headed home for a little rest and relaxation (I'm still recovering from a nasty upper respiratory tract infection). Since cooking relaxes me more than anything, I ran by the store to grab the ingredients for this tasty treat. I love fall and I love pumpkin, so this seemed like something appropriate to make. Plus, it was really easy and delicious! Here's the recipe (modified from allrecipes.com):

• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened (I used one fat-free and one light)
  
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 (9 inch) prepared graham cracker crust
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 pinch ground cloves (I didn't have any, so I omitted this)
  
• 1 pinch ground nutmeg
• 1/2 cup frozen whipped topping, thawed

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, vanilla, and sugar, and beat until smooth. Blend in eggs one at a time. Remove 1 1/4 cups of this mixture and spread into bottom of pie crust; set aside.

Add pumpkin, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg to the remaining batter and stir until smooth. Carefully spread over batter in the crust.

Bake for 55 minutes, or until center is almost set. Cool completely, then refrigerate 3 hours or overnight. Serve with Cool Whip on top.

Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween everyone! Above is the goofy-faced pumpkin we carved today. I also made a delicious pumpkin pie (unfortunately, I didn't have time to make my own pumpkin puree. I'm definitely guilty for using the canned). We're currently watching the Auburn v. Ole Miss game. War Eagle!

More Football Fun

Last weekend, Jonathan and I headed down to Auburn to see them face the LSU Tigers. It was an important game, because Auburn was ranked #4 and LSU was ranked #6. We met up with some of our wonderful college friends, and we had a fantastic weekend. It didn't hurt that Auburn won, and we are now ranked #1 in the nation!! Here are some pictures from the wonderful weekend:

Us with our beautiful friends, Brandon and Ashley (thanks for the tickets)!!

The gang hanging out before the game

Jordan-Hare Stadium (the greatest place on Earth)

Katie and me celebrating Auburn's victory by rolling Toomer's Corner

Bid Farewell to Fall Break

I'm sad to say that today is my last day of fall break. But we are excited about our small group tonight! It's our turn to provide the snacks for the night, and as always, I had a stack of recipes I've been wanting to try. I use opportunities like this to try out new recipes that I wouldn't normally cook for just Jonathan and me. I had already bought all the ingredients for a Tiramisu Layer Cake that I intended to make for our dental school's Cake-Off for Breast Cancer. Unfortunately, I was SO overloaded with school the week of the cake-off that I didn't have time to make it. So today, I pulled all of those ingredients out of the fridge and made this:

I feel like the cake turned out really well, and I can't wait to dig into it tonight. I also made a recipe called Hot Corn Dip from this website. I followed the recipe exactly.

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 1/2 cups corn kernels (I used frozen fresh corn)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup finely chopped yellow onions
• 1/2 cup finely chopped roasted red bell peppers (from a jar)
• 1/4 cup chopped green onions (green and white parts)
• 1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
  
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1 cup monterey jack and cheddar blend, shredded
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
• Tortilla chips, for dipping

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the corn, salt, and black pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl. Melt the remaining tablespoon of butter in the skillet. Add the onions and bell peppers and cook, stirring often, until the onions are wilted, about 2 minutes. Add the green onions, jalapeno, and garlic and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes, or until the vegetables are softened. Transfer to the bowl with the corn.

Add 1/2 C mayo, cayenne pepper, half of the monterey jack/cheddar and mix well. Pour into an 8-inch square baking dish or pie dish, and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Bake until bubbly and golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Serve hot with tortilla chips or Fritos.

Here are the vegetables right after they were sauteed:

And here's the final product, ready to be popped into the oven:

I also made my ham and cheese slider rolls, but I've already made a post about those. Here's a special shout-out to my mom who has inspired my love for cooking by teaching me her tricks from an early age. Love you Mom!

Chattanooga Trip

This week is my fall break, so this past weekend, Jonathan and I took a trip to Chattanooga. We were amazed at how nice the city was! The downtown area was very clean and well-maintained, and just a couple of miles away are lots of outdoor adventure opportunities. Here's a summary of our trip:

We swam with the fishies at the Aquarium

We explored the city together

We braved a cave to see Ruby Falls (the world's tallest underground waterfall)

We rode the Incline Railway (which has a 72% steepness grade)

We "Saw Rock City"

And viewed "Seven States" from the top of Lookout Mountain

All in all, it was a fantastic trip. We're back home now, and we definitely look forward to more married trips together :)

Chocolate Chip Pie Gooey Bites

Hello friends! Well, it's the weekend, and of course, I've been cooking again. The weekend started out with our good friends, Ryan and Katie, coming to visit us. They're some of our best friends from Auburn, and they're going to Nepal for a year this coming March. We will miss them terribly, but we are so excited about the adventure God is taking them on! Saturday morning, I volunteered with Church of the Highlands. We served hotdogs to underprivileged and homeless people in the Woodlawn community. It was a great way to start my weekend. Then I headed over to the home of one of the couples in our small group. Jonathan was already there watching the AU game, and I got to see about half of the game. This is the treat I baked up to celebrate the occasion. They were a big hit! (Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture, but there are great pictures on the website where I got the recipe. Click here).

1/2 C butter, melted and cooled
1 C sugar
1/2 C flour
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
1 C chopped pecans, toasted
1 C mini chocolate chips
9" unbaked pie shell

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl combine the butter, sugar, flour, eggs, and vanilla. When combined stir in chocolate chips and toasted nuts. Set aside.

Right out of the box the pie crust is way too thick. Lightly flour your rolling surface and roll out crust so it's about 13-14" in diameter. (See pictures on blog for example). You want it pretty thin because it will expand while cooking. You will need to cut out some circles and then re-roll the pie crust.

A 2.75" circle is the perfect size. So use a cookie cutter, or grab a cup from your cupboard, and cut out circles. Press into the bottom of your mini muffin pan.

Mix all ingredients and pour into pie shells. Bake 20-25 minutes. The tops will get crinkly and golden brown. Let cool for a minute and they should pop right out of the pan.

All I have to say is, "Wow." Gooey chocolate goodness. These are best right out of the oven, but microwave them for a few seconds if they get cool, and they taste just the same as straight out of the oven :)

That's all for now, folks!

Football Fun

This past weekend, Jonathan's best friend and his wife got us tickets to the Auburn v. South Carolina game. So, we headed down to Auburn for the big game, and we had the best seats in the house! We were so close to the field that I felt like I could touch the players. Here's a pic of the four of us:

Erica, Buck, Jonathan, and me

We drove back after the game Saturday night so that we could go to church Sunday and attend our small group. We are LOVING our new small group and are making friends with other married couples. Fun!

Yes We Cam

War Eagle!!!! Tonight we had fellow Auburn grads over to watch the Auburn v. Clemson game. What a game! Auburn pulled off a win in overtime, and we screamed so loud it probably woke the neighbors :) I fixed some yummy snacks for tonight's get-together. The menu included:

1. Chocolate Chip Cookie Cheesecake Bars
2. Fruit Platter with Pineapple Cream Cheese Dip
3. Ham and Cheese Sliders
4. Rotel Dip

All the treats were a huge success. Jonathan helped out by making his signature Rotel dip, and he added ground beef into the mix, so it turned out really well, too. Here are a couple of pictures for you.

P.S. If you're wondering about the misspelling in the title of my blog post, it's in honor of our Auburn's quarterback Cameron (Cam) Newton.

The fruit platter (notice the dish is a stadium and the dip is in a football)

The spread (yes, I am using orange and blue plates leftover from the groom's cake at our wedding, lol)

I think the biggest hit were the Chocolate Chip Cookie Cheesecake Bars, but I LOVED the ham and cheese sliders (recipe modified from Annie's Eats). Here's the recipe if you want to give it a shot:

24 mini Hawaiian rolls
24 slices honey ham
24 slices swiss cheese
Mayo
1.5 Tbsp. yellow mustard
6 Tbsp. butter, melted
1 Tbsp. finely chopped onion
1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
Poppy seeds (for sprinkling)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut rolls in half and spread a very thin layer of mayo on the insides. Fold a slice of ham to fit on each roll, then top with a slice of cheese. Place in a baking pan or on a baking sheet. In a bowl, combine the butter, mustard, onion, and Worcestershire sauce. Drizzle over the tops of the rolls. Sprinkle with poppy seeds. Cover with foil and bake for 10 minutes, then remove foil and bake for 2 more minutes. Serve warm.

Labor Day Weekend

On Labor Day weekend, our friends Walt and Maryanne invited us to go to the Alabama State Fair with them. Neither Jonathan nor I had been to the fair in ages, so we tagged along, and we had a blast! Here are a few pics from the night:Me tearing it up with some fair games :)

Jonathan and I hanging out in some hot air balloons

Riding the ferris wheel with Walt and Maryanne

We left bright and early the next morning to hang out with Buck and Erica (Jonathan's best friend and his wife) in Pensacola. We watched the first Auburn game of the season (War Eagle!), and we stopped by the beach for a few minutes. It was hot but beautiful!

Group shot

After leaving Pensacola, we swung by both of our parents' houses to visit. All in all, it was a very good weekend. We were exhausted after all that fun, but it was worth it!

Big, Fat Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have an amazing chocolate chip cookie recipe that I use as my staple recipe. However, this weekend, I was feeling adventurous and tried a new one. They were SOOO delicious. It's a hard decision whether they're better than my normal recipe, but I decided I can like them both :) Here's the recipe (courtesy of Annie's Eats blog):

2 cups plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour

½ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

12 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm

1 cup brown sugar, packed

½ cup granulated sugar

1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Whisk dry ingredients together in a medium bowl; set aside. With electric mixer, mix butter and sugars until thoroughly combined. Beat in egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined. Add dry ingredients and beat at low-speed just until combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

Roll a little less than half a cup of dough into a ball. Holding dough ball in fingertips of both hands, pull apart into two equal halves. Place on cookie sheet with jagged surfaces facing up, leaving ample room between each ball. Bake, reversing position of cookie sheets halfway through baking, until cookies are light golden brown and outer edges start to harden yet centers are still soft and puffy (approximately 11-14 minutes). Do not overbake.

Cool cookies on sheets until able to lift without breaking. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

The result:

I let a few of my classmates have some, and they flipped out. Try this recipe...you won't be disappointed!

My first carrot cake!

Because I've been so tired when I get home from school everyday, I am not much fun. I crash on the couch, and I feel bad because Jonathan doesn't get much time to talk to me. Since he's been so kind and patient, I told him I would make him whatever sweet treat he wanted this weekend. Expecting the "chocolate chip cookies" response, I was surprised (and a little nervous) when he asked me to make him a carrot cake. Now, Jonathan LOVES carrot cake, and I've never made carrot cake before. I had always imagined it being a difficult process, so I didn't want my first one to be a disaster. Fortunately, I was surprised by how simple it was. Here's the recipe I used (modified from Sam's Famous Carrot Cake on allrecipes.com):

3 eggs
3/4 cup light buttermilk
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 1/2 cups shredded carrots
1 cup flaked coconut
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple with juice
3/4 cup raisins

For the cream cheese frosting:
1 package light cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9x13" pan. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, combine eggs, buttermilk, oil, sugar, and vanilla. Mix well. Add flour mixture, and mix well. Fold in the carrots, pineapple, coconut, walnuts, and raisins. Pour into pan and bake for 45-50 minutes. Check with a toothpick. Cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting, beat together the cream cheese and butter. Mix in the powdered sugar and vanilla. Spread over the cooled cake.

The result...moist, delicious carrot cake! Here's a slice to make your mouth water :)

By the way, you could make this a layered cake by splitting the batter between two 8" round cake pans, and reducing the baking time to around 30 minutes. Make sure to double the frosting, though, if you want to ice the whole cake.

In other news, we're looking forward to all that this fall has in store for us. Jonathan is itching for football season to start, and we're both looking forward to some cooler weather :) We're also really excited about starting a new small group with our church in September. We're praying that we can make some genuine, Godly friendships, so say a prayer for us!

Nacho Stars

Last night, we had planned a game night with another married couple, so I decided to make a snack for everyone to much on. My friend, Ashley, from school makes this awesome treat called Nacho Stars. I forgot to snap a picture, and before I knew it, they were devoured! So, I borrowed this picture from the internet. It doesn't have the same filling, but you can get the idea. I like how versatile this could be. You could do a spicy filling, a chicken salad-type filling, a crab/cream cheese-type filling, etc. The possibilities are endless. Here's the recipe I used:

1 package wonton wrappers
3/4 cup ranch dressing
1/2 cup cheddar cheese
1 lb. sausage
1 jar jalapeno slices

Directions: Spray a cupcake tin with non-stick cooking spray. Place wonton wrappers in the tin, and bake in an oven preheated to 350 degrees for 6 minutes. Meanwhile, brown the sausage in a skillet. Drain, and add the ranch and cheese. Spoon into pre-baked wonton shells. Add a little more cheese, and top with a jalapeno slice. Place back into the oven for 6 more minutes. Enjoy!

Suturing!

Today was a very big day for me. I've spent all week rotating through our Oral Surgery clinic. I've pulled nine teeth by myself so far and assisted seniors in pulling countless others, My patient today had badly broken down teeth, so I had to use a surgical approach. For the very first time EVER today, I used a scalpel to cut back a tissue flap, extracted the broken-off teeth, and sutured the patient up when I was through. There aren't many things in dental school that have come completely natural to me, but I felt that suturing came so naturally to me. I was good at it, and that put me on cloud 9. Yay for God reaffirming that you've made the right career choice! Here's a illustration of the suture technique I used:

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