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!