Date Night

Since my husband and I both have really busy lives (him working a full time job and a part time job and me, a full time student) we don't get to spend as much time with each other as we'd like to every day. To make up for this, we set aside a special date time each week where just get to spend time together. Tonight was that night for us. We went to Longhorn Steakhouse and let me just say, I think they have the best salmon I have ever eaten. Overall, it was a wonderfully fun evening. I really just love spending time with my husband. 

When we got home, I tried and tried to focus on homework, but it just never worked. Instead, I was distracted by a craving for something brownie-like. So I decided that I would take a moment to experience a small piece of heaven by making and eating these Cookie Dough Brownies from Kim at Lovin' From the Oven. In retrospect, I probably should have waited until tomorrow to make these so I could make a better judgment on whether or not I actually needed them, but oh well. Overall, the brownies are like a buy one get one sale. You love it because you can get such a great sale (they tasted SO good), but you hate it because you spend five times what you wanted to (I now want to throw up). They were rich. You think you've tasted a rich dessert before, but you're wrong. Unless you've tasted these. When Kim says to only eat a little at a time, listen. You're stomach will thank me. 

 Also, I finished my hat. :) It's adorable. I love it. 
Have a great day!!
the wife

Good Dinner Week

So far this week, I'm two for two. Both times I've made dinner this week (which is actually good in itself), the husband has liked it! As a college kid, it's just really hard sometimes to figure out how to go to class, get my work done, spend time with the husband, and make anything for dinner. On Mondays and Wednesdays, I have a particularly long day of class which makes the dinner situation even more crazy. So here's a rundown. 

On Monday, I planned what I like to call Poor Man's Chicken Parmesan. Whenever I was an on-campus student, I would take chicken patties and add them to spaghetti and call it a meal. It was easy and tasted great! For this meal, I used chicken nuggets instead, but followed the same basic pattern. While the chicken nuggets baked (we used Tyson brand), I could make the pasta. When everything was done, I smothered it in cheese. I know, I know. Chicken nuggets aren't real healthy, nor is this plan real original. But it tasted fantastic and that's all that matters. The hubby loved it and it took twenty minutes max. 

(And since I made dinner, he did the dishes. What a sweetheart!)

Tonight was my first night of using the new crock pot. For simplicity, since I've never used the thing before, I just cooked a little bit of chuck roast. I made some mashed potatoes and peas and carrots to go with it. My critical nature found a list a ways the meal could have been better: put salt in the mashed potatoes, cook the meat a little less, cook the peas a little more, on and on and on. My husband, however, wonderful man that he is, just turns to me in my complaining and says, "I think it's really good. Is there more?" I just love that man.

So this week, go buy some chicken nuggets for the next time you have spaghetti and remember to put salt in those mashed potatoes!!

ps. I am in the process of knitting this hat. I hope to finish it later tonight and post pictures later this week. 

(Photo and Pattern from Stitch Nation by Debbie Stoller)

Have a great evening!!

The wife

Monkey see monkey do

Whenever I was a kid, I loved the days that my momma would make monkey bread. There was just something about how sweet and yummy it was that made any day so much better. 

Once I got married, I thought that my husband deserved this experience as well. So, I called my mom to get the recipe. After days of waiting and listening to the hubby beg me to make the monkey bread, the day has arrived. I woke up before he did this morning and thought I would surprise him.  It just came out of the oven and now I just have to wait for the sleepy head to wake up. :)

Thanks to my mom (and probably my grandma or some wonderful ladies at the local Presbyterian church,) here's the recipe. 

Monkey Bread

4 cans refrigerator biscuits (just the plain old buttermilk kind, nothing flaky)

2/3 cup sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 lb. butter (1 stick)

1/2 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 350. (since cutting the biscuits takes so long, you could probably wait until about halfway through to actually turn the oven on) Mix 2/3 cup sugar and cinnamon in a quart or larger size bag. Cut each biscuit into quarters, drop into cinnamon sugar and shake to coat. (Don't try to put all of the biscuits in the bag at one time. Trust me. You'll end up with one big lump of dough that does not make good monkey bread.) Then drop each piece into a greased bundt pan. Melt butter and 1/2 cup sugar on stove. Pour over the biscuits. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until brown. 

Once out of the oven, cool for just a few minutes and then flip out onto a plate or big cake carrier. 

Hope you enjoy! Have a great day!!!!!

-the wife

Chipotle and Crock pots

So, let's be honest. Weather in Ohio is THE WORST. Seriously. It has literally rained for the past three or four days. Despite the awful weather, I still needed to go get groceries, buy a crock pot to use the groceries, and go for the (already planned) weekly married date. So the hubby and I decided to brave the nasty weather and go out! Needless to say, we made it to Chipotle and back without getting stuck in some mud puddle or drowning to death (I love love love their barbacoa burritos) AND we made it home with this beautiful crock pot from Bed, Bath, and Beyond. Can you tell I'm super excited to get to use it?!

Anyone have any fun crock pot recipes they'd like to share? I would love to have them! 

Hello World!

Hello blogging world!
Hopefully in the future this blog will become a little world of our simple thoughts, silly antics, and great ideas! You'll find knitting adventures, cooking endeavors, and maybe even a few funny husband stories. 


So for tonight, I'll share a quick little story. I decided to make meatballs and mashed potatoes tonight, since most of the (non-cereal) meals in this house are fabulous one dish wonders. For probably the first time in my life, I made the entire meal by myself. By that, I mean that I only needed to call Michael in to stir the potatoes twice. Usually he's my sous-chef and never leaves the kitchen. The preparation of the meal went smoothly, and I thought that the new recipe might actually turn out to be yummy. I got everything on the plate and we sat down to eat, only to find that Walmart is incapable of creating decent meat. Now I know how that sounds, but for once, my recipe was not the problem. It was as if someone forgot to remove all of the gristle. Michael tried three meatballs and ended up just eating all of the mashed potatoes. So for future meals.. no more meat from Walmart. (I really need to find a local butcher shop.)


To end this fun first blog post, this is a picture of my handsome husband and I from our wedding just a few short months ago. (credit to One17 Photography)