Oh man.....

This is what off brand crescent rolls got us:

Here is the back story.  We do our grocery shopping on the military base where it is WAY cheaper and I am not sure why but the store doesn't have off brand food.  So the other day decided to get some crescent rolls and like always, just picked up the first one I saw...assuming it was pillsbury.  Monday night it was Ryan's duty to make us dinner.  I was watching my class when I heard him having issues in the kitchen.  I look up and he can't get the crescent rolls open.  This was problem one.  I figured he had just messed up peeling off the paper and that it could easily be opened by hitting it on the counter....no luck.  Finally we have to saw off the top and try to pull out the dough.  This was problem two.  Once we got it all out it was not in its nice little shape so we couldn't really tell where the dotted lines were.  I was working on trying to salvage some of them when I look up and see Ryan's......bet you can't guess which one it is!  That was problem 3.  I was laughing so hard.  He thought that they were suppose to be in a circle shape and wondered why I was rolling mine up the other way.  It was so funny.  He tried it my way and they didn't end up looking much better.  

So all of them ended up looking weird.....but they tasted good.

** Disclaimer:  I have no problem with off brand food but this one in particular was bad news.

What I have been doing.....

I finally uploaded some pictures to my computer so I could post what I have been up to.  In my very limited spare time I have been making pies and doing crafts for Christmas. 

Here are my pies:

Pecan Pie

Raspberry Chiffon Pie

Strawberry Pie - this crust looks the best out of the three because I didn't make it...I got lazy.

I also have been working on some crafts.  The pillow below I saw on the Smile and Wave blog.  I still need to close up the top but I think it turned out pretty cute.

I have been making magazine bows that I saw on the How About Orange blog.  My real simples have been providing lots of pretty pages to make bows out of.  Every time I finish making one I make Ryan give his approval.  I think he is getting tired of judging bows. 

I am hoping to use only magazine bows for my Christmas presents this year (and share some with my mom).  I still have quite a few to make.

That is all the pictures I have.  I am working on a couple more crafts that I will share pictures of when they are finished. 

- ACK

A Great Day.....

So Saturday was a really really good day for me.  I got some super good news in the mail and we bought a new car!!!!!  To celebrate this is what we got:

Yep....Pizza Hut, Dr. Pepper and cupcakes.  No fancy dinners for me (though I like those too), just three of my favorite things.  R man is so good to me!  He even went in to get the cupcakes by himself and he came out with two for me instead of just one!!!!! 

I would also like to take this time to say a proper fairwell to my civic. 

It was the first car I "officially" owned and has been the best car ever.  I even got a little sentimental when we drove off and had to leave it with strangers.  This is my third car and I never felt that way with the others.  This one was special......ok enough with the sadness.  I will just say that I didn't feel bad for too long because shortly after leaving the civic I got to hop in the new car which I am madly in love with!


-ACK

Apple Dessert....

I am pretty set in my grocery shopping ways but the other day I decided to branch out of my usual Gala/Fuji apple choice and get a Macintosh one......bad news.  I took one for breakfast and hated it.  Of course I had bought several so I needed to find a way to get rid of them and came across this recipe on a blog I read From Scratch. 

It was really really yummy. 

What a crazy year......

This weekend was full of Springfield friends, DC friends, eating a lot of chocolate, and a little thing called our one year anniversary! R man and I decided to meet up with one of my best friends Beth and her family in Hershey, PA. We had a lot of fun and it was great seeing familiar faces. They are heading to DC today so we are going to get to hang out with all of them more this week. I am planning on introducing them to the to the amazing-ness that is Georgetown Cupcake sometime too.

While in Hershey we ate a lot and even got to make our own yankee doodle bar (that is why it says USA).  See how creative I am......ok not so much. 

Ryan decided he needed to eat his right away.  Of course his says Go Navy!

I may have also eaten two cupcakes (one of them is shown below…it is the York Peppermint Patty one) and bought two 1/2 lb Reese's cups that totally melted in the car :-(  Don't worry....we still ate it!

I took this picture for my dad...he loves these.

We also got to design our own candy bars.  You get to choose what you want in the candy bar and eventually you will even get to pick the type of chocolate you want.  They also let you design your own label and give you a fancy tin to take it home in. 

On Monday we got invited to paddle boat in the Potomac with some of our friends out here.  It was really hot and I will admit that I made Ryan do most of the paddling.  It was fun and it gave us a really good view of the Jefferson Memorial. 

Katherine and I ready to boat.  Oh and my huge glasses gave me a huge tan line!

Jefferson Memorial

Ryan trying to keep cool

Our friends in their paddle boat.

Washington Monument

All of these pictures are from my phone.  I should be posting the pictures from our camera soon. 

So we have officially been married for a year.  I have to say it has flown by.  I am looking forward to many more years!  I thought I would leave you with why I enjoy being married to this man (just to name a few):

He looks REALLY good dressed up!

He will eat anything, which comes in handy if one of my recipes flops.  No I didn't make that...KFC did.

He makes a great hand model for when I need my mom's opinion about something.

He will participate in almost anything I ask him to....even if that means wearing a hair net....

Or taking Flat Stanley all over DC.

Happy Anniversary RTK!

 

Ketchup Date.....

On Thursday I ended up having to work pretty late so R-man offered to pick me up (yay for not having to ride the metro) and take me for a nice dinner. I was watching The Hills a couple of seasons ago and they went to this place called Ketchup to eat.  I found one in DC and immediately wanted to try it out.  The food was pretty good and the atmosphere was nice. Their thing is that they give you 6 different kinds of ketchup. It was cool until I realized I only liked two of them (one of the two may have been the straight up normal ketchup…lame I know). Ryan enjoyed the others....especially the spicy ones.

We both look really tired!

Oh and later in the weekend Ryan ate this:

From the first time the commercial for KFC came on introducing it he wanted one. I thought it was out of control…..but to each his own!
 
I realize from this post it looks like we eat out a bunch....but we don't.  Well we do quite a bit on the weekends but I promise I do cook for us!
 

One of those days.....

Sometimes you just need this to get through the day:

Georgetown Cupcakes.....

I just saw this article on Real Simple's website about Georgetown Cupcake.  Apparently they recently got a TLC reality show.  I just thought it was cool and got super excited. 

Also they ship their cupcakes......or you could just come visit me and I will take you there!

My go to cookies.....

In celebration of Earth Day some of us in the office decided to bring in some goodies and I chose my favorite cookies….EVER. For starters Ryan and I are completely obsessed with Reese's peanut butter cups, eggs, Christmas trees, and hearts (RTK says the hearts look more like arrows). Our favorite by far are the eggs that come out at Easter. We stock up….or try to at least. The eggs were hard to come by this year so my lovely mom went out in the wee morning the day after Easter and picked us up some. I owe her big.

Oh….so back on the topic. The cookies I make use the miniature cups which are also pretty amazing. I have taken these the last four times I have needed a dessert item and have never brought any home. I figure that is a pretty good sign! I would love to say that they are super hard to make and I slave in the kitchen for hours….but I didn't…not even close.

What you need:

24 miniature Reese's peanut butter cups
Peanut butter cookie dough (you can use your own favorite recipe or if I am feeling lazy I use the Betty Crocker mix…yeah last night was one of those)
Mini muffin pan

Roll the cookie dough into about 1 inch round balls and then put one in each hole in the muffin pan. Cook at 375 for about 15 minutes. While they are cooking unwrap the peanut butter cups. As soon as the cookies are done remove them from the oven and immediately place a peanut butter cup in the center and press down. I usually let them cool in the pan for awhile before trying to get them out. The next step is to try not to eat any if you are taking them somewhere :-)

Last Hurrah.....

Starting today I am back on my calorie counting diet so Ryan and I decided to hit the eating hard this weekend because we won't be able to for awhile. Friday was pizza (my favorite) and then Saturday we went to Annapolis to try this place I saw on Man vs. Food called Chick and Ruths Delly. We both ordered a milkshake and corn beef sandwiches. They were both super yummy but the shake was beyond amazing. I got the vanilla peanut butter cup and could probably have downed 10 more! I didn't take any pictures because the place was super crowded and I was on sensory overload….so basically I forgot. Oh and someone was doing this challenge they have where you eat a 1.5 pound sandwich and 6 pound milkshake in an hour. I didn't see it happening because they were upstairs but it was pure craziness. There were also a ton of midshipmen since we were near the Naval Academy in their Navy whites…..it made me wish Ryan wore his more often. One of his cousins is graduating in May so hopefully he will wear it to that. Gotta love a guy in uniform….especially the Navy one!

Anyway…on Sunday I woke up and made donuts with homemade icing. I had never made icing (yeah I don't know why) so I was pleasantly surprised when it turned out just as good as the stuff we buy. It was all super yummy. For a late lunch we went to a burger place I had been wanting to try at the National Harbor called Elevation Burger. We both got a burger and milkshake (yes I went on kind of a milkshake binge). I thought it was the best burger I had ever had but Ryan thought that Five Guys is better. We walked around the area a little and I took some pictures of this crazy guy thing that is coming out of the sand. It is actually really cool.

This was Ryan's burger....mine was a bit smaller!

So….now I don't get to eat like I have the past….well…..4 months. I will miss all the cupcakes, milkshakes, and tons of pizza. I will however slip a Dr. Pepper in every once in awhile.

Here's to 26.....

For my birthday evening I decided to try out some new places in DC. Our first stop was pizza at 7th Hill Pizza on Capitol Hill. The pizza was amazing and they are all named for areas around DC. After stuffing ourselves with food we headed over to Georgetown Cupcake. I have been hearing about this place pretty much since I moved here but we haven't ever tried it out. It is supposed to be "THE" cupcake place in the area. I will say that I was not at all disappointed.

I would have loved to have one of each but Ryan wouldn't let me....probably for the best.

I would like to say that two of these were for Ryan and one was for me but we all know that is not how it went down. I will definitely be going back…..often.

- ACK

Food Post.....

So I have really stunk it up with writing stuff in my blog. I have been doing a lot of cooking lately. Here are some things I have made:

Crustless Broccoli Quiche in my new ramekins.  There were four of them.  Ryan ate three and I ate one :-)

Pecan Pie:

My granny gave me the pecan pie recipe and it was so easy and yummy. Now that I have a food processor (thanks mom and grandma) I am going to start making my own pie shells and it should be even better. Next on the list…..chocolate soufflés. I am nervous about that one.

- ACK

Craisins!!!!

One of the things that I love about Ryan is that he will eat almost anything.  Notice I said almost.  Turns out the things he won't eat are items that I happen to like...of course!  One of these such things is Craisins.  This dried fruit is one of my snack items but they are pretty high calorie so I don't eat them super often.  Ryan refuses to help me out by eating some for me and I didn't want them to be around super long.  My solution....

                                (From Ocean Spray Website)

These muffins were low calorie (I used splenda and applesauce) and used one cup of Craisins.  Also Ryan liked them.  I think by my last count he had six.  Mission accomplished!


- ACK

Shrimp Time

Lemony Shrimp with Beans and Couscous: