August Challenges

It's already August 1st? Holy Cow!
Where did the summer go?
Alan goes back to work tomorrow, so today is officially the end to our summer. (Well, his summer. I don't have summers. But, either way, it's over).


With a new school year comes a more hectic household. Even though Alan is a teacher, he doesn't leave school at 4pm or so, when the teachers are released. He makes it home between 6:30-7:30pm (I have a hard working hubby). So, when I get home at 5pm from work, I usually get dinner started. I love to cook, but don't normally like to spend my entire evening preparing a meal. 


So, after some g-chatting with my sister-in-law (Alan's sister), Jennifer, we both decided we're going to challenge ourselves to cook weeknight dinners only in our crockpot for the month of August. We realized that we both don't use our slowcookers often enough. 


During my lunch break, Alan and I prepared our first crockpot supper of August: Ziti. I haven't ever cooked pasta in the crockpot before, so we're experimenting with this first recipe. We decided, since there's only two of us, we will probably only have to make two crockpot meals each week. We'll eat the leftovers for lunch and possibly another dinner.  


We eat at church one night a week, have date night on Thursdays, and normally eat with friends on Friday nights. (Yea, that seems like a lot of eating out, but we always come home with leftovers for the next day's lunches, so we're getting multiple meals out of each restaurant visit which makes us feel less guilty about eating out). 


I figured, since we're already challenging ourselves in the kitchen, I would also challenge myself with my camera. I came across this blog post from Sherry at Oh So Lovely and thought it would be fun to participate. I don't take nearly enough pictures of our everyday life and I thought this would be a fun way to change that!

Here's my Day 1: Self Portrait

And, yes, I did get my hair cut (last week actually)! I will share that story tomorrow. Can you say Locks of Love? Oh yea...my hair was pretty long! 


A new school year is pretty much like a new year all together for us. That happens when your lives revolve around the school calendar. That's fine with me because it gives me a chance to start new and make resolutions in the middle of the (calendar) year! Cheers to a new school year! It's been fun summer, we'll see you next year. 

From Our Kitchen :: Sweets for my Sweet

Alan and I don't celebrate Valentine's Day.  It's just something we've never done.  In my opinion, it's a Hallmark holiday.  Why do I need ONE day out of the year to show the people I love HOW much I love them by giving them cards, candy, and flowers? 

My goal EVERY day of the year is to make sure the people I love know they are loved.  I try to do a good job of that...sometimes I don't always succeed, or get to tell them in person, but I think they all know who they are. 

Sorry Valentine's lovers... I just haven't ever been able to jump on that bandwagon.  I don't know if it's the fact that pink is my least favorite color, or that roses are my least favorite flower, or the fact that I am cheap and don't see the point in buying things just for buying's sake...I don't know what it is.

So, with that anti-Valentine intro, I thought I would share with you something I whipped up in the kitchen today.  I came across this post and thought these cookies were just too pretty.  I had to make some for Alan, since sugar cookies are one of his favorites. 

  
I love being in the kitchen, and will come up with any excuse to use my beautiful new KitchenAid Mixer that Alan gave me for Christmas.  I followed Jenny's recipe exactly, and the cookies cooked up super quick and easy. And, yes, they are heart-shaped. If I am giving anyone something for Valentine's Day, it's going to be homemade sweets for my sweet.  

   
But it definitely doesn't have to be a holiday in our house to bake up something sweet.  These will definitely be made again.  The recipe is on it's way to the keeper pile for future use.


Have you done something sweet for the people you love today?  Well, if not, be sure to tomorrow, and the next day, and the next!


Thanks for stopping by our kitchen! We LOVE that you were able to come by!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I wanted to share a recipe I have whipped up for the second, yes, second time this fall already!  These cookies are amazing and I am so glad I came across them on Dana's blog. 


The only change I made to her recipe was the addition of a few spices in the frosting.  I have never made cream cheese icing before, and apparently I'm not a big fan unless there's a little cinnamon, nutmeg, or just some pumpkin pie spice in it.  Yum!


The first time I made these I used regular size chocolate chips, and this time around I tried mini chocolate chips.  The minis melted much quicker, giving the cookies a bit more of a chocolate kick.  However, there's not a big difference in the taste, and they are divine either way. 


Head over to MADE for the recipe, and while you're there, look around a bit.  You won't be sorry.


Here's what the Hurst kitchen looked like last night.

Delicious! Simply Delicious!