Happy Halloween!!!

First things first: Awkward Halloween Twinsie Picture!! I was trying to make my excited face which turned out to be open mouth as wide as possible face. I told The Boy to make an excited face and he chose instead to take a giant bite and make a "I hope no one recognizes us as we awkwardly take pictures outside of Dunkin Donuts" face.

Now, let’s all take a moment to appreciate this awesome Halloween doughnut. It was delicious.

I don’t know about you all, but I plan on eating Halloween treats All. Day. Long.

Did you know that 72% of all candy spending this Halloween will be on chocolate. Are you handing out any of the Top 10 Candy Bars? 

 My two favorites were ranked #8 & #9. Absurd. Clearly I need to buy more to get them ranked higher next year J

If you’re not handing out chocolate favorites this year, make sure you’re not handing out candy on this list. I was actually surprised that Candy Corn is the most hated Halloween treat. 

Speaking of Candy Corn, I saw this infographic this morning and had to share it. The National Confectioners’ Association (I wonder if they’re hiring…and if employees get free candy…) conducted a survey asking Americans how they liked to eat Candy Corn. Check out the results:

I'm with the majority on this one!

Did anyone else see Google’s list of Top Costume Searches for 2013? The top trending costume is the Minion fro m Despicable Me and the second top trend is Miley Cyrus. If any Mileys knock on my door tonight, I’m not answering.

What’s your favorite Halloween candy?

Did you dress up this year?

Do you have any Halloween traditions? 

Date Night Part 1: Hot Dogs & Basketball

Hello there. I feel like I've been in hiding this month. Let me bring you up to speed with what’s been goin' on.

October was a very busy month and it was awesome. I had visitors 3 out of 4 weekends….I love visitors! Justin came up in mid-October and is here for three weeks (our longest stretch since last Christmas!). We found a Groupon for a new-ish Hibachi place and planned a date night for last weekend (review coming soon). Our date night ended up turning into a date weekend. On Friday morning a friend at work offered us her Pitt Basketball tickets for that night. She couldn't go and didn't want them to go to waste. As excited as I was to get into my sweatpants after work, I couldn't pass up an opportunity to watch a college basketball game.

Since we hadn't been over in that area of town before, my friend recommended a restaurant we should go to for dinner, The Original Hot Dog Shop. 

Turns out this hidden Pittsburgh gem is actually quite famous. They've been on Food Network’s Unwrapped and they were voted best fries in the US by CNN. The atmosphere at the place was awesome. I’m not a hot dog fan, but Justin LOVES them (Fiance Fun Fact #12343). He said they were top notch hot dogs. 

The fries were pretty darn awesome and the beer selection was incredible. The Original Hot Dog Shop has here by been awarded the Justin & Kimberly Seal of Approval.

 We walked up to Petersen Events Center after dinner. It’s a very impressive venue. It took us a while to figure out how to get to our seats…did I mention they were COURTSIDE? 

 I felt like I was famous. Then I felt terrified. I had to really focus on the game, which was difficult because my attention span is about 2.5 seconds. I knew the moment I looked away I would get pegged in the head with a basketball! Luckily, I did not get pegged in the head with a basketball and we had a fabulous time watching the game. It was the perfect date night :)

Blurry iPhone selfie FTW

Favorite Fall Foods: Chicken Pot Pie

Since I have class three nights a week this semester, I've been making meals on Sunday that will get me through the week. I learned the hard way that if I didn't prepare, I would end up eating frozen waffles three nights a week. Two weeks ago, Justin and I (minus the “I”) made a giant homemade chicken pot pie. We Googled a bunch of recipes and then took bits and pieces of all of them to create our own. This savory pot pie is delicious right out of the oven and made really great leftovers too!

Favorite Fall Foods: Chicken Pot Pie

Here’s What You Need:

¼ cup of butter

¼ cup of chopped onion

¼ cup all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

1 (10.75 ounce) can of cream of chicken soup (we used Campbell’s Healthy Request)

1 ½ cups of milk (we used skim)

8-12 oz cubed chicken breast (cooked)

29oz mixed veggies (we’re fans of Veg-All)

2 (9 in) refrigerated pie crusts

Here’s What You Do:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees

Melt the butter and stir in the onions until translucent

Stir in the flour, salt, and pepper to make a paste

Mix in the cream of chicken soup and the milk

Cook & stir until smooth (sauce will thicken)

Mix in the chicken and vegetables

Line a 2 quart casserole dish with one of the pie crusts (fold and press the edges around the dish)

Pour the chicken/veggie/sauce mixture into the casserole dish

Lay the second pie crust over the mixture (fold and press the edges to seal the crusts)

Cut several small slits in the top crust

Bake about 40 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbling

ENJOY!

Running Adventure, Chicken Pot Pie, and Pumpkin filled Crescent Rolls

I've been slacking on one of my goals for this semester. I have tons of half written blog posts in my notebook, but I've been struggling to get them posted. I’ll keep working on it. I am really proud of myself for keeping up with my workout schedule. Most of my runs were on the treadmill last month so I was super excited when Justin suggested we run through downtown this week.

We started our running adventure in Station Square near the Duquesne Incline.

 We ran across the Fort Pitt bridge and through Point State Park. 

There is currently a 40ft duck floating in the river by the point so we had to stop and get our picture taken with it…It’s not every day you get to see a 40ft duck!

From the point we ran across the Fort Duquesne bridge and down to PNC Park. The lights were on and someone told us the Reds were in there for batting practice. We walked around the entire stadium and weren't able to catch a glimpse of Joey Votto. Sad Day.

After we left PNC Park, we ran down to Heinz Field. I think they play football there or something.

From Heinz Field we retraced our steps across both bridges and hit the 4 mile mark. We stopped to enjoy the view and then walked the last little bit to the car while figuring out what we wanted for dinner.

We (and by we, I mean Justin) made a homemade Chicken Pot Pie. It took longer than expected to make and we were STARVING when it came out of the oven. It was definitely worth the wait. It is the most delicious pot pie I have ever eaten. Stay tuned for the recipe :)

I needed something sweet after the savory pot pie so I whipped up some pumpkin filled crescent rolls. In case it’s not obvious from my Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram posts, I’m a tad obsessed with pumpkin so these really hit the spot.

What’s your favorite pumpkin recipe? 

Any Pittsburgh runners reading? What’s your favorite downtown route?