Date Ideas Around Town

Cameron and I love to travel but sometimes we just want to stay home and hang out. While we live in a smaller college town there is actually tons of things to do. People like to complain that there is nothing but I am about to prove them wrong.

Since we are in a college town there are so many things that are available to us through the university. There are events multiple times a week on campus. They have plays, musicals, concerts, and so much more. The university wants to you to attend these events so you are able to go to them for less than $5. Awesome right? It is cheaper than me going to Taco Bell. Which you could even do for dinner before going to one of these events on campus.

If you aren’t into that kind of thing there are plenty of inexpensive restaurants around town. There are apps where you can find out which restaurant is offering discounts that day. It is pretty sweet. You could even go to McDonald’s and get an ice cream cone for a dollar. You can’t beat that.

Cameron and I are into athletics. We tend to take advantage of the gym on campus. A nice aspect of living in a college town is that they offer things to you for really cheap. We will go and shoot hoops or go play racquetball. We both get to work out and have fun. There are tons of fields where you can play soccer or go ride a bike. Getting out there and being active together is so much fun. Exercising gives you endorphins, and endorphins make you happy. Why not get happy together right?

There are a lot of things to do. You just have to get creative. 🙂

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Easy Bread Sticks

I am here to save your life. You know how you will start craving those Olive Garden breadsticks in the middle of the night and you don’t live anywhere close to an Olive Garden? Maybe it’s just me but I have found something that will help curve your cravings and that are a heck of a lot cheaper than going to Olive Garden.

All you need to make these breadsticks are:

• 2 tubes of canned biscuits (you can use the Pillsbury cresent rolls even)
• 2 tablespoons of melted butter
• pizza seasoning
• shredded mozzeralla or parmesan

First of all preheat the oven the 350 degrees. Grease a large cookie sheet. Pop open the tube of biscuits. Pull them apart, they will already be a little divided. Next you are going to roll them into the sticks. To do this just remember when you would play with play dough as a kid and make this dough look like a snake.

Lay out the dough. These will definitely grow as they cook so make sure to spread them out. I always split the tubes up between 2 cookie sheets. Once they have been laid, you can spread the melted butter over the top .

After the butter has been spread over them you can sprinkle the cheese and pizza seasoning over the top.

Now these bad boys are ready to go into the oven. They will cook for 13. They will brown really fast one top because of the butter so be aware of that. They inside will be doughy but the outside will look like it is burnt.

They cool off fairly quickly and they will satisfy a craving. These are one of my favorite things to make for Cameron. He has become a little obsessed with them lately.

Baked Mozerella Penne

After dealing with work and school, the last thing Cameron and I have time for is cooking. As much as we both love it we know that we have very little time for it. Crockpotting and simple meals is definitely the way we go if we can swing it. Cooking together is something we really enjoy and when the food turns out great it makes it even better.

One of our recipes that we enjoy cooking and takes almost no time is my baked penne. I came up  with it after we were sick of pasta and wanted to try something new with it.

First all you have to do is make the noodles. and preheat the oven. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and fill a medium size pot of water. Once it begins to boil you can add the penne. I kid you not, penne seriously take the longest to cook of any noodle I have seen. Normally it takes 8 miutes to boil pasta, this penne takes 15. That’s okay though this tastes better. Continually stir the penne so it does not stick together.

While the noodles are cooking you can begin cooking the ground beef. You are going to want at least 1 lb of ground beef to completely cover the baking pan. The meat should be that brownish/gray color. I season the meat with garlic salt and black pepper to give it a little flavor before we add it to the rest of the food.

After the noodles are cooked, drain them. Line the bottom of a glass baking pan with the noodles. This will be your base for the rest of the ingredients. After they have been layed you can start layering the rest of the food. I typically put the sauce over the noodles. Then after I do a layer of the beef. Next I add some of the mozzerella cheese. Then I add more sauce and then more cheese over the top. It is really one of the easiest things to make. After you are done layering it will look something like this:

Bake the for 10 minutes or until the cheese has completely melted. The cheese will turn a little brown but that helps to show that the food is done. It is super easy and it tastes delicious. I would suggest this to anyone who is short on time and craving Italian food.

Amazing Fruit Pizza

I know I just did a post about pizza so I figured why not give you all a recipe for some dessert pizza? I grew up eating this dessert at nearly every family function I went to growing up. This fruit pizza has a spot in my heart. While it may be from the memories that were made when eating it, it is more likely because of the amazing taste.

My mom is gluten intolerant and has been since I can remember. To make this dessert we always go out and buy gluten free sugar cookie dough. The nice thing is, if you decide to not make it into a pizza you can always just make cookies with it. The dough mix can be found in any gluten free section of the supermarket.

Once you have made the dough you can press it into a baking sheet or a pie tin. It is all based on your preference. After it has been pressed and cooked as directed, refrigerate the dough for 15 minutes. This gives you time to make the topping.

For our topping we do a jar of marshmallow fluff and half a stick of cream cheese. Beat this together until very smooth. I promise you will not be disappointed. If you aren’t into marshmallow feel free to use a regular cream cheese frosting.

Now that your dough has cooled off after cooking you can add the toppings. Spread the frosting over it then decorate the pizza with whatever fruit you want. The last time we made it we were going for a patriotic theme. It looks adorable and it tasted fantastic. This is super simple to make and requires almost no time at all.

How to Road Trip, Millett Style

IT’S SUMMER! Can we all let out a squeal of excitement please?! This is season we have been waiting for all year long. It is in full swing. Actually let’s be real, summer is almost over. One of my favorite things to do in the summer is drive around in our car. Roadtripping and finding new areas to explore is one of my favorite past times.

Where we live there is tons of random things to do. We have lakes, rivers, valley, so basically this place is gorgeous. One place that we love to drive to is Jackson Hole, WY. It is right next to Yellowstone and you have probably heard of it. It is great to take a day and just drive.

This is the part where you are going to complain about gas prices and whatnot. I totally get that but if you are saving and driving smart you can do this fun little day trip on less than a tank of gas. Here is how we do it:

Gas Buddy

Who hasn’t heard of Gas Buddy? It is one of the best applications out there. You are able to look for gas stations in your area and find the one with the lowest price. How cool is that? This app will seriously save your butt. Filling up is a lot less stressful and you will feel better about wanting to go out and explore.

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Researching

Who says you have to go really far? Cameron and I will just go on a trip that is less than an hour away. Look up what attractions are around you and it will make it a lot easier on your mind. Sure it would tons of fun to drive for 4 hours there and 4 hours back but who really has time for that? Plan ahead and find something that is close and is inexpensive. There are tons of websites that are dedicated to helping people find vacation areas. Going there for a day and getting your mind off of things will definitely put you in a better mood.

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Make It Worth Your While

This section has this title because it is true. If you are not going to have while doing it, roadtripping probably isn’t for you. I believe that you can have fun in any situation. This is definitely a situation that requires patience. You are going to be in a car with someone else for a period of time.

Situations like these are where you can really get to know another person. Having a rocking playlist playing can really help smooth things over. You will be able to bond and have fun. Make sure to take stops along the way and take pictures. That is part of the fun. Where ever you go plan on making memories.

The time Cameron and I went on a roadtrip while we were dating we walked the trail to the waterfall and had a blast. We faked engagement pictures while we were there. We sent fake proposal picture to everyone and people were freaking out. It wasn’t until months later that we actually made it official but it was fun to see other’s reactions.

I’m not saying you need to go out and trick people but these are the types of things where you are going to make memories. Make sure to take pictures to document it. A picture is worth a thousand words. Roadtripping is therapeutic and a TOTAL BLAST. You never know until you try it. 🙂

Where are your favorite spots to roadtrip to? Let me know in the comments section!

Our Favorite Pizza

Cameron is an avid pizza lover. Since we were dating his favorite thing to cook for me is his amazing pizza. This was one of the first things that he ever made for me. The crust always cooks all the way through and the dough is nice and sweet.

The nice thing is it doesn’t take too long to make. Honestly the entire pizza is done in an hour. This is one meal that I am really willing to wait for.

It is easy to make especially when you buy the right ingredients. It is a little more on the expensive side but it is well worth it. This is one of our splurging meals. You will not regret it. This pizza is amazing. The recipe we use is from Taste and Tell Blog. We absolutely love it!

Here are the ingredients you will knead (ha, do you get? Baking humor!):

• 2½ cups warm water
• ¼ cup sugar
• 3 teaspoons instant yeast
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 6 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons salt
• cornmeal

For your toppings we use:

• 3 cups mozzerlla cheese
• 1/3 jar of traditional tomato sauce
• 1/4 lb of pepperoni
• pizza seasoning

Instructions:

1. In your mixer combine the sugar, water, and yeast. Make sure your water is between 105-115 degrees otherwise the yeast can die. Let the mixture sit for a few minutes after is becomes frothy. Once it has sat, add in the vegetable oil.

2. In a different bowl combine the flour and salt. After this has been combined add the dry mixture to the liquid a little bit at a time. The dough should not be sticking to the sides by the end. We typically add more flour so that the dough is not a sticky mess.

3. Grease a large bowl and place the ball of dough into it. Let the dough rise for a at least 30 minutes. Typically you are supposed to the let the dough rise more than that but we are really impatient. The recipe suggests that you let it stand for an hour for best results.

4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

5. Flour a flat surface. We always use our counter top. Make sure there is enough flour on the counter or else the dough will completely stick to the surface. This will make a large amount of dough. We typically use this for 2 pizzas. Roll out the dough on this surface.

6. Spread cornmeal over a baking stone and then roll out the dough over the stone. You can decide how thick you want the pizza but we normally keep it 1/3 inch thick. Roll up the outside and you are able to create a crust.

7. Now that you have the dough ready to go you can start building your pizza. Spread a third of the sauce over the dough.

8. Now the sauce has been spread you are ready for the other toppings. We always get the huge bag of mozzerella cheese from the store. We LOVE getting the pepperoni from the Deli. When you get it hand sliced you can get it as thick as you want and they are huge! They taste amazing. Doesn’t that look yummy?

8. We really like melting butter (I know, horribly unhealthy) and lightly layering the crust with it and then sprinkling the pizza seasoning we got at the store over it. It really adds a nice touch. You will not regret it.

9. Bake it in the over for 25 minutes. Keep checking on it so the pizza is cooked all the way through. It should turn out something like this.

This really is one of our favorite meals. You will not regret your decision to try this pizza! This is fun to make for a movie night/date night in your house.