Easiest Chocolate Cake Evah

Guysssss. Ever have those days that make you NEED chocolate cake. You know that if you eat one piece of real chocolate cake, not the boxed kind, that every thing will be better. That was me today. I'm heading into the home stretch, my senior year of college and my classes are becoming harder and harder to work with. The subjects are fun but the classes are really hard to try and have a job with. My bosses are great and I know they'll work with me. Still hard though. 

So that was me this evening when I got home from school. I wanted chocolate cake so bad and pinned this beauty from I Am Baker. (Here's the original Chocolate Craving Cake)



I tweaked it just a bit to make it my own and adapt to missing a few ingredients.

What I loved about this recipe is that I just naturally have all the ingredients on hand, baking staples. And if you don't, they aren't expensive to buy.





Without further adieu, the easiest, most delicious cake evah. 

Cake 

• 1 cup all-purpose flour 
• 1 cup sugar 
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder 
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda 
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt 
• 1 large egg 
• 1/2 cup whole milk 
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil 
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 
• 1/2 cup boiling water 

Frosting

• 1 cup milk chocolate chips 
• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray sides and bottom of glass pan. If using a metal baking pan, heat oven to 325.
Mix flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in bowl of stand mixer.
Add in egg, milk, oil, and vanilla and mix on low until incorporated. When mixed in increase speed to medium and mix for 2 minutes.
Add in boiling water and gently stir- batter will be very thin. Like, watery. You might think you did something wrong.
Pour batter into prepared dish. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick is removed clean.
Cool for 10 minutes in pan. While cake is cooling, make the frosting.

In a medium microwave-safe bowl, heat the chocolate chips in the microwave at 50% power in 30-second increments, stirring after each heating, until they are fully melted.
Add the sour cream and vanilla and stir by hand until frosting is well combined, smooth, and fluffier.
Spread over cooled cake.

Delicious with liquid whipping cream.

Easy Halloween Costumes for Couples

I know, Halloween is on Monday and I should have planned better but, maybe you're a last minute Halloween costume do-er so this works? I don't know. But here it is anyway. I see all these cute costumes on Pinterest and I think, hmm could I really pull that off as a married student? The only reason we dress up is for our annual trunk-or-treat at church. Connor and I like it though and I feel like we'll be dressing up even when we start having kids.

Last year we did a pretty easy costume.

Connor wore camo and I found this great deer jacket from DI ($6) I wore black skinny jeans and boots. The ears I made out of an old headband bought some felt from Hobby Lobby ($2) The makeup was $5 at Halloween City coming to a grand total of $13 for our costume. This is becoming a pretty popular costume around here but I think it's still pretty cute. 

This year we went as a cow and dairy farmer. 

I spray painted a long sleeve white shirt from Joann's (paint=$5, shirt = $6) and then with my free shipping through Amazon student prime, I bought the ears and the tail for $6. I'm sure they could be made as well but I didn't feel like being creative. My face paint I had from last year still so that worked out nicely. Connor wore a plaid shirt, straw hat, and muck boots, which he already owned. The costume was $17, so a little bit more than last year. I'm sure that if you wanted to use a Sharpie and find a white shirt at DI that could work too!

Here's a great list of other Halloween costumes from the Dating Divas for couples that I wanted to share: 

http://www.thedatingdivas.com/last-minute-halloween-costumes/

Happy Halloween! 

-The Reeds

It's NOVEMBER? (October 30-November 6)

Where has October gone?? That's what I want to know.

Confession time. This week has not been my week. I have felt the beginnings of a cold coming on and with mid-terms and other stress, I did not want to cook. The very thought of doing anything in fact made me hurt. I've also been having some weird back pains that make it hard to stand or sit. The only thing that feels comfortable is lying flat. Strange! But my confession is I hardly cooked the meals I said I would. Which is a positive thing because it meant I had things to carry over, but a negative thing for poor Connor. He was such a help though so I didn't complain.

M-Grilled pork chops and asparagus
T-Shrimp and pasta
W-Campbells chicken noodle soup and bread
R-baked potatoes (We still have 49 lbs of potatoes in storage)
F-Chicken breasts and sweet potatoes
S-NO IDEA! I'll see what sounds good when I go grocery shopping.
Sunday-Probably the Reed's.

Groceries: $40
bananas
sweet potatoes
chicken breasts
lunch meat
shredded cheese
more pumpkin spice bagels
pumpkin
pumpkin spice seasoning
corn syrup
cream
Mtn Dew-Connor
mac'n'cheese

I'll be making some pumpkin pie bars that I'm SUPER excited about for tomorrow. Follow me on Instagram and watch my story for yummy details!

Shoes

I absolutely love my husband so much. He sent me the following picture from work today with the caption: "I think it's time for new shoes."

The image of his socks poking through his shoes brought tears to my eyes.

This picture, of his sock sticking out of his shoe, summed up how amazing my husband is and why I fell in love with him in the first place. My husband is a hard worker, he knows how to sacrifice. He doesn't care about the things of the world and doesn't let hard times stop him from doing his work.

 He and I have been having a rough patch in our marriage. We're kind of moving past the honeymoon phase and into just, well... life. We are learning more about how to serve and love each other and we know these trials will bring us closer. That picture, of his poor sneakers reduced to sandals reminded me of my admiration and love for him. To work your shoes to that amount of damage must not have been easy. I don't think women EVER work their shoes to shreds (kudos to you if you have). It gave me a new appreciation, respect, and love for Connor.

My husband and I are united in Christ. We may not always be on top of prayers or reading scriptures or even going to the temple. But we talk every night, we take the sacrament, and we are learning to sacrifice for each other. His shoes, torn and tattered, I'm sure can be compared to what Christ's looked like after years and years of serving the people around him.

Connor is my hero. And don't worry, I plan on buying him new shoes tomorrow.

Halloween Weekend (Oct. 24-30)

Anybody else REALLY looking forward to holiday foods? I know I am. This week I not only listened to Christmas music at work, but I began planning Christmas gifts and decor for our tiny abode. Trust me, they'll all be married student budget friendly.

We have an interesting week coming up. Connor has a new calling in the Young Men's leaving me alone on Wednesday's needing a quick dinner idea. Also, temple night is Tuesday, Monday is FHE, Thursday is Institute, Friday is date night, and Saturday is our ward Halloween party. Phew. Are you tired? Cuz I am and it's only Monday.


Tonight for dinner I had leftover potato and sausage in the Crock-pot so I grabbed some bread-sticks from the store and called it good. We're hoping to go to the pumpkin walk tonight (fingers crossed) but a dark cloud seems to be coming in. Who knows?

Menu:
M-Crock-pot potato and sausage
T-Papa Murphy's Pizza
W-Glazed pork chops and asparagus
R-Baked potatoes
F- Date night! (Thanks to my wonderful bosses)
S-Ward Party (Chili)
S-Dinner with the Straatman's

Groceries: $40
bananas
asparagus
lettuce
pumpkin bagels (I don't normally hop on the pumpkin bagel band wagon but MAN these are good)
cream cheese
shredded cheese
frozen pizza (on sale 5/$5)
bread-sticks
milk
hot chocolate
fruit snacks (yes I'm going to be THAT mom)
croutons

Let the holidays begin!

Yarn Pumpkin Garland

I mentioned in our Anniversary post that I had made some cute yarn pumpkins. They turned out so cute! This craft comes from the blog Honest to Nod and the original can be found here.

When my friend Lexi and I made them, they didn't turn as round as her's but still freaking adorable.  . Go ahead and follow the instructions here but don't be discourage if they aren't perfectly round. We concluded that practice makes perfect pumpkins. They turned out adorable regardless of not being perfect.

And it looks very cute on bookshelves, tables, or mantles.

All the supplies cost me $5 so it wasn't expensive at all.

This is what Lexi's looked liked hanging in her house. 

It was a super cheap yet cute fall craft to use in decorating your home.

Sales (Oct. 17-Oct. 21)

I love when meat is on sale. Very rarely do I buy steak but this week I had a $2 off coupon. So here's the layout:

M-Broccoli soup
T-Steak with baked sweet potatoes
W-Mexican pizza
R-Crockpot potatoes and sausage
F-Pork chops with apples

Groceries: $40.00
onions
sweet potatoes
thyme
steak
ground beef
sausage
Mexican cheese
canned tomatoes
re-fried beans
milk
cream
eggnog
mushroom soup
Doritos

Sorry, not a lot of commentary this week. Lots of homework. You know. College life.