new friends

before we moved out here, people would always tell chase & i that 
one of the best parts of moving away when you're young and married 
is all the friends you make who sort of become your family in the 
new place you live! so we looked forward to that. lucky us to have 
already found such great people to call friends. last night for sunday dinner 
we had 3 of our favorite couples over, {plus a baby!} and somehow 
no one left until 11 pm. i think that is the sign of some good lasting friendships!

dustin & kendall {far left} were officially our very first friends out here...they live in our apartment building and also manage it, so we are the luckiest to have them right where we live! they show us all the best places to eat, entertain us (dustin is the funniest person you'll ever meet) and we just love being with them. tobin & randi are friends from salt lake city...we both moved out here to the bay area the same month and we are so happy to have them here..especially to watch the U games with. we can't wait to meet their little baby girl in november! on the right are billy & janae. we love these two and became friends the second we heard about each other from a mutual friend. they moved into our ward and the rest is history! they are also sort of celebrities because of janae's website hungry runner girl...she is big time so look it up if you haven't already heard of it! they just had a cute little baby girl who made dinner even more fun last night.

 

 we had one of our favorite dinners, black bean & sweet potato 
burritos with lots of toppings. the recipe is here!

i also had a zucchini left in my kitchen, so i made chocolate zucchini brownies

with icing..i think they turned out pretty well because all of us ate 3/4ths of the pan and then chase and i finished the last row in about 2 minutes at midnight...here's the recipe. cheers to new friends! 

xo

frosted zucchini brownies

ingredients

½ cup vegetable oil

1 ½ cups white sugar

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups all purpose flour

½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups zucchini (shredded)

for the frosting

6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

¼ cup margarine (I used butter)

2 cups powdered sugar

½ cup milk

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

directions

pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. grease and flour a 9×13 inch baking dish. in a large bowl mix together oil, sugar and 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract until well blended. in another bowl, combine the flour, ½ cup cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. stir into the sugar mixture gradually. fold in zucchini. {the batter will be dry and crumbly, don't worry.} spread the mixture evenly into the prepared baking dish.

bake for 25-30 minutes until the brownies spring back when gently touched. remove from the oven and allow them to cool.

to make the frosting... in a small saucepan over low heat melt together the cocoa powder and margarine. set aside to cool. in a medium bowl, blend powdered sugar, milk, and ½ teaspoon vanilla extract. stir in the margarine/cocoa mixture. spread over cooled brownies, then leave time for it to set up {you can place them in the fridge for a few hours}..the longer these brownies sit, the thicker the frosting will become. cut into squares and enjoy!

xo

 

*we paired ours with ice cream + strawberries...even better!