Menu Plan Monday - October 21, 2019

I've been obsessed with Greek food lately and I'm ridiculously excited about Thursday's dinner. I also am going to attempt another lasagna recipe. I tried one a few weeks ago and was pretty irritated because the name was 10-Minute Lasagna and it was more like a 10ish minute prep and then even with oven ready lasagna noodles, you couldn't just cook it for 20 to 30 minutes. You still have to cook it almost an hour to get the noodles to be al dente. So that was a bust.

Monday - Chicken Madeira
Tuesday - Steak Fajitas
Wednesday - Baked Apple Cider Donut Holes // Chicken Pot Pie Soup
Thursday - Greek Bowl with Meatballs
Friday - Homemade Pizza Rolls
Weekend - Blueberry Pancakes // Triple Layer Pumpkin Spice Pie // Italian Sausage and Kale Lasagna

What are you having for dinner this week?
Feel free to leave a link to the recipe in the comments!

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Pumpkin Mug Cake #FantasticalFoodFight

Welcome to another Food Fight! Fantastical Food Fight is a group of food bloggers who will get a theme or ingredient each month and make some sort of variation for it. It could be traditional or nontraditional and can be found in a cookbook, on a blog, or be a blogger's own creation! For more details, check out this page.

This month's Fantastical Food Fight theme is PUMPKIN. I tried to make sure that we didn't repeat a theme/ingredient and it seemed like the perfect time to share some pumpkin recipes, so our theme for October is the ingredient pumpkin. It can be savory or sweet.

I chose to share one of my favorite quick treats or if I'm feeling like it, breakfast. Mug cakes are so super easy and a ton of them can be made with ingredients you already have on hand (especially if you bake a lot). I gotta say that it's really awesome to make a cake in less than 5 minutes. You get that little bit of sweet treat without all the mess and time. It's the best! This pumpkin mug cake is so much like a classic pumpkin cake and you could dress it up with pecans and caramel if you wanted to indulge a little more!

Menu Plan Monday - October 14, 2019

I am so ready for all the foods this week. I cannot wait to try Mississippi chicken because we love Mississippi pot roast and I think we're going to love the chicken version.

Monday - Pasta alla Marlboro Man
Tuesday - Queso Smothered Chicken Fajitas
Wednesday - Blueberry Cream Cheese Muffins // Spicy Pork and Kale Soup
Thursday - Wonton Chicken Salad
Friday - 2AM Breakfast Burgers
Weekend - Graham Streusel Coffee Cake // Caramel Drizzled Pumpkin Poke Cake // Crockpot Mississippi Chicken

What are you having for dinner this week?
Feel free to leave a link to the recipe in the comments!

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Chicken Fajita Bowls

You won't miss tortillas a bit when you enjoy chicken fajitas in a bowl.

I am thrilled to share this recipe today because it's one I whipped up myself. It's nothing super innovative, by any means, but I still enjoy it and it's definitely a nice change of pace for Taco Tuesdays. Plus it isn't a boring plain chicken fajita. I'm obsessed with cilantro lime rice and try and make it as often as I can as a side, but it was the perfect base for this "burrito" bowl.

For the first time in my life, I'm having to do a little bit of a diet. I went for a yearly check up and, unfortunately, my bad cholesterol is high and my good cholesterol is low. It does run in the family, so I am a little nervous that I may be trying to change and it won't do much good. But I'm still definitely shifting what I eat, exercising, and attempting to lose the last bit of my baby weight (can you still call it baby weight after 4 years? It's a stubborn 10 lb!). I did some research and I actually do eat a good bit of what helps lower bad and raise good cholesterols. I am tracking calorie intake and snacking less. AND I'm going to be eating less red meat and pork products and may try to learn how to cook salmon - something I've never done.

It's going to be a little hard since during my last two pregnancies I really gained an aversion to chicken. I rarely crave it anymore and sometimes I do get downright nauseated by the thought of eating it, even if I do actually enjoy many dishes. It's a mind over matter thing for sure. It is another reason I was so happy to come up with this recipe. I love burrito/fajita bowls and this is a fantastic recipe to have in my arsenal.

Ham & Corn Chowder

Potato soup loaded up with ham and corn and seasoned with a bit of thyme for a comforting cool weather meal

Hello, hello! If you notice that some of my posts are a little behind, that's due to me being in the tail-end of my bachelor's degree program. I am down to 2 classes. I'm in a self-paced program, so I usually work on 1 class at a time, but I get to work on the final 2 together. I'm really excited. I should be done by Halloween if I can keep my quick pacing up. I decided since I have to wait on approval for those next 2 classes to work on this week's posts so they aren't late :)

This soup is potato soup with ham and corn. It's a very simple recipe but you don't need something extravagant for it to be a great tasting meal. The bit of thyme, onion, and garlic really make this soup a fantastic one.