Menu Plan Monday - June 26, 2017

I'm ready for the variety of foods this week! I'm really excited to be making my grandma's chocolate chip cookies this weekend. She used to keep her cookie jar full of cookies for when I visited and I loved it.

Monday - Spaghetti alla Carbonara
Tuesday - Simple Yogurt Parfaits // Tex Mex Cobb Salad
Wednesday - Turkey Meatball Soup with Spinach and Orzo
Thursday -  Brown Sugar Cheese Danish // Chicken with Bruschetta Vegetables
Friday - Gyro Kabobs
Saturday - Sourdough Waffles // Honey Chocolate Chip Cookies
Sunday - Pot Roast Stroganoff

What are you having to eat this week?

Feel free to leave links to recipes!

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Fantastical Friday: Meet Archer

I usually share food stuff on Fridays, but today is a post about our new pet. My About Me page has my pets listed and pictured because, of course, I love them so much. Over the past few weeks, the local shelters have been posting about cats and kittens and it's been breaking my heart. I have always wanted to foster pets but I don't think it would really work with the pets we have now. Saydee is very submissive and we tried to foster (to possibly adopt) a puppy and it didn't work. She wouldn't eat and then the puppy would eat her food. It was a bit of a disaster. I don't think fostering kittens would be smart right now with Mason being crazy and climbing everything -- and I'm not sure how our cats would react to more than one new cat being thrown into the bunch.

Plus Nick was not interested in getting any more animals right now. He knows if he didn't reel me in, I'd probably have 20 cats by now. I grew up with a dog and loved him dearly, but I am definitely a cat person. Not that I hate dogs, but I prefer cats. I guess I had worn Nick down with all the cuteness in the cat and kitten posts I had shared from our local shelter because while I was making dinner, he asked if I wanted to take the kids and go get one. I didn't know if he was messing around and gave him my best Sasha Valour "Don't joke about that" impression.

He wasn't joking and we ended up driving to one of the pet stores (the shelter was working with) to see their adoptable animals. I have no problems adopting an adult pet. Bella and Muffin, our two cats, were both over a year old when we adopted them. But we knew with having the dog and two cats, a kitten was probably the better choice. We were checking out three different boy kittens, two from the same litter and a little orange one. In the end, we chose "Bobby Socks" because he was very friendly and sweet.

He is a 2 month old American shorthair that we named Archer Mallory Sterling. He's the cutest little dude ever. I'm hoping he may be part Maine Coon because of the little tufts on the tips of his ears. He adjusted really well to the house and has been eating, drinking, and using the litterbox like a pro. Archer is a little weary of Mason if he is being really crazy right next to him and he doesn't know what to think of the other three animals. Saydee is really excited about him and I think they will be best friends eventually. Bella is more or less neutral to the situation. She has been treating him like a typical little brother and growls or hisses if he is being too rowdy right next to her. Muffin is...well, being Muffin. She is not happy about him and has been reeeeally not happy if he comes near her. We've been keeping them more-or-less separated for a majority of the time to ease them into a good relationship. If you all have any tips or tricks for reinforcing positive interactions between an old cat and a new cat, I'd love to hear them!

The transition from 3 animals to 4 has been way smoother than I could have expected and I'm hoping the other two cats will warm up to Archer here in the next few weeks and that Archer will warm up to Saydee as he gets older because Saydee just wants to love him and be his best friend.

Hope y'all have a wonderful weekend!!

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Tomato, Cheese, and Basil Omelet

This caprese-style omelet is the perfect thing to enjoy first thing in the morning!

Tomato, mozzarella, and basil have been a very present combination in my diet lately. And they sure did make for a delicious omelet! In December, my husband and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary and he got me an AeroGarden as a gift. I have had problems with the chipmunks eating my plants, so I was so incredibly excited that he got me one. I never would have purchased one for myself. The first set of pods I planted in my AeroGarden was a herb variety that included two basils (that are still going strong on my porch out of the AeroGarden), parsley, chives, cilantro, and dill. I just started a salsa set of pods, but I was so excited the basils did so well and have continued to grow because basil is my favorite. It has made me want to make all the fresh basil recipes I can.

I was assigned Our Eating Habits for Secret Recipe Club at some point and had saved this recipe to try at some point, even though I didn't pick it for reveal day. My basil was going crazy and I remembered I had a caprese-style omelet that I could make and all the ingredients to make it. So voila! It was delicious. So so delicious!

Crockpot Peaches & Cream Oatmeal #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.

Happy National Peaches & Cream Day! We are celebrating today with a PEACHES AND CREAM food fight. All the recipes will contain peaches and cream. I can't wait to see what other goodies are linked up and y'all can find that at the end of this post.

I chose this breakfast recipe because I've been wanting to make oatmeal lately and kept forgetting to and eating a bagel or English muffin before realizing I wanted oatmeal. I was a bit miffed that the recipe takes 3 to 5 hours because I am not morning person and I sure as heck ain't waking up at 3 am to fix breakfast. However, I did make it and ate it for snack and it was wonderful. Just as wonderful as I knew it would be.

It also is just fine reheated in the microwave, which I ended up doing for the two mornings that followed. This was my first experience with steel cut oats and I was really intrigued by how much they reminded me of tapioca. In fact, this recipe reminded me of a flavored tapioca and I think that made me love it even more. I served my oatmeal up with half-and-half.

In-N-Out Double Double Copycat

If you hate missing out on fast food that isn't native to your area, this In-N-Out copycat will make you feel like you are right there at the restaurant!

I have never been lucky enough to visit an In-N-Out. The closest one is in Texas...probably a good 15 hours away. It pains me to see all the burgers from people on the West Coast eating all those delicious In-N-Out burgers. The best I can get is a copycat recipe and I will gladly take that. I am a huge fan of copycat recipes :)

This is the In-N-Out Double Double. It is a double cheeseburger with two patties, two slices of American cheese, onion, lettuce, tomato, and animal sauce (similar to fry sauce, if you're familiar with that). The onion can be sliced or grilled. This recipe called for caramelizing - my favorite! I personally love a simple burger seasoned with salt and pepper and cooked in a cast iron skillet. Then the combination of the rest of the ingredients with the burger make for such a flavorful, juicy meal!