Fantastical Friday

It's been strange since I finished all my work early for the term...
I read a full book and 2 novellas yesterday. I haven't done that in forever.

I have been doing some leisurely reading...and it's the best!! I'm actually 4 books ahead of my goal right now on Goodreads!

I've been pinning and reorganizing some of my food boards on Pinterest, so I figure I'll share some of my favorite foodie finds from the last week :)

TJ Hooker Pizza from Half Baked Harvest - Recipe | Pin it
Bacon Crackers from Debbie Doo's - Recipe | Pin it
Berry Colada Popsicles from Cherished Bliss - Recipe | Pin it
Rosemary Garlic Butter Steak from Vintage Kitchen Notes - Recipe | Pin it
Peanut Butter & Jelly Pretzel Bars from The Brunette Baker - Recipe | Pin it
Italian Pizza Burger from Curious Cuisiniere  - Recipe | Pin it
Strawberry Pie Bars from Shugary Sweets - Recipe | Pin it
Braided Pizza Calzone from The Mama's Girls - Recipe | Pin it
Thai Peanut Sauce from My Whole Food Life - Recipe | Pin it
Salted Caramel Pecan Chocolate Chip Blondies from Confessions of a Baking Queen - Recipe | Pin it
Jalapeno & Cheese Grilled Chicken from Call Me PMc - Recipe | Pin it
Salted Caramel Cafe Mocha Smoothie from A Little Claireification - Recipe | Pin it
Snickers Cinnamon Rolls from Call Me PMc - Recipe | Pin it

Hope y'all have a great weekend!

I am hoping to share a big announcement with everyone very soon! I'm really excited about it :)

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Hawaiian Pizza with Beer Crust

I love pizza. Don't most people?
We alternate pizza and burgers on Fridays and I always look forward to pizza night.

I mean...how many different combinations of pizza are there?? I mean I can't even keep track of all the different ones we've tried: see?! And with homemade crust - even better! I just really love everything about homemade pizza.

I was excited to try this recipe because it was one of my all-time favorites: Hawaiian! AND it has beer crust. The crust itself turned out to be thinner and crunchy. It offset the toppings perfectly and the whole thing was just incredibly delicious. I wish I had better words to describe its deliciousness, but I do not.

Crockpot Beef & Broccoli

I love a good Asian meal with lots of veggies.
I especially love a good Asian meal with lots of veggies that I can throw into a crockpot!

And that's exactly what this is...
I served it up with quinoa because I'm super obsessed with it right now. It's a very filling and delicious meal that makes everyone happy :)

Menu Plan Monday

I'm a little behind here, but I actually have the whole month of June planned out and I'm so excited :) It's been a while since I've been able to do that. Here's the menu for the next week...

As always, I'll update what I spent after I get home from grocery shopping tomorrow!
* is what I have on hand
? is what I'm not sure if I have on hand or not.

{Monday}
Grilled Chicken and side salad
Everything on hand.

{Tuesday}
Blueberry Cream Cheese Muffins // Jalapeno Popper Chicken Enchiladas
flour?, sugar?, cream cheese (8 oz.)?, lemon, egg (2), butter? // chicken breasts, cream cheese (4 oz.)?, cheddar cheese?, bacon bits, jalapeno, salsa verde, flour tortillas

{Wednesday}
Slow Cooker Beef & Broccoli
beef, beef bouillon, broccoli, brown rice

{Thursday}
Easy Cinnabon Donuts // Grilled Chicken Pasta
Cinnabon refrigerated cinnamon rolls // chicken tenderloins, spaghetti, Parmesan

{Friday}
Buffalo Chicken Pizza Sticks
Pizza dough*, buffalo sauce*, chicken breasts, cheddar cheese, mozzarella cheese*, green onions

{Saturday}
Tomato, Bacon, & Spinach Quiche // Bacon Chili Cheese Dogs
Pie crust*, bacon bits, spinach, onion, egg (4), half-and-half?, gouda, cheddar cheese?, tomato // bacon, onion, ground beef (2 lb), chili powder, tomato sauce (15 oz.), turkey hot dogs (2)

{Sunday}
Leftovers

{Extra}
Almond Joy Frappe // Pizza Hut Cheese Sticks // Homemade & Handmade Pasta // Candy Bar Pudding
Everything on hand // mozzarella cheese*, butter? // 6 extra large eggs // 3 eggs, candy bars

Total: TBA

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Secret Recipe Club: Maple Bacon Cinnamon Rolls

It's time for Secret Recipe Club once again :) For those who haven't heard of Secret Recipe Club, it's a large group of bloggers who each month are assigned another SRC member's blog secretly, make a recipe from their blog, and post it for reveal day. It's so much fun to see who got your blog and what recipe they decided to make. If you are interested in joining, go check out this page and get put on the waiting list! This month, my group welcomes a newbie: Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm.

This month I was assigned to Amy of Fearless Homemaker. Amy is seriously just adorable and I love the overall look of her blog entirely too much. AND she lives in Tennessee! Not to mention we have yet another smarty pants in Group D - Amy has a Masters degree in positive psychology. I'm so happy to have such an inspiring and amazing group of ladies!! It always excites me when I find out there is yet another amazing woman in the group!

It was the first month I utilized my secret board for Secret Recipe Club and let me tell you what, it was getting filled up with stuff from Amy's blog!! I seriously had such a hard time picking just one thing. It was between One Pot Tomato, Basil, & Chicken Pasta, M&M Cookie Bars, Homemade Flour Tortillas, Perfect Buttermilk Biscuits, and Bacon & Kale Quinoa Fried Rice.

And I went with Cinnamon Rolls with Maple Glaze which is a Pioneer Woman recipe that Amy adapted - SCORE! But I adapted it ever so slightly from Amy's adaption because she was talking about doing caramel bacon glaze next time she made them and I had some bacon bits on hand. Unfortunately no caramel bits though....so my adaption means they are Maple Bacon Cinnamon Rolls

These are the best cinnamon rolls I've ever had and the maple complimented them perfectly. My adaptation was just mixing in some bacon bits into the glaze. Not that weird crunchy ones, but the REAL bacon bits. Like Amy, I would like to try them with a caramel bacon glaze :)

Fantastical Friday

I have been majorly flaking on Fantastical Fridays lately. I've been mega mega busy with my school stuff. On May 2nd, I was speaking with my student mentor and she got me up to speed on an audit coming up for students on the timeline for student teaching next January...and I found out I had 6 classes to pass by June 1st. So I've been in complete beast mode...

Here's what my first and current term looked like two days ago (complete with 4 Praxis exams - my fifth has scores pending...not sure if it's a pass/fail yet):

I had two classes with multiple-choice assessments and four classes with papers or performance-based assessments. I had two classes remaining - took my last multiple-choice assessment yesterday and passed. And I worked on the last task of four (three already passed) for my General Physics class... waiting on it to be graded. I got to build a couple circuits!

We've also been incredibly busy trying to sell my Grand Prix and there were a ton of bumps in the road with that one...entirely too many on every side of it. But I'm glad that someone got Prixie and she will continue to truck along like she always has - very reliable, amazing car :) But I needed something bigger with the kids being older and planning on getting a big dog in the next year or so. We sold Prixie last week and also bought this baby last week. It's a Cadillac SRX. I'm seriously in love. It's a 2004, so it's a little older, but it's got so much stuff my 2006 Grand Prix did NOT have. Her name is Alice :)

So with all that craziness - school and car selling/buying (privately)...OYE! The blog has been on the back burner. OH! I also created a new blog to chronicle my journey to become a teacher too: Teacher's Pet to Teacher. So I'm basically a hot mess...so let's just look at some delicious treats!

Strawberry Pineapple Shaker Upper {non-alcoholic drink} from Something Swanky - Recipe | Pin it
Breaded Fried Cauliflower from Or Whatever You Do - Recipe | Pin it
French Vanilla Cappuccino Cupcakes from Living Better Together* - Recipe | Pin it
Healthy Reese's Fudge from Desserts With Benefits - Recipe | Pin it
Glazed Oatmeal Cookies from Whatcha Makin' Now? - Recipe | Pin it
Gooey Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Bars from Back For Seconds - Recipe | Pin it
Godiva Hazelnut Crunch Cupcakes from The Cake Blog - Recipe | Pin it
Kisses Cookies & Cream Chocolate Fudge from Call Me PMc - Recipe | Pin it
Soft Butterscotch S'mores Cookies from Gate to Plate - Recipe | Pin it
Mom's Famous Fluffy Frosting from Smart School House - Recipe | Pin it

* - Living Better Together is transferring from Blogger to Wordpress with a few hiccups, but it should be back up really soon. If the blog is down, definitely pin it for later! It looks amazing :)

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Olive Garden Tuscan Garlic Chicken Copycat

I have only been to Olive Garden a handful of times. I think the first two times I just ordered their traditional spaghetti. Then I tried the eggplant parmigiana and then the last time I had chicken parmigiana. So...maybe 4 times...there may be another time in there...but I probably got spaghetti.

I have tried a few copycats at home now and I have to say...I really want to get back in there and try the real thing to see how the copycats compare...because the copycats are AMAZING!!

I think this one is honestly my favorite though. It's an alfredo-like sauce (from what I gather, for it to be alfredo it has to be butter and parmesan) and it has red bells AND spinach in it too. The family really loved it as well, so this will definitely be made at home.

Famous Chili

I absolutely love chili, but I've never really found a recipe for regular chili that makes me go "WOW!" and want to tell everyone about it. I do love our non-regular chili: Skyline and Jalapeno Popper Turkey Chili...but I think it's important to have a normal beef and bean chili recipe too. I did not have any real expectations going into this recipe. I've tried quite a few chili recipes only to be disappointed or underwhelmed by the results.

But man oh man! This recipe definitely surprised me! I'm not sure why it's called famous, but I have to assume it's because somewhere along the line the friends of the recipe creator were like "You HAVE to try Lulabelle's famous chili!!"...yep. I'm gonna go ahead and say the recipe creator's name is Lulabelle. ;)

Although it is warming up for the summer (we've had days of 50s here in New York, but I know some of y'all are in the 80s and 90s - jealous!!), I still enjoy a bowl of chili on a rainy cooler summer day.

Menu Plan Monday

It's Monday morning and it is hectic as all get out! I have my Praxis in about an hour. It's my fifth one...and FINAL one...so I hope I pass. I have groceries to get, of course. And 4 more papers to write this week. Ouch. I will update as soon as I can...I don't think I updated last week's MPM yet, so I'll try and do that one too. This week I added an "additional items" section because I typically will get milk, creamer, lunch food for me, cereal, snack foods, etc. and I don't see those as unnecessary purchases just because they aren't planned recipes.

{Monday}
Sausage & Pea Pasta
shell pasta, 1 lb. pork sausage, frozen sweet peas, pesto*

{Tuesday}
Banana Bread Donuts // Sticky Lemon Oregano Chicken with green beans and salad
3 bananas // chicken, 2 lemons, green beans, salad mix

{Wednesday}
The Best Beef Stew
2 lb. stew meat, 2 lb. red potatoes, carrots* 1 can green beans, 1 can corn, 1 can peas, 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes, 28 oz. can peeled plum tomatoes, beef bouillon*

{Thursday}
Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal // Creamy Chicken Quinoa Broccoli Casserole
2 bananas, oatmeal*, peanut butter* // chicken, bacon bits, broccoli?, pepper jack cheese

{Friday}
Calzones 
frozen bread dough, Italian sausage, mozzarella cheese, pizza sauce, pepperoni

{Saturday}
Sweet Zucchini Pancakes // Pork & Ramen Stir Fry
Greek yogurt, 2 eggs, 2 zucchini // pork loin chops, broccoli florets, coleslaw mix, 2 pkg ramen

{Sunday}
Leftovers

{Extras}
Pizza Hut Cheese Bread // Almond Joy Frappe // Salted Mudslide Cookies
nonfat dry milk, flour?, mozzarella cheese // coconut milk // 2 eggs, Kahlua*, chocolate chunks

Additional grocery items: milk, creamer, lunch meat, yogurt, salad/salad mix, croutons, caesar dressing, cereal.

Total: $146.05
I did get a few things more because they FINALLY have cucumber ranch!! It's my favorite for snacking with baby carrots :) I also got a little B&J's ice cream, baby carrots, and 2 bags of granola. Without my extra snack foods, my total would have been $132.79 - so overall not bad at all. I stayed within the limits of my weekly grocery budget :)

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Buffalo Cauliflower

I've seen this recipe everywhere...or it seems like everywhere and I was extremely intrigued by it. I believe I made this accompanying burgers one night and it is just an excellent recipe. The cauliflower just soaks up the buffalo flavor and it really has a nice texture. The beer batter, of course, is unbelievable :) They are definitely addictive...you will sit there and pop them in your mouth, even burning your tongue or the roof of your mouth a few times because they are fresh out of the oven!

Bakery Copycat Chocolate Fudge Cake

I have been meaning to make this recipe for FOREVER. I love bakery cakes. They are a bit pricey though, so a copycat recipe is just the best thing ever. It's a simple recipe - made from a box, but still worth it. Matthew recently turned 7 (my baby isn't a baby anymore!!) - and much like his momma, he loves chocolate cake. I let everyone pick what kind of cake they want and he chose chocolate. He also asked that I decorate it up like Pikachu (I was terrified he'd pick Charizard because he was actually considering it prior to picking Pikachu). My hubby and I and the kids are all Pokefanatics, so I was very excited to make his cake up like Pikachu.

And the end result has me mega proud. I don't think I could ever make a better cake. I went full-on lazy mode and bought premade/colored frosting in the aerosol-type cans with the plastic tips...and went to town with the star tip. The consistency of the canned frosting wasn't the best and it did take me a long while to do, but it was still just awesome looking!

The cake itself - it DOES taste just like a bakery style cake. It was incredibly fluffy and moist. I used my go-to brand: Duncan Hines. And I used my new favorite cake mix: dark chocolate fudge - yummy! I topped it with my tried-and-true vanilla buttercream frosting. It was just the best birthday cake!

Menu Plan Monday

This week is Nick's 27th birthday, so he picked to have a steak night (I'm not surprised) and I picked out what I'm making for his birthday "cake": dark chocolate cupcakes with raspberry buttercream. He loves fruity desserts for his birthday. I've made triple layer triple berry cake and no-bake berry cheesecake most recently for his birthdays, so this one goes along with the theme :)

{Monday}
Zucchini Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans
zucchini (2), ground beef, egg*, onion*, potatoes (3), green beans

{Tuesday}
Cinnamon Rolls // Chicken & Kale Tortellini Soup
milk, egg*, butter (2 sticks)*, cream cheese (4 oz.)?, powdered sugar? // onion*, celery, carrot*, diced tomatoes, tomato soup, 8 oz. cheese tortellini, chicken, kale

{Wednesday}
Steak, broccoli, and carrots
steak, broccoli, and baby carrots

{Thursday}
Dark Chocolate Blueberry Muffins // Crockpot Qdoba
egg*, butter (1/2 stick)*, dark chocolate chips // chicken, taco seasoning, lime, cilantro, refried beans, lettuce, cherry tomatoes, salsa, cheese*, sour cream*

{Friday}
Chip & Dip Burger, corn, and broccoli
ground beef (2), salsa con queso, bean dip, buns, tomato, onion*, Doritos, corn on the cob, broccoli

{Saturday}
Tomato, Bacon, & Spinach Quiche // Bacon, Jack, & Jalapeno Quesadillas
pie crust, bacon bits, spinach, eggs (4), half-and-half, cheese, tomato // tomato, green onions, jalapeno (2), bacon, tortillas?, Monterey jack cheese

{Sunday}
Leftovers

{Extras}
Chili's Salsa // Chocolate Hazelnut Iced Coffee [if I can get the recipe] // Dark Chocolate & Raspberry Buttercream Cupcakes
2 cans whole tomatoes, jalapenos (2), onion, lime, tortillas chips // ?? // dark cocoa powder, eggs (7), raspberries/raspberry puree, pink food coloring, butter (4 sticks)

Total spent: TBA

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Fantastical Friday

Doing something a little unconventional today that goes with that change in title (...and more!) - talking about some recent clothing purchases. As some of you all may know, I'm working on my B.A. in Middle Grade Science education. I'm beginning to purchase things I may wear in the school setting. Nick and I recently implemented a new budget that includes a clothing allowance for him and I (since he is getting out of the military at the end of the year and also needs some nice business casual wear), so this was the first month I bought clothes and it was awesome.

I've been obsessed with the Mint Julep Boutique, but I didn't want to spend my whole allowance on two things, so I took to my go-to store: Charlotte Russe. I've already received all my items and love all of them short of the bodysuit - which is just too wedgie-ridden. The blazer with the peplum back is by far my favorite purchase of the 8 things I got. :)

Tops: $25 Peplum Back Single Button Blazer (here) | $12.50 Bow back tank bodysuit in coral (here)

Bottoms: $11.99 Basic High-Waisted Skater Skirt in forest green (here)| $15 Solid High-Waisted Skater Skirt in navy blue (here) | $15 Pleated High-Waisted Skater Skirt in pink (here)

Jewelry: $5 Two-Tiered Gem & Rhinestone Statement Necklace (here) | $5 Leaf & Love Beaded Stretch Bracelets - 6 pack (here) | $5 Rose Garden Necklace (here)

Where are your favorite places to shop? Are you a bargain hunter?

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Peanut Butter Pudding Cookies

I am convinced that pudding cookies are the best kind of cookies and here is why: they are the softest cookies and they keep incredibly well. They also are normally nice puffy, thick cookies. They are my ideal cookie.

I have been on a peanut butter cookie kick lately, so I had to make these when I had a craving. They taste pretty similar to the Loaded Reese's Cookies I posted here and I would love to do these again with some chopped up Reese's cups in them. Oh! And a note: use mini Reese's Pieces!! You ever notice how minis taste better? Mini M&Ms, mini Nilla Wafers - minis are the bomb!

Cheesy Turkey Meatloaf

Lately, I've been running out of main dish recipes that aren't pasta or carb-heavy. I've been trying to keep it to one carb heavy dinner per week and that can be a bit difficult at times. For some reason, I always forget about meatloaf. My family likes meatloaf with veggies in it, so you can't go wrong with a hunk of meat and veggies for dinner with some veggies for sides. Not carb heavy at all and everyone is happy.

I have never tried turkey meatloaf but I really wanted to. I've been using a lot more ground turkey lately and it's such a great meat to use! This recipe was amazing. I think what really set it apart from other meatloaves I've tried is the milk and bread crumb mixture. The outcome is a very melt-in-your-mouth type texture overall and it's incredible :) The cubes of cheese throughout the meatloaf also set it apart from any other meatloaf I've ever had and I don't think I could honestly make another meatloaf without wishing it had cheese cubes in it!

Crunchy Buffalo Chicken Salad

I'm a sucker for a salad. I have been known to make myself a salad at 9 o'clock at night, just because. I love crunchy crunchy salads in particular. I think it's just a texture thing - crunchy veggies - yummy!

This particular salad recipe was heavily adapted to fit what we could find in our not-so-great produce section and what the family typically likes to eat in the salad. I was the only one who ate my salad with dressing and I'm not big on ranch or blue cheese dressing, so I adapted it with creamy Caesar (my current fave!). No cheese or anything to cut on the spiciness anymore than what is already in the salad - spicy is fine by me!

Menu Plan Monday

Last week was a little crazy and I didn't make all my planned recipes (always breakfast ones that I miss) and this week I haphazardly planned our week out because I've been working on my schoolwork an insane amount. In fact, yesterday I spent nearly 8 hours working on a paper. I'm not sure that this week will be any better for making all the recipes, but I sure hope so!

* - notes I have it on hand
? - notes I need to go search my kitchen to see if I do have it on hand :)
{Monday}
Cincinnati Chili
ground beef (2), onion (2), 8 oz. tomato sauce (2), chili powder?, cayenne?, spaghetti, shredded cheddar cheese, oyster crackers

{Tuesday}
Blueberry Cream Cheese Muffins // Nutty Cheesy Salad
flour?, cream cheese*, lemon, egg (2), blueberries*, turbinado sugar // salad mix, chicken, tomato?, cucumber, red onion, sliced almonds?, walnuts?, sunflower seeds*, shredded Monterey jack cheese

{Wednesday}
Busy Day Chicken Fajita Soup
sweet bell peppers (2), onion (1), chicken, 1 can of corn, cilantro

{Thursday}
Onion Ring Eggs // 30-Minute Philly Cheeseburger Gnocchi Bake
onion (1), egg (3) // red bell pepper (1), green bell pepper (1), onion (1), 16 oz. gnocchi, turkey (1), chives & onion cream cheese, shredded mozzarella*

{Friday}
Kielbobs
kielbasa*, red onion (2), green bell (2), zucchini, potatoes*

{Saturday}
Salted Caramel Mocha Donuts // Spinach, Ham, & Hashbrown Quiche
buttermilk*, egg (1), heavy cream? // hashbrowns?, egg (5), ham*, spinach?, shredded Monterey jack cheese

{Sunday}
Leftovers
 
{Extra}
Homemade Flour Tortillas // Snickers Frappuccino // Rocky Road Crockpot Cake
All ingredients on hand for tortillas // chocolate chunks?, caramel syrup?, toffee nut syrup // devil's food cake mix?, vanilla instant pudding?, egg (3), sour cream*, chocolate cook-and-serve pudding, pecans?, mini marshmallows?, vanilla ice cream?

Total spent:  $131.98
In addition to what is here on the blog list, my normal grocery list also included snacks, milk, baby bells, salad for myself, bread, bananas, creamer, yogurt, and lunch meat. Without those, my total would have been $88.68. Can't be too bummed though - I did well and didn't get anything extra that wasn't on my grocery list!

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A Photo An Hour {a link up}

I am really excited to co-host this linky with my bffs, Melissa & Amber! I always miss out on the photo an hour fun when other bloggers do it, so I propositioned Melissa and Amber and they were totally game too. The linky is simple: for one day, take a picture an hour to share what your typical day is like. It's really fun to see what other bloggers do in a typical day - I mean I'm a mom and a student living where there was still snow when I took my pictures, but not every blogger spends their day with kids, homework, and frigid wastelandness.

For anyone wanting to participate, the link up will stay open for one week, so don't be sad and think you missed it. Take pictures tomorrow or Monday and come by and link up! All we ask is that you have a link to one of our blogs somewhere in your post, so that others can stop by and join in too. Also if you are using any social media and would like to include our hashtag (how trendy of us - see what I did there!?): #photoanhourlinky

So time for my typical day! As I said up there, when I took my photos it was March 20th (somewhere in there) and we still had snow here in New York. Luckily we are now snow-free..although still in the high 40s/low 50s :/

7am

My day starts out with waking the kids up, getting their breakfast, and getting my breakfast...scrambled eggs this particular morning. Then some browsing  of all my social media sites, checking email, etc.