Menu Plan Monday

So we're actually moved in and staying at our house...we're unpacking as we go, but have made a huge dent in it. Thankfully, we are doing Thanksgiving at my in laws' house! My husband's childhood friend is in town for the week and my sister-in-law has been coming over for dinner a bit, so we have a nice full house for meals - which is nice :)

{Monday}
Sweet & Sour Meatballs [double batch]
Italian sausage (2), ground turkey (2), Parmesan cheese, 32 oz. pineapple tidbits, green bell pepper (2), onion (2)

{Tuesday}
Copycat Popeye's Chicken
Hot sauce, buttermilk, chicken tenderloins, peanut oil (for the fryer), Arby's fries

Bacon Cheesy Cauliflower Chowder #SecretRecipeClub

It’s time again for Secret Recipe Club! What is Secret Recipe Club, you ask? It’s a club of food bloggers split into 4 groups that post on separate Mondays in the month. Each blogger is assigned a blog secretly and they stalk that blog to find a recipe or two to make. Once made, the recipe is photographed and a blog post is made to showcase the recipe and blog on the designated Monday! It’s a really fun way to find new blogs, try new foods, and share a little love to a blogger. For more information, go here.

This past month has been absolutely insane for us and this last weekend in particular has definitely been the busiest. I’m typing this from our first home – our new home – which we are in the process of unpacking and settling into. But I’m proud to say that I made two recipes from my assigned blog, Flying on Jess Fuel. I’m sharing one of the two today for reveal day, but I loved both of them and will eventually get around to sharing the Cinnamon Pecan Banana Pancakes at some point.

Jess is a Navy wife and also married to a Nick - both of whom love food and a good homebrew - which they definitely have in common with me and my Nick (except for Army instead of Navy). I have been waiting as patiently as possible and not rigging assignments (which took self control, let me tell you, since I'm the one that does them) to get Jess' blog. I love it! Jess has an incredible collection of recipes and her pictures are gorgeous. I had both a hard and easy time picking a recipe this month. I saved a bunch, but I easily picked my top two and made both. The one I'm sharing today is not the pancake recipe that I linked to above, but Jess' Bacon Cheesy Cauliflower Chowder...which my preggo brain inadvertently turned into soup while editing my picture...but it's chowder. Promise.

It cracks me up that Jess mentioned she is not a carb-hater, but loves veggies - that is me to a tee. I'll eat the junk outta some carbs, but I am a veggie-aholic. Any veggie is my friend. Now that the weather is cooler here in Tennessee, weekly soup night has begun again. I was very excited to try this chowder and was absolutely thrilled with how it turned out. We will definitely be having it again. Everyone (Nick, kids, sister-in-law, and mom-in-law) all loved it and that is a pretty good thing when all of us love a recipe :)

Restaurant Style Salsa

I have been wanting to make homemade salsa for a really long time. My mother-in-law makes a killer homemade salsa that I still haven't made the recipe for (and need to find in my recipe stack) and seriously...homemade salsa is the way to go. You can control heat, how chunky it is, how much cilantro is in it...etc. This is kind of a fast, easy, shortcut salsa in a way because you use canned tomatoes, however, actual tomatoes could be substituted easily. The original recipe had no cilantro and salsa just ain't salsa without cilantro, so, of course, I absolutely HAD to add a bunch :)

Chocolate Hazelnut Coffee

It drives Nick nuts, but I will totally drink my coffee once it gets cold. It doesn't even have to have ice in it which apparently is sacrilege to even let it get cold in the first place. I also do like actual iced coffee. And that's why I just had to try out this lovely hazelnut iced coffee.

I am kind of picky with coffee flavors (with creamer), but I will do some hazelnut coffee any time. This particular hazelnut coffee actually has Nutella in it! And who doesn't like Nutella??? i mean it. Who doesn't? We need to find that person and help them understand the amazingness that is Nutella :)

Menu Plan Monday

This week is the last week I'll have a short week because we will finally be moving into our first home! I'm super duper excited and my new kitchen is one of the biggest reasons for it. It's so nice :) I'll be going back to regular "full" week menus after Thanksgiving. YAY! This week we are having tons of super yummy remakes. MMMM.

{Monday}
Popcorn Chicken
Chicken breasts, paprika, buffalo sauce

{Tuesday}
One Skillet Cheesy Hamburger Pasta
Onion (1), ground beef (1), diced tomatoes (2), tomato sauce, cherry tomatoes, green onions, shredded cheddar cheese, medium shells

{Wednesday}
Wisconsin Cheddar Cheese Soup
Butter, onion (1), beer, corn, bacon, milk, shredded sharp cheddar cheese

{Thursday}
Stromboli
Pizza sauce, shredded mozzarella cheese, hard salami, honey ham, shredded Parmesan cheese

{Extra}
Supersonic Burritos
Tatortots, tortillas, breakfast sausage, shredded cheddar cheese, pickled jalapenos, salsa, onion (1)

Total Spent: TBA

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Fantastical Friday: 29 Coffeelicious Recipes

Oh yes, oh yes, it is time for some coffee!! :) Some of these are hot coffee drinks, others are cold. Some have a little booze, others are safe to drink in the morning. There's caramel, mocha, maple, pumpkin, peppermint, and more!

Find your next favorite coffee drink below!
Thanks to all the bloggers who contributed to my roundup :)

Chicken Fajita Soup for a busy day

There are some days where I just dread dinnertime. You know those days - you are going all day long and the last thing you want to do when you get home is slave over an hour to an hour and a half prepping and cooking dinner. Not to mention dirtying half your kitchen to get to clean up after dinner when you still just want to relax. This is where this soup comes in...

In the original recipe, canned chicken is used, but I went ahead and sauteed up some chicken really fast for it. You could even use leftover shredded chicken. Regardless, this soup comes together quickly and it's packed full of flavor!

Snickers Frappuccino: A Starbucks Secret Menu Copycat

I have a lovely secret menu at Starbucks infographic pinned...and instead of going to Starbucks to actually get the secret menu drinks. I will stay at home and make them. :)

The first one I wanted to try was this Snickers Frappuccino. It's basically a caramel frappuccino with some chocolate and toffee flavorings added in. It's very very yummy! If you need to thicken it up, you can be a little daredevil and add a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I also highly recommend coffee ice cubes instead of water ice cubes. Just for more delicious coffee flavor!

Menu Plan Monday

This week I'm going to making two Secret Recipe Club recipes (if you are a food blogger interested in joining, check out the site!) and won't tell you what they are just yet - that's for the last Monday of the month :) I'm also still going to be doing lots of older recipes because we miss having had them again...and that's what we're doing. This week in particular is exciting because Monday and Tuesday are some of my all-time favorites and Thursday is going to be a recipe with some tweaks done to fix it :)

{Monday}
Bacon Chili Cheese Dogs
Ground beef (1), onion (1), bacon, tomato sauce, hot dogs, hot dog buns, shredded cheddar cheese

{Tuesday}
Lemon Fettuccine with Grilled Chicken with Salad and Asparagus

Angel hair, lemon (3), heavy cream, fresh basil, chicken tenderloins, salad, asparagus

{Wednesday}
SRC Recipe
Chicken bouillon, onion (1), cauliflower, shredded sharp cheddar, green onions

{Thursday}
Pizza Burgers
Ground beef (1), ground pork (1), sliced provolone, pepperoni, marinara, kaiser rolls

{Extra}
SRC Recipe
vanilla yogurt, bananas, pecans, maple syrup

Total Spent: TBA

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Fantastical Friday: 24 Weeks

How far along are you? 24 weeks [only one month til I hit 3rd trimester!]

Chips & Dip Burgers

I find that I am getting more and more adventurous with foods that I usually like one way and that's it. Burgers are one of those things where I like them with 80/20 seasoned with salt and pepper and not too much variation from that recipe. I do find that the variations of typical burgers that I have tried, I've loved and that is why I tried this recipe. I love salsa con queso and I love bean dip. Paired with the seasoned crunchy rolled chips and the onion bun - yum yum yum! Especially the bean dip. That is probably my most favorite part of this burger.

Pecan Pie Dip

This dip is divine. And here's why I believe that to be true...there is NO pie crust. I am not a big fan of pie crust and it's really why I'm not a big pie eater. I love pumpkin pie, but I'll only eat to where the filling meets the outer edge of the crust. Even good pie crusts...are still crusts. That being said, this pecan pie dip is just the filling and it's wonderful. Mine got a little overdone, so I would say to watch it at around 25 minutes and make sure it doesn't get overly browned around the edges. It still turned out to be quite delicious. We ate ours on New Year's Eve last year with Nilla Wafers - yum!

Menu Plan Monday

Over the next few months, Nick and I decided to revisit some old favorites. He sometimes misses out on when I make recipes again, so I like to let him get the opportunity to pick ones he liked. I've done an awful job of getting my list ready and grocery shopping...in fact, I'm only picking up stuff for tonight's soup...so just a Menu Plan this week, no grocery list.

{Monday}
Grandma Ruth's Italian Chicken Soup {here}

{Tuesday}
Weeknight Bolognese {here}

{Wednesday}
Crockpot Beef & Broccoli {here}

{Thursday}
Pizza Braid {here}

{Extra}
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Coffeecake

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