Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Countdown to 2015: Reader Faves of 2014
So this is another really fascinating category that I love seeing pop up - Reader Faves/Most Popular. I like to see what my readers like to read the most on my blog. I'm actually going to take the time to talk about each one below and also - be sure to check out some of my foodie friends' reader faves/most popular recipes of 2014!
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Countdown To
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Countdown to 2015: Best Desserts of 2014
Although I do post a majority of main dishes...desserts are where my heart is. I absolutely adore sweets. Below you will find bars, cakes, cookies, and even a crumble and Rice Krispie treats from me and some decadent sweets from my foodie pals!
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Countdown To
Monday, December 29, 2014
Countdown to 2015: Best Snacks & Appetizers of 2014
It's snacks and appetizer time! YAY! I always look forward to this day of the Countdown because it's always right before New Year's Eve, so there is plenty of time to find some yummy new treats to make for the 31st. Below you will find some of my foodie friends' recipes as well as my recipes for the best Snacks & Appetizers of 2014.
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Countdown To
Sunday, December 28, 2014
Countdown to 2015: Best Main Dishes of 2014
On the third day of the Countdown, my true love gave to me: THE BEST MAIN DISHES OF 2014!!! :) Okay, so maybe not our true loves, but definitely a bunch of great food bloggers. Although I have a million jillion (technically speaking) dessert/sweet recipes pinned and hoarded, I still post main dishes as a majority of my recipes. Granted, we eat dinner way more than we eat dessert, but anyways...here are some main dishes from me and some other food bloggers.
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Countdown To
Saturday, December 27, 2014
Countdown to 2015: Best Crockpot Recipes of 2014
It's Day 2 of the Countdown to 2015 which means it's Crockpot recipe sharing day. I love my crockpot(s). I just picked up 2 more - little 1.5 quarts - for fondue for NYE. I honestly don't think one could have enough crockpots. You can make everything in them! I can't wait to see some of the roundups from other food blogs here because I will be saving a ton of new recipes to try in 2015 :)
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Countdown To
Friday, December 26, 2014
Countdown To 2015: Best Breakfast Recipes of 2014
Hello, everyone! In the past few years, I've spent the last little bit of December counting down to the New Year. I started participating in 2011 when SnoWhite of Finding Joy in my Kitchen started the Countdown. I unfortunately didn't hear if she was going to host again this year - typically we find out a couple weeks in advance and she posts on her blog a week before Christmas about it, but it's been quiet this year. So I decided to carry on the tradition, keeping the same type of format and "schedule". The image/badge above shows the schedule and any food blogger is welcome to join in. You can participate in one day, all days, etc. It's up to you and your schedule. :) Just make your round up post of the best recipes on your blog that you posted in 2014 and come back by and link up your post here or on the Secret Recipe Club website!
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Countdown To
Sunday, December 21, 2014
Announcing: Countdown to 2015
I have been participating in a fun shindig called "Countdown to..." each year to round up my best/favorite recipes from the year from Fantastical. I joined other food bloggers in this really fun activity sharing round ups from Dec 26 until Jan 1 to ring in the new year. I've been waiting for my email with all the details this year, but I don't think that the host is doing it this year. I can't NOT do the countdown now that it's been since 2011 that I've participated, so I decided to host it this year and invite anyone who would like to join in, to join in!
Here is the schedule and image/badge to grab (just right-click save to your computer and upload to your blog):
All you have to do is round up the best recipes you posted in 2014 on your blog for each category. I typically make a collage for easy pinning. Each post you can stop by and link up to the corresponding day, here on Fantastical or on the Secret Recipe Club website. On the 1st, the "Pick Your Poison" category is simply a you-choose category. You can share your favorite recipes from 2014, recipes from someone else's blog that you can't wait to try in 2015, beverages, etc. Any kind of miscellaneous round up that you would like to share...is game on the first day of 2015!
If you have any questions, please leave a comment or email me at fantasticalsharing1 at gmail dot com. I'll see you back on Friday for the first Countdown to 2015 post all about the best breakfast recipes of 2014!
Added note: You do not have to participate every day or all the days. If you want to do just dessert and reader faves, you are welcome to just those. Or just one day, that's perfectly fine! It is up to you how many or few you want to do.
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Here is the schedule and image/badge to grab (just right-click save to your computer and upload to your blog):
All you have to do is round up the best recipes you posted in 2014 on your blog for each category. I typically make a collage for easy pinning. Each post you can stop by and link up to the corresponding day, here on Fantastical or on the Secret Recipe Club website. On the 1st, the "Pick Your Poison" category is simply a you-choose category. You can share your favorite recipes from 2014, recipes from someone else's blog that you can't wait to try in 2015, beverages, etc. Any kind of miscellaneous round up that you would like to share...is game on the first day of 2015!
If you have any questions, please leave a comment or email me at fantasticalsharing1 at gmail dot com. I'll see you back on Friday for the first Countdown to 2015 post all about the best breakfast recipes of 2014!
Added note: You do not have to participate every day or all the days. If you want to do just dessert and reader faves, you are welcome to just those. Or just one day, that's perfectly fine! It is up to you how many or few you want to do.
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Thursday, December 18, 2014
Nestle Toll House Holiday Recipes: Salted Caramel Hot Cocoa Cookies #sp
Disclosure: Today’s post is sponsored by Nestle Toll House, but my love for their DelightFulls filled morsels is all my own!
These Salted Caramel Hot Cocoa Cookies featuring Nestle Toll House DelightFulls filled baking morsels are out of this world delicious combining salted caramel and chocolate together.
These Salted Caramel Hot Cocoa Cookies featuring Nestle Toll House DelightFulls filled baking morsels are out of this world delicious combining salted caramel and chocolate together.
I have been on a cookie kick lately. From my roundup of cookie recipes last Friday to sharing two cookie recipes on Monday...cookies have been on my mind! They are the perfect holiday treat for family and friends - they package well, they can be made a million different ways, and who doesn't love a cookie? I have been brainstorming cookie recipes over the last few weeks and trying to think of the best possible combination for testing out the new Nestle Toll House DelightFulls filled morsels. They come in four different combinations: mint + dark chocolate, cherry + dark chocolate, peanut butter + milk chocolate, and caramel + milk chocolate. I picked up two of the four to make my own Nestle Toll House Holiday recipe :)
At some point, I will share the second recipe using the DelightFulls filled morsels and also another cookie recipe using Nestle Toll House morsels. Unfortunately, they are just a limited edition regular-sized unfilled mint and dark chocolate morsels, but they were so delicious! And I couldn't stop there, after seeing many posts featuring the peanut butter filled morsels, I picked some up at the store yesterday. But I cannot figure out what recipe I want to make with them. Nestle has a whole slew on their website (here), but they are so many I cannot choose - HELP ME! What would you make?
But alas, today is all about the lovely the caramel filled baking morsels. I will share my cherry filled baking morsels cookie recipe very soon - promise! It is such a great recipe - it's hard to pick which one is my favorite :)
So today is all about the Salted Caramel Hot Cocoa Cookies...again, I made these with the caramel-filled morsels. These morsels are a little larger than the regular morsels and will hold their shape while baking. I chose to keep mine whole, but you can also chop them up. Initially, my brainstorming led me to using the caramel-filled morsels in a hot cocoa cookie recipe because last year I hoarded a bunch of different flavors of hot cocoa, like salted caramel, marshmallow, double chocolate, and mint. I grabbed them specifically for making cookies and forgot to make some.
The recipe is easy and comes together just like most any other cookie recipe - mix together dry ingredients, cream together wet ingredients, add dry to wet, and stir in your "candies" - so there is nothing complicated about it. The DelightFulls add a whole new scrumptiousness to these cookies that they definitely would have missed without them. I also really appreciate not having ugly cookies with caramel bits that burnt to the bottom of the pan when they leaked out. I think we've all had that happen a time or two :) The DelightFulls keep in line and in the cookie!
One thing I am hoping to do next time I make these is to add a sprinkle of sea salt on top - the salted caramel hot cocoa mix gives a slight saltiness to the cookies that makes you want to just keep on eating them, but I love a cookie with a little sea salt on top! I'm really excited to share these since I got SO many out of just one batch. The kids are bringing some to their teachers, for sure, and I'm hoping to take some over to our new neighbors since they were so kind as to have brought us cookies when we first moved in :)
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
Salted Mudslide Cookies
Another recipe for cookies, guys...prepare yourselves!
I have really latched onto this whole sea salt with desserts craze. There is something so lovely about salty and sweet together. What makes this little treat so good is that it also has a little Kahlua kick and coffee in it. All of the different elements work together so well..you have the sweet liqueur and a little bitterness from the coffee plus the salty of the sea salt. YUM! It has everything a cookie needs! I absolutely adore that it has chocolate chunks because you get the ooey gooey sweetness in each bite. It's really just perfection. Y'all have to make them ASAP!
Monday, December 15, 2014
Dark Chocolate Peppermint M&M Cookies #fbcookieswap
So I am participating for the second year in a row in the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap - it's the fourth annual year and I love it. It's one of my most favorite things to do! Not only do I get to make cookies and send them off to three people secretly, but I also get to receive three secret packages of cookies.
My cookies were sent to Shelby of The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch, Sue of It's Okay to Eat the Cupcake, and Liz of Floating Kitchen. Because I had received one of my batches in an adorable Christmas tin before sending mine out, I decided to find some cute tins of my own to send off to my matches. I honestly wish I would've picked up two of each because I fell in love with them. So cute :) I used the recipe cards Lindsay and Julie provided and some very cute holiday Ziploc baggies to keep my cookies fresh.
So the cookies I chose to make were a very festive kind: Dark Chocolate Peppermint M&M Cookies. I've had them pinned for forever (surprise, surprise...) and really wanted to make them. I had trouble finding the peppermint M&Ms until I made the trip out to get some cute tins. I doubled the batch (although I'm sharing a single batch) and ended up with a ton of cookies. I sent a dozen to each of my matches, 20 to our dear friends in New York, and I packed a dozen to take to my mom-in-law's. I still had quite a few leftover. Which is totally fine by me!
These cookies were so decadent and the M&Ms...I am so glad that I have a second bag hidden away because they are going to take so much willpower to save to utilize for a super fantastical recipe in the near future. They are just calling to me to come eat them.
As always, I had a ton of fun making, packaging, and shipping out my cookies. It was even more fun this year with the help of Instagram. I got tagged in a few receiving cookies from me and I tried to tag those who sent me cookies - plus the cookie making process had to be documented :)
Secret Recipe Club Cookie Carnival: Turtle Cookies
Hello, hello....Group C & D had their last reveal day of 2014 in November and we just couldn't go out like that...we had to have something going on in December to get our fix :) So I asked my amazing members of Secret Recipe Club if they would like to do a whole club-wide shindig featuring cookies and they responded in an overwhelming positive way. Today, there are no group separations - we were assigned to someone randomly - could be from our regular group or from another, if we were lucky enough. It's still been a secret and it's been very exciting to stop by a new blog. Plus, I got to make cookies!!! :)
I was randomly assigned to Veronica of Veronica's Cornucopia, a group C member, for our Cookie Carnival. Veronica is a married data conversion operator for the USPS. She started out sharing recipes on Myspace before switching over to blogging them. She blogs a lot of sweets (my kind of gal!) and also blogs about her cute little one year old Joshua. Be sure to stop by her blog and check it all out!
I had some trouble figuring out which of her many cookie recipes I wanted to make...there were White Chocolate Cherry Chunkies (which I would've adapted with cranberries), Turtle Cookies, Chocolate Peppermint Chip Cookies, and Black Gold Cookies. Ultimately, I went with the Turtle Cookies because yum, yum, yum! Plus I had already planned a peppermint cookie for the cookie swap - which I will be posting later today.
These were fantastic little cookies! I couldn't find caramel bits, so I used caramel candies chopped up in smaller pieces...and pecan chips, so there weren't any large chunks of anything. They had the perfect mixture of all three: chocolate, caramel, and pecans. They were chewy initially and then after a week or so they got a little harder, but I'm not sure if that's because I didn't actually store them properly because we ate on them so much LOL.
Saturday, December 13, 2014
Banana Bread Donuts
A recipe on a Saturday?! WHAT?! I have felt so bad about my inconsistency lately with pregnancy + closing in on the end of my college term + moving, that I just had to share another recipe this week. I had every intention of this one happening on Wednesday, but just never wrote it up and then I realized Thursday that I had lost a day. Anyways...
Banana bread is one of my all-time favorite treats - I don't think I've met a banana bread yet that I wouldn't eat. I've had a variety of different kinds, so when I found this recipe for donuts, I knew I had to try it.
In the original recipe, the blogger, Melissa, used cream cheese frosting on top. I personally did not - mostly out of laziness, but I felt that they were just fine without the frosting. But at the same time, I really would love to try them WITH frosting because I'm sure they are even better that way. They still maintain their donutness, but they totally capture the banana bread quality and that is just the best durn breakfast you could ask for!
Friday, December 12, 2014
Fantastical Friday: Over 150 Irresistible Cookie Recipes
Fantastical is about to go cookie crazy. Not only are there over 150 cookies in this recipe, I'm also sharing 2 cookie recipes on Monday. One for the Secret Recipe Club Cookie Carnival and one for the 2014 Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap...and they are very delicious cookie recipes! I can't wait :)
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Fantastical Friday
Tuesday, December 09, 2014
The Best Beef Stew
As a child, I grew up on a canned beef stew...and absolutely hated it. I mean, I'm sure y'all know what I'm talking about. You open up the can...is it dog food? Cause it sure smells like it!
For years, I shied away from trying to make it on my own. I've tried a few recipes here and there, but wasn't incredibly impressed or anything. I had decided it was time to try again and figured it was best to bank on a recipe called "The Best Beef Stew" and I was not disappointed.
It's pretty quick to put together and it slow cooks either on the stove or in the crockpot, so all the flavors meld together. You best believe it's even better the next day!
Monday, December 08, 2014
Menu Plan Monday
{Monday}
Chicken Parmesan
Chicken breasts, granulated sugar, 14.5 oz can crushed tomatoes (3), onion, fresh parsley, shredded parmesan cheese, linguine pasta
{Tuesday}
Steak Fajitas
Steak, green bell pepper (2), onion, fajita seasoning mix
{Wednesday}
Chicken & Gnocchi Soup
Milk, Chicken breasts, gnocchi, spinach, onion
{Thursday}
Spanish Rice & Pork Chops
Rice-a-roni Spanish Rice (2), 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes (2), pork chops
{Friday}
Classic Patty Melts
Ground beef, sliced Vermont sharp cheddar, Thousand Island dressing, Texas Toast, onion, chips
{Extra}
Oven Denver Omelet // Jalapeno Popper Turkey Chili
Eggs, shredded cheddar cheese, ham, onion, green bell pepper // red onion, jalapeno (2), ground beef, black beans, corn, tex mex tomatoes, beef broth, cilantro, cream cheese, shredded Mexican cheese, salsa
Total Spent: TBA
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Menu Plan Monday
Friday, December 05, 2014
Thursday, December 04, 2014
Sausage & Pea Pasta
Sometimes the simplest of ingredients are enough to blow your tastebuds right outta your mouth!
...
Okay, okay, I'm exaggerating, but you know it's good when there's that kind of description, right?! This recipe includes sausage, peas, pasta, onions, pesto and a little salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Very simple ingredients...but a very delicious, mouthwatering, can't-get-enough flavor to it! You'll want to have more. You'll need to have more.
I believe this is the perfect main dish recipe, however, I could see it being a great side dish to a potluck or holiday meal too. It's really up to you :)
Tuesday, December 02, 2014
Chicken, Tortellini, & Kale Soup
I'm digging soups that can be made quickly nowadays. Pregnancy is tiring and while I still enjoy cooking...I like meals that don't require a lot of babysitting or anything too time consuming. This soup is filling and flavorful - and it comes together quickly which I just absolutely adore...again...because I love being able to sit back and relax and enjoy a good meal, not slave over the stove :)
Monday, December 01, 2014
Menu Plan Monday
Now that Thanksgiving is over, we have a normal week of meals. I'm going to be using some more turkey leftovers for Tuesday night instead of chicken. I'm just really excited about Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. They are some of my very favorite meals :)
{Monday}
Pasta a la Marlboro Man with a side of broccoli
onion, ground beef (2), 28 oz. diced tomatoes, Parmesan cheese, penne pasta, broccoli
{Tuesday}
Mexican Chicken Chilaquiles Casseroles
ancho chile peppers, chicken bouillon, 28 oz. diced tomatoes, cumin, tortilla chips, Monterey Jack cheese, cilantro, cherry tomatoes, green onions, jalapeno
{Wednesday}
Cheddar Baked Potato Soup
bacon, onion, celery, milk, potatoes (4), sharp Cheddar cheese, hot sauce
{Thursday}
Asian Turkey Meatballs over Easy Thai Noodles
ground turkey, eggs, lime, broccoli, carrot, red bell pepper, snap peas, creamy chicken Ramen (2)
{Friday}
Bacon, Pineapple, & Banana Pepper Pizza Rolls
mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, green bell pepper, onion, bacon bits, pineapple, banana peppers, pizza sauce, egg roll wraps
{Saturday}
Ultimate Cinnamon Buns // Fancy Mac & Cheese
yeast, butter, cream cheese // ground beef, onion, heavy cream, gruyere cheese, shell pasta
Total Spent: TBA
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Menu Plan Monday
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