Fantastical Friday

I had every intention of getting one recipe up and a small roundup for today, but then my new desk arrived yesterday. We just finished getting all the computer stuff set up and I'm working on organizing all of my planning/blogging/desk stuff now that I have all sorts of awesome cubbies and drawers :D

I am determined to put it to good use and blog 3 recipes next week!

Have a great weekend!

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Menu Plan Monday - May 25, 2015

Er...Wednesday? I usually grocery shop on Sundays and, obviously, post on Mondays, but this week I am allllll off. We had family in on Saturday, so we had plenty of leftovers on Sunday and Monday to eat. So I shopped yesterday - and if I was a little better prepared, I would've kept my list on hand to type up what I got and how much I spent today. But all last week, I had two sick older kids and then, of course, the baby who was waking up more frequently in the night - tag teaming Momma already! I am starting to recover from a very sleepless last week finally, but SHOO. Monday, we spent all day car hunting and we got me a new car (YAY!) and then Tuesday, I goofed and totally missed Mason's doc appointment :S Today, the older two had a dentist appt and we had to run my car to get entire car protection from the dealership, as well as, pick up a prescription. It's pretty much a miracle that this is getting posted :)

{Tuesday}
Italian Sausage Stuffed Peppers with Pasta Sauce

{Wednesday}
Chiliville Chili

{Thursday}
Caramel Rolls // Weeknight Chicken Penne Alfredo


{Friday}
Bacon Chili Cheese Dogs

{Weekend}
Deep Fried Cinnamon Rolls // Strawberries & Cream Frappuccinos // Raspberry Lemonade Cheesecake Parfaits

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Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Fudge #SecretRecipeClub

It's time again for Secret Recipe Club reveal day for my group, Group D! What is Secret Recipe Club? It's a bunch of food bloggers separated into four groups that post once a month on a designated Monday. Each month, we are paired with another foodie from our group secretly (hence the name). We then pick a recipe (or two or more) from that blog and make it. On our reveal day, we reveal whose blog we had and what recipe(s) we chose all at the same time. It's like a Secret Santa every month, but with food and blogs! It's a great deal of fun :)

This month, I had narrowed down my possible choices for recipes within a day or two of getting my assignment. I saved a total of 17 recipes. I had planned on making at least 2 and possibly 3 of those recipes. Then the month flew by and before I knew it, I had completely forgotten to plan out purchasing and making the recipes and had to make with what I had on hand.

So now I'm sure y'all are wondering what awesome blog I got that had me narrowing down to a whopping 17 recipes...and that blog was Karen's Kitchen Stories. It is written by Karen, if that wasn't obvious, who is a mom, grandma, and overall awesome lady! She started blogging as a way to document the recipes that were making a mess of her kitchen - I can definitely relate there ;) I love her about me page - it's informative and makes me want to redo my own.

Karen's blog has an impressive amount of bread recipes and that is where a majority of my saved recipes were. I saved her Basic Sourdough Bread, No Knead Quinoa Bread, Gruyere Cheese Bread, Corn & Jalapeno Rolls, and Cheddar Chive Bread. Karen also has some breadlike recipes that I want to try: Whole Wheat and Cheddar Mini Crackers and !!!!!!POTATO LEFSE!!!!!! My grandpa sends me lefse every year around Thanksgiving. I still have some in my freezer right now. The recipe that I was going to make was her Roasted Jalapeno Salsa. But as I said, I completely forgot to plan the ingredient purchases and make it.

Group C's reveal day came around last Monday and I was fretting our upcoming reveal day. I started to look through the dessert recipes I saved that included a few cookies, a cheesecake, and a Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Fudge recipe. I had all the ingredients for the fudge, so the fudge is what I made. I do hope to make the other recipes very soon. The breads all sound so so delicious. And the salsa and bruschettas are gonna be amazing too.

Slow Cooker BBQ Ribs

Instead of my "normal" Fantastical Friday, I decided I needed to share a recipe. Then I got everything ready and left my computer before hitting publish. Whoops. As I spoke about briefly last Friday, I'm not doing so hot on blogging. But now that the kids are out of school (yesterday was their last day), I'm hoping to get back to a regular posting schedule.

This recipe is one I hope to make at least twice this summer. I don't typically get ribs out at restaurants or eat them even on occasion, but since trying them out at home, I've been craving them like no other. I was certain I would mess them up somehow or they wouldn't be that good, but the exact opposite happened. They turned out wonderfully. The mix of the two bottles of barbecue sauce was perfection and the meat was tender and fell off the bone. I especially loved the broiling at the end that gave some crispy edges to the meat :) If you ever have plans to grill out and then it's raining and pouring, this is a great alternative to still have that good grilled grub!

Menu Plan Monday - May 18, 2015

Hello, everyone, and "happy" Monday! There are a few repeats again this week due to having family in the weekend before last and scrapping our meal plans for those days :)

{Monday}
Chicken Parmesan Meatball Casserole
2 lb. turkey, panko bread crumbs, eggs, campanelle, marinara sauce, mozzarella cheese

{Tuesday}
Puffins // Crockpot Beef Burgundy
Bisquick, banana, pineapple, blackberries // beef tips, bacon bits, baby carrots, baby onions, beef broth, cream of mushroom soup, fresh thyme, wide egg noodles

{Wednesday}
Creamy Parmesan, Tomato, & Spinach Tortellini Soup
onion, tomato paste, 28 oz. diced tomatoes, cheese tortellini, parmigiano reggiano, spinach, heavy cream*, fresh basil

{Thursday}
Sticky Mini Pecan Buns // Meat Lovers Quesadillas
canola oil, chopped pecans, milk, flour? // tortillas, pepperoni, hot Italian sausage, salami, bacon, mozzarella*, marinara sauce


{Friday}
Totcho Supreme
tatortots*, chorizo*, carne asada, Mexican cheese*, guacamole*, green onions

{Weekend}
French Toast Kabobs // Ocean Water // Individual Cheese Danishes
1 can refrigerated French bread, fresh raspberries, fresh blueberries // 2 cans Sprite, Swedish fish // 2 cans crescent rolls*, 8 oz. cream cheese?, lemon*, 1 can pie filling*

Total Spent: $123.42

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Fantastical Friday

What a busy couple of weeks or so! I haven't been keeping up with the blog as much as I like and my blogging schedule is SHOT. I hate that I'm not keeping to posting my MPM, then recipes on Tuesday & Wednesday, and, of course, Fantastical Friday posts! My older two have had a lot going on with the end of school approaching. They have just one week left :( We have had some family come into town and spent time with them - obviously, blogging takes the back burner. I also have a now more awake almost-3 month old :) He needs a lot of Mommy during his awake times - which makes sense, of course. So this means, I'm not really blogging. Oh the drafts are piling up! I have had plenty of posts almost finished, but never scheduled or posted. I also haven't been pinning and that makes me soooo sad.

I'm hoping to get on a better schedule during the summer - especially with not having to leave the house to go drop off and pick up the older two :) And if you're interested, I am sporadically blogging on my personal blog that I revamped: Rocky Top Real Talk.

So...here's to hoping to a better posting schedule and a more present me here on Fantastical :)


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Menu Plan Monday - May 11, 2015

It's been a crazy weekend and shaping up to be an even crazier week. I will update with my grocery list and links to recipes soon. But it turns out I won't be full on grocery shopping for this week until Wednesday :S

{Monday}
Leftovers

{Tuesday}
Parmesan Crusted Chicken with Herb Butter Sauce

{Wednesday}
Cinnamon French Toast Lattes // Slow Cooker Taco Chili

{Thursday}
One Pot Sausage, Tomato, & Pesto Pasta


{Friday}
Philly Cheesesteak Stromboli

{Weekend}
Maple Bacon Cinnamon Rolls // Southwest Tuna Salad Sandwiches // Omelette in a Bag // Peanut Butter Fudge Brownies // Sour Patch Kid Cake

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Nutella Cheesecake Shooters #SundaySupper

It's time for another round of #SundaySupper yumminess! Because today is Mother's Day and we all love the moms in our lives, we are sharing recipes for Mother's Day. I chose dessert because that is something my mom enjoys making. My mom always volunteered to make mints (the cream cheese kind) for wedding showers, baby showers, and graduation open houses when I was little. She volunteered to make desserts for church. She made cookies, bars, and cakes. She actually went to school for cake decorating and does that for a hobby nowadays for her church's "meals on wheels" type program.

I chose to do a smaller portion dessert because even though my mom loves sweets - she doesn't like big portions of them. She also loves fruit and cheesecake! So this combination is just perfect for her and many other moms too :) When I made these, I split them up into five portions - two for the kids and three for the adults. When I make it again (yes, again!), I will definitely double the amount and make it in 4 jam mason jars for four full desserts. It's really fast to throw together and turns out very tasty and sits light in your stomach. So it's really perfect for a big get-together pot roast type Sunday dinner - like we're having tonight at my mom-in-law's. It was the perfect amount of dessert and incredibly creamy and fluffy. It tasted like an amazing cheesecake, but in a more pudding type version. Definitely cannot be missed - you have to try this for the moms in your life!

Sweet Zucchini Pancakes

I like to mix it up a bit with pancakes every once in a while and thought the idea of zucchini pancakes sounded very good. They are sweetened with honey, which is perfectly fine and all, but I definitely missed the cinnamon that usually pairs with zucchini in dishes like zucchini bread. So when I make these again, cinnamon will definitely go in them. I really liked the griddle-taste that they took on :) Reminds me of the pancakes my mom and I would get at our local diner when I was little.

Menu Plan Monday - May 4, 2015

I feel like weeks are flying by! You'll notice a few repeats this week from the last couple weeks or so - I still am not getting around to making breakfast and sometimes baking takes last precedent. Especially on drill weekends, it's hard to get around to baking with all three kids here and Nick not able to take Mason off my hands for an hour or so, so I can bake cookies :) I'm hoping within the next few months when Mason is a little more independent that I can get around to baking more.

{Monday}
Pasta, Chicken, & Asparagus in Garlic Tomato Sauce
asparagus, chicken breast, farfelle pasta, cherry tomatoes*, grape tomatoes, fresh basil, Parmesan cheese*

{Tuesday}
Peanut Butter Crumble Yogurt Parfait // One Pot Burrito Bowls
peanut butter Snickers (3), Rice Krispies*, chia seed*, vanilla  yogurt // red bell pepper, onion*, ground beef (2), salsa, black beans, corn, diced tomatoes*, green chillies, rice*, taco seasoning, cheddar cheese, green onions*, cilantro, tomato*

{Wednesday}
Slow Cooker Italian Meatball Soup
carrots*, celery*, onion*, tomato paste, 28 oz. crushed tomatoes, frozen meatballs

{Thursday}
Hobo Dinner
zucchini, ground beef (2), baby carrots, potatoes*, pesto, onion


{Friday}
Totcho Supreme
tatortots, Mexican cheese, steak strips, carne asada seasoning, chorizo, guacamole

{Weekend}
Chewy Triple Chocolate Cookies // Easy Blackberry Danish
(Banana Cream Pie // Extra Beefy Meatloaf - will not shop for these recipes just yet)
eggs, chocolate chips // cresents*, cream cheese*, blueberries*

Total Spent: $103.13

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Fantastical Friday: Favorite Food Finds of the Week

Well, everyone, JT was right. It WAS gonna be May :) I've really been enjoying making these little mini roundups each week. This week I decided to only share ten favorites because I'm trying to actually post on Friday and keep on track! There are quite a few sweets, as per usual, and there are a few breakfast and one savory dish. I am excited to try each and every one of these. For more favorite food finds, follow me on Pinterest.