Raspberry Lemonade Cheesecake Parfaits

 These parfaits are refreshing and decadent - truly the perfect treat for warm weather.

I am finally obsessed with lemon in everything, so all my years of not being a fan means I have very few recipes saved up and I'm still not completely sold on full-on lemon desserts like lemon cookies or bars. I am sure I will work my way up to them, but I am loving experimenting in the meantime. This sweet dessert had the perfect amount of lemon in it. These little babies were so addictive. I made them way back in 2015 for the Fourth of July (with the addition of blueberries) since they were very festive and the citrus was perfect for summer.

What I really loved was the element of crunch that the almonds added. The nuttiness was just so perfect with the grahams and lemon cheesecake filling and berries. Heaven in a mason jar, folks.

I also found out the hard way that late summertime afternoons do not shed very much natural light at my mom-in-law's, so I used her breezeway as my backdrop LOL. Except the one picture from my kitchen island.

Copycat McDonald's Cinnamelts #SecretRecipeClub

This fast food breakfast is the perfect quick homemade meal to start out the day!

Hello, friends! It's Secret Recipe Club reveal day once again. Since it is a five Monday month, we are having another Themed Reveal Day. Today's theme: BACK TO SCHOOL. We are focusing on quick meals for breakfast or dinner, after school snacks, and lunchbox goodies! I am so excited to see what the other SRCers have to share because this mom needs all the help I can get in the back to school area. In fact, today we have a girl scout meeting after school followed by a parent meeting. I need a quick dinner for tonight!!

I was assigned Cathleen's blog, A Taste of Madness. Cathleen is a teacher, math nerd, and dessert lover. She loves to try new things in the kitchen and out. I immediately hit up Cathleen's breakfast section because I struggle a lot with making breakfast for my kids during the week - although they love cereal and poptarts - and even school breakfast. I will be honest and say I was immediately drawn to the Starbucks Pumpkin Bread, but that is because it's my favorite breakfast. I get it just about every week at my grocery store because we have a Starbucks inside it.

But this wasn't about me (and I don't have the time nor am I willing to make a recipe that cooks for an hour in the morning - I am not a morning person), it was about my kids. Matt and Cami love cinnamon rolls and I knew they would love Cathleen's Copycat McDonald's Cinnamon Melts. So I didn't search past that. I knew this would be the one (although Cathleen has tons of great recipes that I encourage y'all to check out!).

I was so right! I made these and my kids finished the pan lickety split and then asked for me to make another one LOL. They were so fast to make and they were so good. I loved them just as much as they did. So simple, but seriously the best!

Kielbasa & Pierogies with Summer Veggies

The perfect way to use up some of your garden harvest with hearty pierogies and delicious kielbasa

I swear one of these days I will stop posting my recipes soooo late at night. But I am so distracted during the day and then by 7 or 8 o'clock, I realize I have had my draft open and haven't updated it past uploading the pictures. Whoops! So here I am at 10:30 at night trying to scramble to think of what to say.

So let's get to this recipe! It was my first time having pierogies and I can't think of a better way to experience them for the first time than this recipe. Nothing was covering up their taste or overpowering them and the vegetables and crisp kielbasa were wonderful with the pierogies. I can count myself a pierogi fan. I cannot wait to try them in more recipes!

Creamy Pesto Chicken Pasta

This lovely full-flavored pasta dish is on the table in under 30 minutes!

I live for quick meals. I thought I would be able to cook for longer times once Mason got a bit older, but now at 18 months, he needs to be supervised more than ever. I now realize that having one toddler is much harder than two. I know that doesn't make any lick of sense, but with Matthew and Cami, they distracted each other. Also neither one was a climber. So anything that I can fix quickly is best. Of course, that's also because I am holding down the fort without Nick while he is in a different fort (army training). I am in love with this recipe because it takes little effort and it's such a great dish. I hate that I can never find the words to describe food other than delicious - food bloggers, you have got to know my pain! The alfredo-like pesto sauce is rich, creamy, and that BASIL!! Yes! Tomatoes add a bit of juiciness and the chicken - well, I could have eaten that alone, to be honest. It's amazing how uncomplicated seasonings can be the best ones!

Menu Plan Monday - August 22, 2016

Good morning, folks! It's time for a little sharing of what we're having to eat this week. Again, I will attempt these breakfast recipes because I've literally been meaning to make them for more than a year. I just hate doing anything in the morning. Not a morning person. Wednesday's dinner is from the cookbook that I am reviewing for October. What are y'all having to eat this week? Tell me in the comments!

Monday - 20-Minute Cheesy Veggie Pasta Bake
Tuesday - Tuna Melt Quesadillas
Wednesday - Minestrone alla Genovese
Thursday - [b] Individual Cheese Danish [d] Japanese Steakhouse Hibachi
Friday - BBQ Pineapple Pulled Pork
Saturday [b] Cinnamon Pecan Biscuit Twists [*] Circus Animal Cookie Pie
Sunday - Crockpot Italian Chicken


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Perfect Iced Coffee

This large batch of coffee brews at room temperature overnight and is ready for morning after morning of incredibly delicious iced coffee!

I had been cooking my way through some cookbooks and found some new things to try of Ree's out of one of the 4 cookbooks of hers that I own. I love me some PDub and her recipes have never failed me. During the summer, I loved iced coffee and I've always wanted to make my own at home. I knew I could trust Ree's recipe and if you haven't guessed - I wasn't let down at all since I'm posting it! You could really make many variations with flavored ground coffee and you, as always, can put a variation of different creamers in it to make a different flavor coffee. It's really nice to have on hand and it's a quick way to get your cup of joe in the hot summer mornings. You literally just pour it over ice and add flavor if you want it and then DRINK! :)

Better Than Chipotle Burrito Bowls

Who says you can't make a damn good burrito bowl at home?!

Along with smoothie bowls, I think burrito bowls have taken over the food world. I get the appeal and love burrito bowls myself. I was drawn to this particular recipe because it offered a homemade cream sauce to top the bowl off. Of course, I was the only one in the family who had the sauce, but that's fine. More for me is the best!

The original recipe is vegetarian, but the recipe maker said you could add a protein. I went the chicken route because I feel like we don't eat a lot of chicken for Taco Tuesdays. Steak or beef would be so fabulous in this as well. BUT if you are a vegetarian, this would still be a great recipe without meat. I urge y'all to try this out for your next Taco Tuesday night!

Triple Berry Crisp

This crisp is the perfect thing to whip up with berries with or without ice cream on top.

We had family in town last summer and we scraped together a quick meal to serve a crowd. I needed a quick summery dessert that wasn't really heavy and didn't take many ingredients or time to make. I had already pulled together the 30-Minute Shepherd's Pie and I knew I wanted to do something with berries. I hunted in one of my favorite cookbooks: Sally's Baking Addiction. I found this berry crisp recipe and I had everything on hand to make it. I ate mine without ice cream because it's incredible without it.

Menu Plan Monday - August 15, 2016

This week has one more recipe from the cookbook I'll post the review to in October, so there is no link for it. The rest looks pretty promising and, of course, I do have the same breakfast options on the menu as I always have because I never get around to making them. I have to make them this month. Have. to.

Monday - Sausage and Kale with Garlic Roasted Potatoes
Tuesday - [b] Middle of the Cinnamon Roll Muffins [d] One Pan Chicken Burrito Bowls
Wednesday - Corn and Cauliflower Chowder
Thursday - [b] Snickerdoodle Crumble Donuts [d] Crockpot Chicken and Stuffing
Friday - BBQ Bacon Mango Pizza
Saturday - [b] English Muffin Bread [*] Easy Oreo Bundt Cake
Sunday - [*] Zebra Cakes [d] Slow Cooker Swedish Meatballs


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Pumpkin Pie Peanut Butter Cups

Move over peanut butter cups, fall is almost here and that means pumpkin is taking over!

That moment of panic when you realize that you signed up for the reveal day for the month and even pinned lots of recipes to try from your assigned blog and then didn't make anything...ACK! That was me this month. As some of y'all may know, I am the head honcho for the Secret Recipe Club. I do up all the assignments and am in charge of Group C (the group I am in), so I should be paying attention to what I am doing in the club. Whoops!

I was assigned to Sarah's blog, The Pajama Chef, this month and I picked out some really good recipes that I wanted to make. Sarah is a married mom to a sweet little boy and resides in Nashville (hi, neighbor to the west!). She has three kitties and loves to run and read!

I really wanted to make her Pretzel Rolls and that was actually my plan to begin with, but because I failed at remembering that I had recipes to make that I had picked out I went with the recipe that I had all the ingredients on hand for: Pumpkin Pie Peanut Butter Cups. I'm not too bummed about this because they were amazing, easy, and I loved them. I love Reese's, but adding pumpkin is just genius.

Some other recipes I had saved on my secret Pinterest board: Aunt Charlotte's Tex Mex Corn, The Best Egg Salad I've Ever Had, The Bestest Pizza Sauce Ever (I have never made my own and she says it isn't too tomato-y which makes me hopeful!), 1970s Style Tacos, Pumpkin Cheesecake with Pecan Praline Sauce, Coffee Blondies, Chewy Peanut Butter Brownies, and Healthy Crumb-Topped Zucchini Bread.

Triple Bypass Burgers #SundaySupper

This burger requires a cardiology appointment, but it is so worth it!

This is the Sunday Supper Movement event I have been waiting for: RECIPES WITH BACON. It is hosted by Erica of The Crumby Cupcake and it is all about bacon today. What I think I am most excited about is the recipes from my fellow Sunday Supperers. There are appetizers, breakfasts, desserts, main dishes, and side dishes...ALL WITH BACON! If that doesn't make me happy, I don't know what would!

I am sharing the second part of a recipe that I had shared for last year's Handcrafted Edibles series. I posted Tomato Bacon Jam for the Jam and Jelly day and it was by far one of the most exciting and interesting things I've ever made. It can be eaten on crackers or on a grilled cheese sandwich, but it also goes perfectly on a burger making it earn its name: Triple Bypass Burger. You will definitely earn a trip to the cardiologist with this one (thank goodness I have an appointment in September haha), but it is a good burger to indulge in every once in a while. Not only do you serve this burger topped with the tomato bacon jam, but there are bacon bits in the burger and bacon strips on the burger. Triple the bacon! :)

Biscoff Cookie Dough Ice Cream

Safe-to-eat Biscoff cookie dough in homemade vanilla ice cream - so decadent and delicious!

After making the monster cookie dough ice cream, I wanted to make more cookie dough ice cream because it's one of my all-time favorites. I actually had not had cookie dough ice cream until I was in 6th grade. I don't know why I never tried it, but my math teacher in 6th grade took a poll on our favorite ice cream for an example of something or another and the majority chose chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. I begged my mom to get some at the store and that's when my love affair started. I get the craving every once in a while and I go crazy and buy all kinds of cookie dough ice cream, but this time I wanted to make my own. The monster cookie dough ice cream is a no churn recipe, whereas this one requires an ice cream machine.

I used two different recipes and put them together. The biscoff cookie dough comes from Sweet Twist of Blogging and the ice cream base is from Julie's Eat and Treats. They went together perfectly and honestly...the cookie dough bites would be fantastic on their own. I didn't use all of them in the ice cream and snacked on them throughout the process :)

30 Minute Shepherd's Pie

 Easy to make shepherd's pie that will impress everyone at your table!

I picked up a few cookbooks at our local used bookstore and when I was in a pinch to make a main dish for a big family get-together, I went straight to the Rachael Ray cookbook, Cooking 'Round the Clock. Although I am not a fan of the actual set up of the cookbook [it's done by time of day and doesn't have an index in the back], it is full of tons of amazing, incredible recipes and this one is one of them! I saw this 30 minute meal and knew it was the one I needed to make.

I made my shepherd's pie with beef, but it did say lamb was an option too. It was simple, but fabulous and it was a winner with the whole crew!

Fantastical Feature: Cast-Iron Cooking

 image via amazon

Synopsis:
Get the most from your cast-iron cookware with 40 fabulous recipes especially designed for cast iron, from a full English breakfast to chilaquiles, pan pizza, cheesy beer fondue, Korean fried chicken, vegetarian chili, mango curry, party nuts, two kinds of cornbread, baked apples, gingerbread — and the perfect grilled cheese sandwich! You’ll also learn how to buy the cast-iron pots and pans that are right for you and how to care for them successfully. - via amazon

Menu Plan Monday - August 8, 2016

It's the first day of school for 2 of my 3 babies. They are off to 3rd and 4th grade. *sniffle* The summer went by so quickly, but I love back-to-school time and I love even more that soon fall will be here. I'm dying to wear my dolman shirts and leggings and boots. DYING! Anyways, here is what we will be enjoying this week. Some of these are missing links because I have a second cookbook that I am reviewing. This one won't be live until closer to its publishing date in October.

Monday - Chicken Tetrazzini
Tuesday - Beef Burrito Skillet
Wednesday - Beef Stew
Thursday - [b] Fave Chocolate Donuts [d] Crispy Cheddar Chicken [s] Loaded Cauliflower Casserole
Friday - Hasselback Pizza Chicken [heads up - it's a video and it makes noise!]
Saturday - Oatmeal Cookie Dough Breakfast Bake [*] Dulce de Leche Brownies
Sunday - Ham and Potato Gratin



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Easy Addictive Corn #SundaySupper

6 simple ingredients to make the best corn you'll ever have!

Sunday is here and I am excited to take part in another Sunday Supper Movement event. This week's event is SUMMER CORN hosted by Ellen of Family Around the Table. I didn't even hesitate...I knew exactly what recipe I was going to share! I love trying recipes that promise to be "the best" or "addictive". I absolutely go into these recipes hoping that they are going to be what they promised.

It's always nice to have a recipe turn out well and be everything you hoped it would be. This corn recipe is the perfect quick side dish. It's fast. It's easy. And yes, it's addictive! I honestly think that a double batch would be better because it is addictive and that means it disappears quickly. I don't really have much more to say about it, but I am so looking forward to all the corn dishes below from the other Sunday Supper members - especially the desserts! What is your favorite way to make corn? Leave me a comment and tell me all about it :)

{No Churn} Monster Cookie Dough Ice Cream

No machine needed for this awesome loaded cookie dough ice cream!

A late share today, please excuse me! It's been such a busy last few days. Tonight, we had the kids' meet and greet at their school. I'm excited that school is starting again and completely stunned that my babies are going to 3rd and 4th grade. I definitely need to make some more of this ice cream for an after school snack surprise. It's incredibly easy. Incredibly delicious! My kids seriously loved it the first time around. I used giant M&Ms and regular M&Ms in this...next time, it will definitely be mini M&Ms. I wasn't really thinking about how they would freeze and be hard as rocks. So save your teeth - use minis! Oh and the best part about this recipe is that it's a no churn and does NOT require an ice cream machine to make.

Back to School Gift Card Survival Pack for Moms [Giveaway]

Hello, readers! Because it's back to school time for many of us, I am teaming up with some of my fellow blogging friends to giveaway $150 in gift cards and to three of my favorite places too: Target, Starbucks, and Barnes & Noble. 2 of my 3 started back on Monday, so it's been very quiet here at the house. Not too quiet since I still have my little rascal toddler, but a bit quieter. :)

One lucky reader will get $50 to Target, $50 to Starbucks and $50 to Barnes and Noble!!! What's better than that?! Not much!

  

 Make sure to enter below and make sure to visit my friends and tell them hello :)

Hayley @ Simply Hayley Grace [the lovely organizer of this giveaway!]

Amber @ Amber Nicole

Melissa @ Lulu and Sweet Pea

Sarah @ Fantastical Sharing

Kristan @ Pink Rose Co

Kristy @ Love and Messiness

Allison @ Mommy Wife Teacher and Life

Suzie @ Juggling Snapshots

Deb @ It's Me Deb CB

a Rafflecopter giveaway  

Disclaimer: Giveaway runs from Aug 3, 2016 at 12:00AM to Aug 10, 2016 11:59PM

Fantastical Sharing is not responsible for distributing prizes. 

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Menu Plan Monday - August 1, 2016

This week, I don't have all the recipes linked because I am working through a new cookbook that I will share my review on Friday. I'm not trying to go super hard this week, but I still planned a lot -_- What are y'all having for dinner this week? Any planned desserts?

Monday - [d] 3 Envelope Chicken [s] Brussels with Bacon
Tuesday - [b] Biscoff Muffins [d] Pan Mexican Pizza
Wednesday - [d] Jalapeno Popper Soup [s] Sweet and Light Cornbread
Thursday - [b] Cinnamon Roll Donuts [d] Toni's Tangy Meatballs [*] Peach Crisp
Friday - Cowboy Tumbleweed Burgers
Saturday - Vanilla Cupcakes
Sunday - Smokey BBQ Ribs

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