Menu Plan Monday - July 31, 2017

July is gone, August is upon us....and school (for us) is almost back. Woohoo! This week there are a few new recipes mixed in with old favorites mixed in with breakfast recipes that have been on my meal plan for a year. Maybe I'll make them this week :S

Monday - Penne with Turkey Ragu
Tuesday - Lemon Blueberry Streusel Muffins // Slow Cooker Spicy Chicken & Rice
Wednesday - Kale Soup
Thursday - Cinnamon Roll Donuts // Cheese & Prosciutto Stuffed Chicken
Friday - Kid's Menu Burgers with Pretzel Buns
Saturday - Huevos Rancheros // Kasekuchen
Sunday - Cheesy Sausage Potato Foil Packets

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Barnyard Burgers

There's a little bit of everything from the barn on this burger!

I'm so late to posting today and I apologize. I've been participating in a readathon (I'm a huge bookworm) and instead of blogging, I've been reading. A lot. I just finished my 3rd book for the past 5 days. Today's recipe is awesome. This burger takes a little bit of everything on the farm and sticks it on a hamburger bun. You have a little cow, pig, and chicken (egg) in there. I noted how it could also be made to include lamb and goat. At the time, I had no clue we even had lamb at the local grocery store. I love a burger with a fried egg and bacon, so I absolutely loved this one!

Tuscan Chicken with Penne Pasta

This pasta dish has a lovely sauce with loads of garlic, chicken, and Italian seasonings. The roasted tomatoes on top are the burst of flavor that compliments the dish all too well.

Originally this recipe was a 20-minute dish. I had problems the first go-around, so I switched it up and perfected it (for me) the next time. I prefer fresh to frozen spinach and love roasted grape tomatoes. I could eat roasted grape tomatoes on just about any main dish. The ingredient list looks long and a teensy bit on the overwhelming side, but a little prep goes a long way. In the end, I was less overwhelmed after making it a second time. There are a lot of moving parts, but I tried to set up the directions in the order I did things to make it the smoothest it could be. I cooked up the chicken and sauce parts first and while the chicken cooked, I prepared the pasta. While the pasta cooked and the sauce simmered, I prepared the roasted tomatoes. Then everything kind of comes together at the same time. Definitely give the directions a couple read-throughs and then don't be afraid to tackle this recipe. It's truly fabulous.

Smokey BBQ Ribs

Oven baked pork ribs that taste like they were made right on the grill!

I don't eat or make ribs very often. Honestly, the price point is one of the biggest deterrents for me. When they are on sale, I do love to pick some up. I've made ribs in the crockpot and while they were great, this recipe definitely trumps that recipe. I love how tender the ribs turn out from being slow cooked, but I feel like the sauce definitely sticks to these ribs (har de har) much better when cooked in the oven rather than the slow cooker. I used Sweet Baby Ray's Sweet Vidalia Onion BBQ Sauce...which is my all-time favorite.

Menu Plan Monday - July 24, 2017

If you didn't notice, I am on a foil packet recipe kick. I think the blog world has kind of exploded with new foil packet recipes lately and I'm all for it. They are fabulous.

Monday - Butter Garlic Herb Steak Foil Packets
Tuesday - Cream Cheese Chocolate & Peanut Butter Chip Muffins // Cilantro Lime Turkey Quinoa Stuffed Peppers
Wednesday - Unstuffed Banana Pepper Soup
Thursday - Mocha Chocolate Chip Donuts // Strawberry Almond Chicken Salad
Friday - Hawaiian Pizza with Bacon and Jalapeno
Saturday - Iced Raspberry Danish Braids // Banana Split Trifles
Sunday - Cheesy Sausage Potato Foil Packets

What's on the menu for YOU this week?

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Fantastical Friday: Happy National Junk Food Day

Happy Friday, everyone!

Today is National Junk Food Day and I have a few junk food recipes to share with y'all today. When I think of junk food, I think of things I would find at the fair or something with loads of sugar and I think that is reflected in this list.

Soft and Chewy Snickers Chocolate Chip Cookies

These amazing chocolate chip cookies have a hidden caramel, peanut, and nougat treat inside!

I posted a chocolate chip cookie recipe a few weeks ago, but you can never have too many chocolate chip cookies recipes. There is no such thing. I was intrigued by the addition of Snickers in this recipe and I knew I would love these cookies so much. They were thick, but soft and chewy - just the way I like my cookies. I love the caramel, peanuts, and nougat in the cookies and don't get why Snickers aren't added to regular chocolate chip cookies more often!

Maple Bacon Crunch Ice Cream #FantasticalFoodFight

Welcome to another Food Fight! Fantastical Food Fight is a group of food bloggers who will get a theme or ingredient each month and make some sort of variation for it. It could be traditional or nontraditional and can be found in a cookbook, on a blog, or be a blogger's own creation! For more details, check out this page.

It's time again for another Food Fight and I'm so excited about this month's theme: ICE CREAM! The Food Fighters were not given any particular flavor...it just had to be ice cream. It could be an ice cream maker recipe or a no-churn. I love both and look forward to seeing what other recipes are shared today. Plus I'm really excited to see if there are any creative flavor combinations.

I went through my recipe binder to see what I had in my dessert section for ice cream. I found a clipping from Food Network Magazine for Maple-Bacon Crunch Ice Cream. Personally, I'm not a big fan of maple syrup at all. But Nick (my husband) loves it and I am no stranger to making foods that someone else may like that I don't. Nick about died when he heard I was making a maple ice cream with bacon brittle in it.

I had a time and a half with this recipe. The ice cream part....I cooked my egg mixture 30 seconds too long and it cooked the eggs. So I had to scrap it and redo it. It was perfect the second go around....then I had issues with the original bacon brittle recipe. It was just rough. So I looked up one on AllRecipes for peanut brittle. I subbed in some honey for corn syrup because I ran out and, of course, no peanuts. Just bacon! :)

From an objective standpoint, the ice cream was very creamy - the perfect consistency. The crunch of the brittle was wonderful. It does taste like maple, but I will say that it wasn't an overwhelming maple taste and I think that is really appealing. The aftertaste almost reminded me of one of my favorite flavors of ice cream: butter pecan. Nick loved the ice cream and that's what I was going for, so it was definitely a winner. If you love maple and you love bacon, you will LOVE this ice cream.

Peanut Butter Sweetie Pie

This sweetie pie combines peanut butter and chocolate and tastes like a cookie!

I don't make pie a lot because I'm not a big fan of pie crust. Next time I make this pie, I'm definitely going to use a chocolate graham crust because that sounds like the perfect crust for a pie like this. Not only is there peanut butter in the batter, but you also have peanut butter M&Ms, which are one of my favorites. I go back and forth between peanut butter and plain peanut M&Ms being my favorite. This sweetie pie is like a giant cookie and it's so awesome! :)

Menu Plan Monday - July 17, 2017

Excited for tonight's veggie packed meal and copycat cheeseburgers and hot dogs! I feel like I don't use strawberries enough, so I'm so ready for this weekend's dessert. Let's hope I can get around to making the three breakfast recipes because I was doing pretty well for a while in June, but fell of the wagon.

Monday - Grilled Summer Vegetable Pasta Primavera
Tuesday - Lemon Blueberry Streusel Muffins // Beef Fajita Nachos
Wednesday - German Cheese Soup with Slow Roasted Tomato BLTs with Basil Mayo
Thursday - Cinnamon Roll Donuts // Loco Moco
Friday - Copycat McDonald's Cheeseburgers
Saturday - Blueberry Pancakes // A&W Chili Dogs // Strawberry Yogurt Cake
Sunday - Chicken Schnitzel with Potato Crust

What's for your meal plan this week?
Leave links, if you want!

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Blueberry Breakfast Quinoa

Oatmeal who? This breakfast quinoa has blueberries almonds and is sweetened with a drizzle of honey.

I have fallen in love with quinoa, but I've only made it with a savory dish. I decided it was well overdue for quinoa to appear in a breakfast recipe. Looking at this, it reminded me a lot of oatmeal, so I was confident that I would enjoy it and I was correct. I typically don't like honey, but it was the perfect way to sweeten up this little bowl of goodness - no grittiness from granulated sugar.

Lemon Blueberry Pound Cake

This pound cake is incredibly moist and has such a lovely brightness from the citrus. Perfect for summer!

I have always loved loaf cakes. I used to buy them from Kroger when I worked there as a teen. My favorites were the double chocolate, blueberry, and pumpkin flavors. It honestly kind of blows my mind that lemon blueberry is something I have made and eaten because years ago, I wouldn't have tried it. After Nick's third deployment, he wanted lemon with everything because that is how he made his food tolerable in Afghanistan. I started making savory books with lemon first and I still think I enjoy savory lemon dishes, but I do love lemon with something else in a dessert. Any berry with lemon is delicious. This pound/loaf cake is super moist. The glaze is so yummy. I just loved this cake so much.

Raspberry Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars

These cheesecake bars are flaky and sweet with raspberry filling and chocolate on top!

I love when I come across a breakfast recipe like this one that uses crescent rolls. I particularly love sweets made with crescent rolls and raspberry and chocolate are a match made in heaven. So this is seriously a great recipe. It's fairly simple for a breakfast recipe and I appreciate that because I am NOT a morning person. Not one bit. I used the Kroger's Private Selection brand pie filling. I think the quality is a little better than the generic pie filling in a can. I can't recommend this breakfast enough.

Menu Plan Monday - July 10, 2017

This week is going to be amazing for food! I'm ridiculously excited for corn casserole and pesto pizza. Plus I'm making ice cream this weekend and that's always a good thing.

Monday - Garlic Beef Noodle Bowls
Tuesday - Nutella Stuffed Chocolate Chip Muffins // Grilled Fajita Hasselback Chicken with  Awesome and Easy Creamy Corn Casserole
Wednesday - Cheeseburger Soup
Thursday - Banana Bread Donuts // Baked Buffalo Chicken Nuggets
Friday - Easy Pesto Pizza
Saturday - Huevos Rancheros // Maple Bacon Crunch Ice Cream
Sunday - Homesick Texan's Sunday Brisket

What are you having to eat this week?

Leave links if you have them! 

 

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Fantastical Friday: July is National Ice Cream Month!

Happy Friday and Happy July! 

I recently found out that July is National Ice Cream Month and that means I am sharing some great recipes with y'all today so that you can celebrate! I noted before the recipe if they are no churn aka you do NOT need an ice cream maker to make those recipes.

Chicken and Bacon Spinach Grilled Cheese

This hearty grilled cheese is loaded with bacon, chicken, spinach, and four slices of cheese!

I would never turn down a grilled cheese - just a regular old grilled cheese, but I will gladly take a loaded up grilled cheese sandwich like this one in a heartbeat. One sandwich contains FOUR slices of cheese for extra cheesiness. Plus there is chicken, bacon, and spinach too. It's great when you want a sandwich that is a little more filling. My big kids really loved it too. They like spinach, so they didn't shy away from theses sandwiches.

Pesto Pasta with Roasted Tomatoes

An easy and quick dinner to throw together with loads of pesto and fabulous roasted tomatoes

I am in love with pesto recipes and make them frequently. I've joked that pesto is my life blood. Because I'm just adding pesto to everything at this point. It's amazing spread on the bread in a turkey sandwich. I've added it to spaghetti sauce. I just need all the pesto things. I've also recently found that I am digging roasted tomatoes in everything too. Thankfully, Nick has mostly gotten over his dislike of tomatoes and loves roasted tomatoes in recipes too. I added chicken to this recipe to make it a little more hearty and to transform it from a side dish to a main dish.

Menu Plan Monday - July 3, 2017

I'm excited to grill a little this week and I'm pretty excited about egg drop soup. I have never made it but I'm hoping it will go well :)

Monday - Grilled BBQ Chicken and Vegetables in Foil
Tuesday - Middle of Cinnamon Roll Muffins // Taco Casserole
Wednesday - Easy Egg Drop Soup with Chicken
Thursday - Snickerdoodle Cake Donuts // Hawaiian Pork Burrito Bowls
Friday - All Beef Bacon Burger with Roasted Garlic Ranch
Saturday - Homemade Entenmann's // Subwhales // M&M Cookie Bars
Sunday - Baked Buttery Herb Chicken and Potatoes

What are y'all having to eat this week?
Feel free to share links if you have them.

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