Menu Plan Monday - December 31, 2018

I always forget about NYE when I think of favorite holidays. I thoroughly enjoy making all sorts of finger foods and appetizers to munch on from late afternoon all the way to midnight :) Happy New Year, y'all!

Monday - Pretzel Bites, Cheesy Bacon Bombs, Homemade Salsa, Deep Fried Snickers, Spicy Dry Rub Baked Hot Wings
Tuesday - Tacos
Wednesday - Blueberry Pancake Muffins // Egg Roll Soup
Thursday - Big Mac Salad
Friday - Pizza Braid
Saturday - Zucchini and Bacon 3-Cheese Lasagna
Sunday - Snickerdoodle Crumble Donuts // Chocolate Mousse Brownies

What are you having for dinner this week?
Feel free to leave a link to the recipe in the comments!

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Countdown to 2019: Reader Faves

It's time to share the best recipes of 2018 to ring in the new year!

An InLinkz Link-up

Countdown to 2019: Best Crockpot Recipes

It's time to share the best recipes of 2018 to ring in the new year!

An InLinkz Link-up

Countdown to 2019: Best Desserts

It's time to share the best recipes of 2018 to ring in the new year!

An InLinkz Link-up

Countdown to 2019: Best Main Dishes

It's time to share the best recipes of 2018 to ring in the new year!

An InLinkz Link-up

Countdown to 2019: Best Breakfasts

It's time to share the best recipes of 2018 to ring in the new year!

An InLinkz Link-up

Countdown to 2019: Best Appetizers and Snacks

It's time to share the best recipes of 2018 to ring in the new year!

It's that time of year once again! I am joined by my blogging friends to share the best recipes of 2018. The schedule is shown above in the little image - the countdown runs from December 26th to January 1st. I hope you stop by each day to see what recipes made our lists for each category. If you are a food blogger and just now hearing about the Countdown, please feel free to jump in. You don't have to participate every single day by any means. The blog hop is open from 12am EST the day the category goes live until 12pm EST the following day, so you still have time to draft something up and post it!

An InLinkz Link-up

Menu Plan Monday - December 24, 2018

Christmas is almost here!! We're doing our week a little wonky and having soup on Thursday instead of Wednesday. I also decided to take it easy on Monday evening and do frozen pizzas for our movie night. I'm making pancakes for Christmas morning for the first time ever and I'm pretty sure I'll be bringing sweets for Christmas dinner and a few sides. Hope you all have a great week and get to spend it with your loved ones - no matter if you celebrate Christmas, another holiday, or no holiday!

Monday - Frozen Pizza
Tuesday - Peppermint Hot Cocoa Pancakes // Jalapeno Popper Deviled Eggs, Sweet Potato Casserole, Herbed Gruyere and Bacon Au Gratin Potatoes, Sparkling Cranberry White Chocolate Cupcakes, Amazing Pecan Cobbler
Wednesday - Leftovers
Thursday - Butterfinger Maple Bars // Unstuffed Banana Pepper Soup
Friday - A&W Chili Dogs
Saturday - Salted Nut Roll
Sunday - Eggs Florentine Casserole // Roasted Red Pepper Pesto Chicken Sandwiches

What are you having for dinner this week?
Feel free to leave a link to the recipe in the comments!

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Black Eyed Pea Stew with Sausage and Kale

The perfect New Year's Day stew to bring prosperity for the new year with some black eyed peas!

Each year on New Year's Day, we eat black eyed peas in some form. It's a Southern tradition that's meant to bring prosperity in the new year. Of course, we don't truly believe that, but it's a fun tradition to do and it's a good positive thought to start out the new year, so no harm in it, right?! For 2018, I made this stew. I knew I couldn't go wrong with kielbasa and kale and I was correct. The kids and Nick aren't huge fans of black eyed peas, but they liked them a lot in this. It was an all-around wonderful stew and I just had to share the recipe in time for our upcoming New Year's Day. This is also pretty exciting because I believe it is the first recipe on my blog with black eyed peas!

Bacon Crackers

Are you ready for the most addictive party snack there is? Only four ingredients too!

Sometimes the best recipes are simple ones and this recipe is definitely evidence of that. These bacon crackers are simply butter crackers topped with bacon, brown sugar, and cayenne and what a magnificent group of ingredients they are! The sweet and salty combination with a pinch of heat all on top of the buttery crackers is just beyond amazing.  If you think you can get away with eating a couple, you are sorely mistaken. These easy crackers are perfect for NYE or game day or just a regular old Saturday!

Bacon Piggy Brittle #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.

This month's Fantastical Food Fight theme is CANDY. I originally was going to do hard candy, but had trouble finding a recipe that may fit the theme and figured my blogging friends might also have that same problem, so I broadened our theme to candy. There are so many good types of candy to choose from: fudge, toffee, taffy, brittle, hard candy, etc. I decided to try brittle once again. I haven't had the best luck with brittle. I think I need to invest in an instant read thermometer. But this recipe wasn't terrible at all. I think I just got it slightly too dark, but not burnt. So I can absolutely deal with that.

This was a recipe from Food Network Magazine that was in the "Name the Recipe" thing that they do and I could not find the name of it for the longest time. I went ahead and made it and decided to name it Bacon Piggy Brittle before finally discovering that it was named "This Brittle Piggy" which is SO cute. So whatever name you call it, it is definitely perfect for any bacon lovers you may have in your life, including yourself!

Cranberry Bliss Bars

These copycat Cranberry Bliss Bars are the perfect winter treat with a chewy sugar cookie base with cranberries and white chocolate topped with cream cheese frosting!

Every year, I look forward to getting the seasonal Cranberry Bliss Bars at Starbucks. We have a little Starbucks in our grocery store and it's a nice little treat to get one while grocery shopping. The cookie part is chewy, the frosting is creamy, the cranberries are tart, and then there's the white chocolate. They are rich little bars, but so delicious. A must for the winter season, if you ask me. The original has orange zest in it, but my oldest is allergic to oranges (and possibly pineapple - we're waiting on his results for that and he is devastated that he may not be able to eat Hawaiian pizza anymore), so I just subbed in a little lemon zest. It's still got that bright acidic zing needed to offset the rest of the recipe.

Menu Plan Monday - December 17, 2018

This week, there are recipes chosen by Matthew, Nick, and Cami :) Matthew and Nick both wanted the pasta dish on Monday and the pizza on Friday. Nick wanted Taco Ring. Cami chose the soup, schnitzel sandwiches (which I will never argue about getting to have again because I need pickled shallots in my life always), and brinner. We are making Santa's cookies on Saturday!

Monday - One Pan Italian Sausage and Kale Pasta
Tuesday - Taco Ring
Wednesday - S'mores Baked Donuts // Cheddar Broccoli Soup with Bacon
Thursday - Pork Schnitzel Sandwiches
Friday - The Ultimate Stuffed Crust Pizza
Saturday - Candy Cane Crinkles
Sunday - Coconut Crunch Donuts // Brinner

What are you having for dinner this week?
Feel free to leave a link to the recipe in the comments!

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Steak 'n Shake Frisco Patty Melts

A double stacked patty melt complete with Frisco sauce makes for a brilliant copycat!

Fun fact: 2018 was the year I first tried Steak 'n Shake. It's not an absolute favorite or anything, but I definitely enjoy the atmosphere and they make pretty good burgers (and shakes). However, I definitely think the Frisco patty melt is a winner. In fact, Matthew got a Frisco Melt just mere days before I made this copycat for the first time, instead of going for something different. He was so happy to have it twice in a week because he enjoyed it that much. I can't say I blame him. The only thing that was different in my making of it was that I subbed the Swiss cheese for mozzarella because I'm not a big fan of Swiss cheese - and I don't think Nick is either. Not sure on the kids' feelings about it. I still have not had an authentic Frisco patty melt, but Matthew says it's really close, so I'll take his word for it!

Throwback Thursday No. 75

I went through an era of pasta with grilled chicken recipes and this GRILLED CHICKEN PASTA WITH TOMATO CREAM SAUCE was definitely one of my favorite recipes at that time. It remains one of my favorite chicken pasta recipes to this very day.

I also cannot stress how much I love Hawaiian pizza and this SWEET 'N SPICY HAWAIIAN PIZZA is probably my second favorite (only second to Sally's Hawaiian Pizza) and it was a huge surprise. The sauce is made of apricot preserves and I thought for sure it would be too sweet or tart and I'd hate it, but it was amazing!

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Italian Sausage Soup

This sausage soup is total comfort food in a bowl with red pepper, spinach, and frozen egg noodles that give it such a from scratch feel to it!

Do you ever eat something and it reminds you of a nostalgic food but you can't put your finger on it? That is this Italian sausage soup for me. I think, in part, the nostalgia is due to the frozen egg noodles. The thing is...I can't remember who it was that made the recipe with frozen egg noodles. I feel like it was my mother-in-law but it very well could be my grandma. Who knows! What I do know is that you cannot go wrong with a sausage soup with red bell and spinach in it. The nostalgic noodles were just a bonus :)

Reindeer Food

If you are ready for the most addictive winter holiday snack, look no further!

I think I have found a new tradition in this Reindeer Food recipe. We have made it for the past two years and we love it! Matthew is already asking if I'm going to be making another batch this year because this year's batch lasted all of a night and then it was gone! It's ridiculously easy - with only three ingredients - and it's pretty quick to make too. My family loves to help make it because it boils down to stirring and crushing and the kids and Nick like doing those things! LOL

I'm not kidding at all when I say this is super addictive. We could not even let it set up before we were eating it. And it's so hard to not continue to eat it once you've started. I do suppose this is supposed to be for Santa's reindeer, but sorry, Rudolph, guess we're just going to leave you a carrot this year!

Menu Plan Monday - December 10, 2018

Last week, I said everyone had a hand in meal planning this month. This week, I chose spaghetti and copycat Popeye's. Matthew chose fajitas. Nick chose burgers and fancy mac 'n' cheese. And all of us wanted Skyline. We're also going to be doing a lot of holiday baking/cooking this weekend and preparing chex mix, bacon cheese spread (a family tradition) and cookies.

Monday - Roasted Garlic and Cheese Baked Spaghetti
Tuesday - Chicken Fajitas
Wednesday - Cinnamon Roll Donuts // Skyline Chili
Thursday - Copycat Popeye's Spicy Chicken with mac and cheese, collards, and Best Homemade Biscuits
Friday - Grilled Butter Burgers
Saturday - Slow Cooker Chex Mix, Bacon Cheese Spread, White Chocolate Dipped Ginger Cookies, Spiced Snickerdoodles
Sunday - Cake Mix Coffee Cake // Fancy Mac & Cheese

What are you having for dinner this week?
Feel free to leave a link to the recipe in the comments!

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Prosecco Infused Moist Vanilla Cupcakes

Celebrate any holiday with a little bubbly in your cupcakes!

I am so happy that I'm finally getting around to posting these amazing vanilla cupcakes. I had the idea last year to make wine-infused cupcakes for my mother-in-law's birthday. I didn't really find a recipe to make, so I went to one of my favorite dessert blogs to get a solid vanilla cupcake recipe. The cupcakes and frosting alone are fabulous. The frosting in particular is one of my all-time favorites. It's so creamy and just the right amount of sweetness (for me).

The wine part wasn't hard to figure out from there. My mother-in-law prefers dry wine and she likes white wine, so I bought some cutesy heart pipettes from Amazon and filled them up with this Cupcake Prosecco. Cupcake for the cupcakes :) They turned out so well and the prosecco was a perfect compliment to the cupcakes. I will definitely have to do these again.

Skillet Beef Broccoli Ramen

Steamed broccoli and marinated beef is the perfect way to upgrade instant ramen!

We have definitely been on a ramen kick lately. We eat it at least twice a month, which for us IS eating something often. I make a lot of pork ramen, so it's nice to switch it up and go with a classic combo of beef and broccoli. This is definitely a wonderful way to class up packets of ramen and really stretch it into a full family meal. The beef marinates for a few hours and is packed with flavor. I would easily eat it alone, but the ramen with steamed broccoli and more sauce really go together so well. I didn't use fresh ginger for so many years but I honestly prefer it to ground ginger. So I definitely recommend going with fresh ginger for this recipe!

Cranberry Cheesecake Crumb Pie

Take that can of cranberries and make something magnificent with it!

As a child, the only experience I had with cranberries was the canned jellied kind. Now plenty of people enjoy that, but I am not one of those folks. I thought that I just didn't like cranberries, period. End of story. Then as an adult, I decided to try them again, but not in jelly form. I think my first brush with cranberries as an adult was fresh cranberries and I loved them. Fresh cranberries are so perfectly tart. So I am making up for lost time and eating all the cranberry things.

This pie was a good compromise for me because I also don't really care for pie (because of the crust) but Nick does. But it's also partly cheesecake, so that works for me. This is like the perfect mixture of so many delicious things. The cranberries are tart and are lovely paired with the creamy cheesecake and buttery crumble. I can't even with how wonderful this dessert is. Perfect substitute for jellied cranberries, if you don't like it :)

Chicken Mozzarella Pasta

Who needs beef with red sauce when you can have this melty mozzarella sauce with chicken?!

I have found yet another wonderful pasta dish with red sauce that makes me a happy camper. Honestly, it isn't that hard when it comes to red sauce pasta dishes, but every once in a while I get surprised by them. This recipe in particular was surprising because it was chicken for the protein instead of beef. I also adored the pieces of melty mozzarella throughout the sauce. I ended up having to use lightly dried basil instead of fresh, but it still was fantastic.

Menu Plan Monday - December 3, 2018

This month, everyone wanted to be involved in meal planning, so I have selections from everyone in the family :) This week is largely a Nick-suggest week. He wanted alfredo of some sort, tacos, kale soup, and Copycat Chick-fil-A. I wanted pickle pizza. I saw a picture of it floating around on Facebook, so I'm making a copycat version.

Monday - Roasted Broccoli Chicken Alfredo
Tuesday - Tacos
Wednesday - Snickerdoodle Crumble Donuts // Kale Soup
Thursday - Copycat Chick-fil-A Sandwiches
Friday - Pickle Pizza [I'm making a copycat]
Saturday - Chocolate Mousse Brownies
Sunday  - Easy Cinnamon Twists // Broccoli Stuffed Chicken

What are you having for dinner this week?
Feel free to leave a link to the recipe in the comments!

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Italian Sausage Frittata

This savory breakfast has everything you need for the perfect morning including sausage, veggies, and feta cheese crumbles.

My newest favorite thing is feta cheese. I discovered it a few years ago, but I've really taken a liking to it in 2018 and have tried to convince the others in the family of the same thing. Cami likes it. I think Matthew is indifferent. But Nick hates it. So I don't think I'm going to win that battle. However, that means more food with feta for me, like this frittata! It's got so many elements going for it that just make me so happy - feta, kale, sausage, and red bell pepper - plus a few dashes of hot sauce for a little kick. It's a great and easy breakfast. My big kids really enjoy cooking and I know this is one they could definitely do mostly on their own with a little assistance with chopping the vegetables.

Throwback Thursday No. 74

Today's recipes are not necessarily the most relevant to this season, but who cares! Who says you can only have certain foods in certain seasons. For example, CARROT CAKE DONUTS are fantastic all year round and it's not like carrots are only available in spring! I love the cream cheese glaze/frosting on these. Dessert for breakfast is always my favorite.

Another recipe that isn't really terribly relevant is HAWAIIAN PIZZA GRILLED CHEESE. You could use fresh pineapple and make these in the summer, but canned pineapple works too and they are definitely a fun sandwich to make and eat.

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One Pot White Chicken Lasagna Soup

Classic comfort food with a twist - you will want to have more than one bowl of this chicken lasagna soup!

I have never been a huge fan of lasagna. In fact, I haven't really been a little bit of a fan of it either. I do have a few non-ricotta recipes for lasagna that I like every once in a while, but for the most part, lasagna is a no-go for me. Nick and the big kids feel the same way I do. However, all of a sudden, we've been discovering all these new recipes that are more of an alfredo sauce base for lasagna and that has made all the difference. Honestly, this soup only really has lasagna noodles, and, therefore, is basically a favorite for the whole family. It is rich and savory and it is so hard to have just one bowl. It's definitely a food I can't get enough of. I love all the different veggies in it too!

Chipotle Ground Beef Enchiladas

The smoky heat of chipotles really take these enchiladas to the next level!

I do not make a lot of enchiladas that are red sauce based because I honestly don't care for red enchilada sauce all that much. I couldn't pass this recipe for chipotle beef enchiladas up though because the pictures on Nutmeg Nanny looked so dang good. I looked over the ingredients and decided that I had to try it because you make the sauce from scratch and it has cocoa powder in it. I knew that this would be the perfect touch with the smoky chipotles and paprika and add a good amount of depth to the flavors. The sauce is called a chili here - most likely due to the fact that it has meat in it, but regardless, it is simmered for 90 minutes and that makes all the difference in the world. The flavors meld together beautifully as it simmers.

Menu Plan Monday - November 26, 2018

It's crazy to me that we are already going into the last month of 2018. Doesn't it seem like 2018 has been so long? I saw a meme last night that said something about do you know how long 2018 has been? We've had an Olympics this year and we barely remember that. I had to stop and think...wait, did we have an Olympics this year??

Monday - Sausage with Parmesan & Garlic Linguine
Tuesday - Chicken Fajita Pasta (with leftover turkey)
Wednesday - PB&J Overnight Oats // Beef Stroganoff Soup
Thursday - Fried Pork Chops with Pickle Juice Gravy
Friday - Sourdough Banana Bread // Junk Food Night
Saturday - Butterbeer Cupcakes
Sunday - Blueberry Pancake Muffins // Steak Hash with Pepperjack Sauce

What are you having for dinner this week?
Feel free to leave a link to the recipe in the comments!

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Countdown to 2019 [All the Details]

It's almost time! The end of the year is upon us and that means my blogging friends and I will be doing the Countdown to 2019. It's my fifth year hosting - it's so much fun. If you are a food blogger, keep reading :)

From December 26 until January 1, food bloggers will share their best recipes posted in 2018 to bring in the new year. Each day has a different category but bloggers are not required to join in for all the days, if they don't want to. Each day a blog hop will open at 12:00am EST and close 36 hours later. The first day of January is the Wild Card category, which means you get to choose what category you want to share. It can be YOUR favorite recipes posted in 2018, underrated gems from 2018, recipes you want to try in 2019, best beverages of 2018, etc. It's totally up to you!

If you have any questions, please email me at fantasticalsharing1 at gmail dot com. I'll see you back on the 26th for the first Countdown to 2019 post all about the best appetizers and snacks recipes of 2018! Sign up for the mailing list is below the image at the end of the post.

Please feel free to post on your blog about the Countdown or share the button on your sidebar or one on your social media. To save, right-click and upload from your computer, tablet, or phone. Do not copy/paste.

Sign up for the mailing list: here.

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Chocolate Gingerbread Toffee Cake #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.

This month's Fantastical Food Fight theme is GINGERBREAD. I looked ahead in the calendar and our December event will occur on the 19th and I thought that may be pushing it for doing a Gingerbread Food Fight and what better way to say goodbye to all the pumpkin things this week (just kidding, I don't say goodbye to pumpkin things). I had no earthly idea what I was going to make when I decided on our November theme, so I took to my holiday food Pinterest board, as one does when they need to pick a holiday themed recipe and found this gorgeous cake.

I'll be honest and say that at first glance I thought it would be a poke cake and I was absolutely down to make a poke cake. They are fabulous. Then upon reading the recipe discovered that this is a from scratch cake recipe AND it contains molasses. I don't make near enough things with molasses but it reminds me of my grandma and that makes me happy. The cake itself was fairly easy to make. I have gotten into the (good) habit of setting a timer 5 minutes earlier than the lowest time the recipe says to cook the food for and then check on my food in 5 minute increments. It definitely helps lower the amount of near-failure moments. The gingerbread spices shined and were complemented beautifully by rich chocolate! My favorite part of this cake was the topping though. It's gingered Cool Whip with toffee bits and chocolate chips. That alone would be a perfect dessert, in my opinion.

Slow Cooker Pork Roast

It doesn't get better than a slow cooked pork roast with fresh herbs, veggies, and wine!

Pork roast is one of my favorite Sunday dinner meals. I'm not sure why we have pork roast on Sundays only, but that's just kind of the way it turns out. I typically don't make just a regular pork roast - it's usually covered in some kind of glaze or wrapped in bacon. I thought it would be nice to make a more traditional recipe with no frills, so to speak. This one utilizes fresh herbs and white wine, which I just adore. There is so much flavor to be added by these two ingredients. I also loved that I could add veggies and slow cook them with the roast. This pork roast turned out unbelievably moist and flavorful. I will absolutely be making it over and over again.

Menu Plan Monday - November 19, 2018

I am SO ready for Thanksgiving. This is year is the first year in a while that will be a smaller Thanksgiving and the first one I'm hosting at my house. It may look like A LOT of food, but I think it's going to be the perfect amount - plus we have to have a little leftover to "Tray It Up" Thanksgiving evening.

Monday - 20-Minute Skillet Chicken & Spinach Parmesan
Tuesday - Slow Cooker Steakhouse Stuffed Peppers
Wednesday - Cinnamon Roll Donuts // Chicken Alfredo Soup
Thursday  - THANKSGIVING - Turkey, Spiral Ham, Cheddar Jalapeno Mashed Potatoes, Asparagus Casserole, Amazing Pecan Cobbler, Completely From Scratch Pumpkin Pie, Green Beans, Dinner Rolls, BLT Deviled Eggs
Friday - n/a
Saturday - Reindeer Food // Pesto Prosciutto Pizza
Sunday - Miss Stephanie's Biscuits and Gravy // Pumpkin Cream Cheese Swirl Bars

What are you having for dinner this week?
Feel free to leave a link to the recipe in the comments!

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Middle of the Cinnamon Roll Muffins

The best part of the best breakfast in muffin form...you're welcome!

I have made these muffins a few times and still cannot get over how good they are. The first time, I completely forgot to do the glaze and by the time I remembered, the muffins were gone. The second time, I did remember the glaze, but the pictures I took were in that batch that I lost due to hard drive failure back in the summer. Third times a charm, right? These muffins are pretty standard in recipe, but the way you layer the batter really makes all the difference. Plus the glaze is the perfect touch to really make these muffins taste like the center of a cinnamon roll.

Throwback Thursday No. 73

I love that today's two recipes came up in the archives together because they absolutely need to be served together! They are a perfect pair. First up is this recipe for GREEN BEAN BACON BUNDLES and let me tell you something...you'll definitely need at least a double batch. One batch is simply not enough. They are my favorite side dish ever.

This FAMILY FAVORITE SLOW COOKER ROAST recipe was my first time using Cajun seasoning in anything. And also my first time using coffee in pot roast. I found out precisely why it was named Family Favorite. It's easily one of my favorite pot roast recipes!

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