Mrs. Field's Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake Copycat

The perfect treat for any special occasion is a huge, chewy chocolate chip cookie!

My youngest, Mason, is a very picky eater, as most toddlers are. So when he turned 3 last year, I thought instead of making cake or cupcakes that he wouldn't eat, I would make him a giant cookie cake with sprinkles. I figured he would be fine with the frosting because it was just around the edge and I could remove it from his piece. That little turkey didn't eat his cookie cake...and he was sneaking into the kitchen after his little party and eating the sprinkles directly from the cake. He turned 4 this past Sunday and I wisened up and just made him frosting-less funfetti cupcakes, which he loved.

I'm sure I have had Mrs. Field's Cookie Cakes before, but I'll be honest and say I cannot recall if I for sure have had that brand. However, I will say that this cookie cake tasted just as good as any one I've ever had. The frosting was perfect too :)

Menu Plan Monday - February 25, 2019

My littlest little turned 4 yesterday and we had a good ole time. He got a kitchen from us and was cooking all day long. He absolutely loves to cook. This week is another week off before our next (and last) kid's birthday. We're doing lots of old favorites this week with only 3 new-to-us recipes. I'm definitely excited for it all!

Monday - Grilled Pesto Chicken Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce
Tuesday - Slow Cooker Ropa Vieja
Wednesday - S'mores Baked Donuts // Ham and Vegetable Barley Soup
Thursday - Hobo Dinner
Friday - French Bread Pizzas
Saturday - Fried Pork Chops with Pickle Juice Gravy
Sunday - Cinnabon Copycat // PB Lovers' Cookies

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

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Pork Schnitzel Sandwiches

Crispy schnitzel served up on a challah roll with spicy honey mustard, arugula, and pickled shallots

I can't believe it has taken me this long to post this schnitzel recipe! I usually make a recipe a few times - like 2 times - before I get around to posting it. I'm not one to test out a recipe a million times if it works the first time. However, it's rare that I'll put a newer recipe on my meal plan more than twice before getting around to sharing it on the blog. This recipe is most definitely the exception to that rule/routine. I think this schnitzel has been made at least half a dozen times if not more from the first time until now. It's hard for me to not pick it each month because I love it so much.

What makes this recipe so good? First of all, it's schnitzel. I have yet to try bad schnitzel. I'm not sure it exists. Then you have it in sandwich form with arugula which just makes me a happy gal. The honey mustard has a bit of a kick to it and even though honey is not a favorite food of mine and I don't particularly like honey mustard, I LOVE this honey mustard with sriracha. But my absolute favorite part of this recipe is hands-down the pickled shallots. They are such a simple component of the sandwich to throw together but the sandwich isn't the same without them. I never in a million years would have guessed that I would want vinegar soaked shallots on a sandwich, but here we are.

Mint Oreo Brookies #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 MINT CHOCOLATE. With March almost upon us, I figured mint chocolate would be the perfect theme for the month where St. Patrick's Day is celebrated and green food rules! I personally have not had a lot of mint chocolate in a while because I was told not to eat peppermint or chocolate when I had my second SVT episode (I blogged about my journey on my personal blog, if you're interested, but basically it's an arrhythmia where your heart beats super fast. My record is slightly over 250 bpm). However, it's been almost a year since my surgery to correct it, so I am pretty sure I'm allowed to eat whatever now. No restrictions on life. These brookies were the perfect way to enjoy one of my favorite flavor combinations again.

I have to admit that I am not actually too big a fan of Oreos, but I do like treats with Oreos in them. Cookies and cream is actually probably my favorite ice cream flavor now as an adult and any kind of cookies and cream dessert is going to be a favorite of mine for sure. These brownies are oh so fudgy and the bits of mint Oreos were so so so perfect in them. I am so excited to see what other fantastically delicious mint chocolate recipes are shared today. I'm ready for more treats like this! In moderation, of course :)

Menu Plan Monday - February 18, 2019

I could literally not care less what is going on this week because Thursday we are having my very favorite salad for dinner. And I am SO ready. Sunday is Mason's 5th birthday and he's a weirdo with frosting, so I'll probably just make plain cupcakes for him and frost the rest for everyone else. I expect next year he'll be out of his picky food stage and be ready for a cake with frosting :)

Monday - Bacon Cheeseburger Spaghetti
Tuesday - Philly Cheesesteak Quesadillas
Wednesday - Easy Cinnamon Twists // Famous Chili
Thursday - Copycat Applebee's Oriental Chicken Salad Copycat
Friday - Latin Burgers
Saturday - Crispy Cheddar Chicken
Sunday - Blueberry Pancakes // Peanut Butter Lover's Cookies

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

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Dump-and-Bake Chicken Alfredo Casserole

No slaving over the oven for this casserole, just put it in your baking dish and let your oven do the work!

Happy Friday, everyone! I hope you had a wonderful week. Today, I'm bringing y'all this wonderful, easy casserole that is on my rotation when I need a recipe with chicken in it. What I love about this recipe in particular is there is no cooking the pasta before it goes in the casserole. The pasta cooks in it! If you have rotisserie chicken, you literally just mix it all in the baking dish and let your oven do all the work.

Texas Roadhouse Steak Rub

Give your steak a bit of Texas Roadhouse flavor with this copycat rub.

My family doesn't go out to eat very often - partly because feeding 5 people with a tip is a bit on the pricey side. I do a ton of copycat recipes all the time, as I'm sure those of you who have been followers for a while have seen. I decided to test out this copycat Texas Roadhouse recipe because we love Texas Roadhouse. It's one of the very few sit-down restaurants we frequent (this and Applebee's) because Nick loves steak. Their green beans are also bomb. I have been making a load of copycat seasoning mixes at home and this one was definitely a keeper.

Menu Plan Monday - February 11, 2019

We're having lots of comfort food this week in preparation for hibernation, I guess. haha. I am really excited for the foods this week and I think my family will be too, for sure. There weren't many picks that were mine this week.

Monday - Fast Food Night
Tuesday - Taco Casserole
Wednesday - Salted Caramel Muffins // Chicken Alfredo Soup
Thursday - Restaurant Style Steak
Friday - Chili Cheese Fries Pizza
Saturday - Copycat Popeye's Spicy Chicken
Sunday - Butterfinger Maple Bars / Salted Nut Roll

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

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Butter Pecan Cheesecake

If you love butter pecan ice cream, this beautiful cheesecake will be right up your alley.

When I was really young, my favorite ice cream was Rocky Road or Cherry Nut. As I got into my preteens, I discovered Pralines & Cream and Butter Pecan, which have remained two of my favorite ice cream flavors into adulthood. I have been making loads of cheesecake lately and I thought this butter pecan cheesecake would be the perfect treat. I ended up serving it topped with some butterscotch caramel sauce and whipped cream (although I have no pictures of that due to losing my pictures in the hard drive crash last summer).

Pesto Chicken Caprese Pasta

This pestolicious recipe has all the classic caprese elements and that means seconds are a must!

I have made plenty of caprese recipes and shared them on the blog. The reason behind this is basically that I love pesto (it is my life blood, y'all) and I adore pairing it with tomatoes. I didn't fix the balsamic glaze because I'd be the only one to eat it, but I highly recommend doing so because caprese needs balsamic. What I particularly love about this recipe is that the chicken is marinaded in pesto and you add pesto to the pasta. Then you have these lovely little pearls of mozzarella that get all melty and gooey but still maintain their shape. It's just the best little surprise when you get a bite with a pearl.

Menu Plan Monday - February 4, 2019

We're about to start the birthday craziness where all three of the kids have birthdays within a month of each other, starting with Cami on the 11th. Since her birthday falls on a Monday, we are celebrating over the weekend. I always let the kids pick their cake and birthday dinner too, so Cami chose Garbage Plate and Chocolate Italian Love Cake. She picked Saturday's breakfast too. :)

Monday - Meatball Parmesan
Tuesday - Cuban Chicken and Black Bean Quinoa Bowls
Wednesday - Quinoa Berry Parfaits // Pesto Grilled Cheese and Tomato Basil Soup
Thursday - 15-Minute Garlic Butter Ramen
Friday - Guberburgers
Saturday - Nutella Swirl Cheese Danish Ring
Sunday - Garbage Plate // Chocolate Italian Love Cake

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

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One Pot Cabbage Casserole

Flavorful and filling, this inexpensive cabbage casserole is an easy one pot meal!

You may notice a lot of cabbage popping up in my recipes lately. Back in the day, I was the only person in the family who would eat cabbage. Nick and the big kids just didn't like it and would grumble if it was in any recipes. Something happened...maybe it was a good recipe, I'm not sure, but now they all eat it without complaints. There's no side eye when they see me cutting up cabbage. I think we may have moved into them actually enjoying it and that makes me so happy because I LOVE cabbage. My mom used to boil cabbage leaves when I was a kid and I would happily eat a pot full. So any excuse for me to fit in some cabbage into the meal plan makes me extremely elated!