Korean BBQ Steak Bowls

A wonderful bowl filled with marinated steak, pickled carrot and cucumber salad, garlic scented rice, eggs, and topped with homemade sriracha mayo!

I feel like I've been waiting for an eternity to share this recipe and I'm so glad it's finally time. We went through a spurt of trying Asian-type bowl recipes and this was one that really surprised me. It is the very first recipe in the nearly 10 years on my blog that features pear as an ingredient - isn't that crazy?! This bowl features garlic-scented rice, pickled honey carrot and cucumber salad, and sriracha mayo with delicious marinated beef and a fried egg to boot. You really can serve it with whatever style of egg you like and really any toppings you'd like, but we went this route!

Pizza Meatloaf

Meatloaf and pizza come together in this delicious dinner recipe with pepperoni inside and cheese and pizza sauce on top!

I found two recipes for pizza meatloaf and made both with varying levels of success - aka the consistency and baking time weren't always the most accurate. I messed with the recipes until I reached one that really worked for me. I have had horrible luck with stuffing my meatloaf with cheese, so cheese is on top. Instead of using whole pepperonis and chopping them, I opted for mini pepperonis. They are way less of a headache. One of the recipes called for 4 eggs and sauce in the meatloaf mixture, I went with 2 eggs and no sauce in the mixture. The final result was definitely a keeper and the whole family truly loves this variation on meatloaf. All the elements of pizza are there and who wouldn't love meatloaf that tastes like pizza!

Menu Plan Monday - March 25, 2019

Well, March has flown by and I think we're finishing out the month with my all-time favorite foods. Brinner and Gyros are high on my list because ohmigodtzazikisauce. I'm looking forward to the weekend treats too.

Monday - Breakfast Burritos
Tuesday - 20-Minute Taco Salad
Wednesday - Toasted Oatmeal with Strawberry Chia Jam // Dill Pickle Soup
Thursday - Mediterranean Meatball Gyros
Friday - Extra Cheese Pizza and wings
Saturday - Slow Cooker Beef Tips and Gravy
Sunday - Raspberry Coffee Cake // Coconut Cream Cupcakes

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

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Mimi's Cafe Carrot Cake Muffins

A spring dessert turned into muffins for breakfast - have your carrot cake and eat it too!

I adore carrot cake and I am not particular how it comes - it can have pineapple, coconut, raisins, walnuts, pecans, or whatever. I think it's fantastic. I love having dessert-like treats for breakfast and knew these carrot cake muffins would be awesome! They do have pineapple, raisins, and walnuts in them and they aren't as sweet as carrot cake, so they make for the perfect spring breakfast.

Asparagus Casserole #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 ASPARAGUS. We are almost in prime season for asparagus and what better way to bring in the new season of food than with sharing tons of asparagus recipes. We have been having asparagus with Easter dinner over the last few years and one of our go-to recipes is this Asparagus Casserole. Think green bean casserole but with asparagus.

I would ask for this over green bean casserole any day of the week even though I love green beans. I adore asparagus and in this casserole, it's so addictive! I did switch up a few things from the original recipe to include omitting mushrooms because we're not huge fans of mushrooms (Cami loves them, but the rest of us, nope!). None of us really care for Swiss cheese so I subbed in Gruyere which turned out so very well. It's a wonderful side dish with a baked ham. I cannot wait to see what other asparagus recipes my blogging pals have to share today!

Menu Plan Monday - March 18, 2019

Once again, it's a week of old favorites. The only new recipes are the breakfasts, dessert, and Weds' dinner. I am over-the-moon excited and ready for everything this week though. It's going to be amazing!!

Monday - Meatball Parmesan
Tuesday - Jalapeno & Cheese Grilled Chicken
Wednesday - Easy Cinnamon Twists // Eddie's Award Winning Chili
Thursday - Pork Schnitzel Sandwiches
Friday - Burgers with Caramelized Thyme Onions
Saturday - Crispy Chicken Florentine Melts
Sunday - Caprese Florentine Quiche // M&M Blonde 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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Perfect French Fries

These french fries are homemade with lots of love and deserve the title "perfect"

I've been trying to find the right way to do homemade fries for a long time. I love to use my deep fryer because I like my fries to have some crunch to them. Homemade fries for me are often not crunchy at all. I decided to try out this method from Bobby Flay's cookbook, Burgers, Fries, & Shakes, and see if it was what I was looking for. What I like about this recipe is that you don't have to peel the potatoes. I love potato skins and that's also less work in the long run. It is, however, a process. A lengthy process that requires making a mess. I think in the end it is worth it though because these fries are definitely the best homemade fries I've ever had.

Argentinean Burgers

These hearty burgers are topped with sharp cheese and fresh, homemade chimichurri sauce!

We are relatively new to chimichurri but it's definitely up there with pesto for sauces we love. Chimichurri is a parsley-based sauce that originated in Argentina and Uruguay. I was definitely drawn to this burger in the Bobby Flay cookbook I have because it's a very simple burger, but the homemade chimichurri is on top and I knew that would make this a killer recipe. I was unable to find Manchego cheese but any sharp white cheese will work well as a substitute.

Menu Plan Monday - March 11, 2019

Oh, this week is going to be fabulous! I am making more new recipes this week than last and I'm particularly excited about salad and homemade corned beef.

Monday - Grilled Chicken Pasta with Basil Cream Sauce
Tuesday - Taco Quesadillas
Wednesday - Better-Than-Bakery Blueberry Streusel Muffins // Spicy Pepperoncini Chicken Noodle Soup
Thursday - Big Mac Salad
Friday - Meat Lovers' Sheet Pan Pizza
Saturday - Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage
Sunday - Cinnamon Streusel Pancakes // 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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Spaghetti alla Carbonara

Classic carbonara with a creamy sauce, bacon, and Parmigiana-reggiano

At this point, I think it's obvious that I love pasta. I still can't believe it took me so long to try carbonara because there is just something so ridiculously wonderful about carbonara. The creamy smooth sauce is just insane. Insane, I tell you. This is a very simple carbonara recipe but I think Nick, Matt, and Cami all like it more than others we've tried because there are no peas. Something about those three and hating peas in pasta dishes...I don't know. They are totally cool with them outside of pasta dishes, but the second you throw them in, they look at you like you've grown a second head. I really love the Parmigiana-reggiano cheese with this carbonara as well. It definitely amps up the fancy factor.

Chocolate Oreo Cake

This homemade dark chocolate cake is smothered in the best Oreo frosting ever!

My oldest kid, Matthew, is a boy after my own heart. He loves chocolate to the obsessive level that I do and pretty much always picks out a pretty extravagant chocolate cake of some sort for his birthday. Last year, he chose this Chocolate Oreo Cake and I gladly made it. It actually wasn't as much work as I thought it would be, which was great because it was a week after I was diagnosed with the flu and a pulmonary embolism, which came a week after getting a cardiac ablation. The last few years have been rough around his birthday but I definitely make sure that the kids are spoiled with whatever cake they want.

This cake is a dark chocolate cake made from scratch. It's moist moist moist! The frosting is sugary and full of Oreos. The combination of the cake and frosting is killer! Matthew definitely chose well.

Menu Plan Monday - March 4, 2019

This weekend, we are celebrating Matthew's 12th birthday since it lands on a Monday this year. He requested biscuits and gravy for breakfast, quesaritos for dinner, and is killing me with a cheesecake cake with candies on top -_- But it's his birthday, so he gets to choose and I will do it (within reason).

Monday - Italian Noodle Casserole
Tuesday - Pepperjack Smothered Chicken
Wednesday - Salted Caramel Muffins // Beefy Tomato Soup
Thursday - Food Cart Inspired Chicken Salad with White Sauce
Friday - French Onion Burgers
Saturday - Leftovers
Sunday - Biscuits and Gravy // Quesaritos // Buckeye Cheesecake 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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Cilantro Lime Chicken Taco Salad

Marinated cilantro lime chicken and homemade salad dressing really make this salad perfect for dinner!

Happy, March! I hope your month started off like a lamb because oh lordy, mine was a lion of a mess. That's not a saying, but it should be! I had a front loader washing machine malfunction that led to my drain pipe being knocked loose (although I couldn't see that was the issue) and water all over my floor. Thankfully, it took my husband all of 5 minutes to find the issue and place the drain pipe back where it needed to be. But it definitely took up a good chunk of my day worrying and trying to research.

In other March news, salad has made its way to my meal plan for the month on several occasions. I think most weeks have a salad somewhere in there because I miss them so much. I used to eat salads every day for lunch, but tend to eat leftovers nowadays. So any time I can grab a salad, I am so happy. I often eat salads when we eat at fast food restaurants (those Chick-fil-A salads are my jam!). This Cilantro Lime Chicken Taco Salad is one of my favorite homemade salads. There is a bit more of a labor of love, but it's not so outrageous that you're spending too much time in the kitchen. Honestly, you just dirty a few more dishes.

The Cilantro Lime Chicken is so amazing and the marinade really packs the punch of flavor. I really appreciate making the dressing from scratch and can say that this Baja Catalina dressing was unbelievable. In my opinion, you can't go wrong with beans, corn, and tomatoes on a salad, especially one for Taco Tuesday. The tortilla strips were just a bonus bit of crunch to the whole thing.