Mexican Shredded Beef Enchiladas

Homemade enchilada sauce with slow cooked Mexican shredded beef transformed into the best enchiladas ever!

I remember when I first saw this recipe and I thought wow! So few steps! Then I realized it was 3 recipe in one. I had to prepare two other recipes before even starting this one. So this is absolutely a labor of love. Realistically speaking, you could prepare the enchilada sauce a few days in advance. I'm sure you could even do the roast a few days in advance if you wanted, but I did all three in one day because I'm home for most of the day. I think every bit of effort put into this recipe could be tasted - it was definitely the best enchiladas recipes I had ever eaten.

Roasted Garlic Potatoes, Asparagus, and Sausage

This easy sheet pan meal has potatoes, asparagus, carrots, onions, and sausage!

Sheet pan dinners are just awesome and roasted veggies are also awesome. It really cracks me up to think that I wouldn't go near smoked sausage/kielbasa when I was a kid. Now look at me! It's one of my favorite proteins to use for a quick meal.

Menu Plan Monday - May 27, 2019

I'm not sure how it happened, but in May, we decided to make a few original copycat recipes of our own. Friday's copycat will be fried mozzarella coins, burger, marinara, pepperoni, and a slice of provolone. It should be pretty fantastic.

Monday - One Pot Ground Beef Tortellini Casserole
Tuesday - Easy Chicken Fajita Bake
Wednesday - Coconut Crunch Donuts // Kale Soup
Thursday - 25 Minute Spicy Ramen
Friday - Copycat Maggie's Italian Pizza Burgers
Weekend - Creamy Spinach Artichoke Chicken // Sourdough Monkey Bread // PB 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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Grilled Chicken with Strawberry Salad

This salad is perfect for summertime!

Hello, fellow internet people. So apparently the big thing now that everyone is noticing (and hating) is that food bloggers like to write stories in their posts. Fun fact: this is for Search Engine Optimization reasons. Also fun fact: I am awful at it. Sometimes I have trouble even describing the food with words other than variations of good (thanks, Thesaurus) or delicious. I say cut the food bloggers some slack with the stories and just scroll for the recipe. However, I think we can all agree that in-post ads AND pop-ups for subscribing to mailing lists/social media page follows are HORRIBLE. Anyways...here's today's recipe: SALAD! :)

Mississippi Pot Roast Cheesesteaks

Cheesesteaks have never tasted so good!

Mississippi Pot Roast is a recipe that has definitely secured its place in a little viral recipe history. It is everywhere I go and there is absolutely a reason for that: it is THE best pot roast ever. We refer to it as "THE pot roast" now because it's pretty much the only one I make. I saw someone post on reddit that they had turned THE pot roast into cheesesteaks and decided that we definitely had to do that too. It's a wonderful way to enjoy the buttery, spicy roast!

Menu Plan Monday - May 20, 2019

This week I'm going to try and duplicate Marion's Pizza again. It's sausage, banana peppers, and bacon on a thinner crust. If you're from the Dayton, OH area, you may have had it before. I spent nearly 12 years hearing about it from my husband and his family before getting my own and it was hyped for a reason! I don't have a link for the coffee cake because the website is down for maintenance. I will update as soon as I can.

Monday - Cajun Chicken Alfredo
Tuesday - Loaded Nachos
Wednesday - Omelets // One Pot White Chicken Lasagna Soup
Thursday - Perfect Steak with Herbed Butter
Friday - Copycat Marion's Pizza
Weekend - Creamy Spinach Artichoke Chicken // Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake // Strawberry Lemon Snack 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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Sheet Pan Parmesan Pesto Chicken & Vegetables

One bowl and one pan bring a full dinner with loads of veggies and wonderful pesto flavor to the table in a little over 30 minutes.

As much as I love one pot meals, I think one pan/sheet meals are just as spiffy. This recipe has pesto, which is my life blood, and all kinds of other goodies that the pesto makes immensely more delicious: chicken, potatoes, carrots, and broccoli. It's got everything you need for a good meal and it's easy with little clean up!

Grilled Butter Burgers #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 BURGERS. It's perfect timing to start sharing all the grilling recipes because summer is upon us! May is National Hamburger Month and I thought burgers were really the best route for a theme for May.

Today I have these fabulous grilled butter burgers to share with y'all. I didn't realize how much difference a pat of garlic herb butter would make in a burger but I can't imagine them any other way now! I am really particular with my burgers nowadays. I don't like multiple meat or crazy seasonings. I just like 80/20 beef and salt and pepper. I let the toppings do the work. These burgers were a huge hit in my household and made the favorite list for everyone (except for Mason who doesn't eat non-beige foods really -_-). 

Menu Plan Monday - May 13, 2019

I'm ridiculously excited for this week of meals. Spaghetti is my favorite and I know I'll be happy to have just regular old spaghetti for dinner. I'm looking forward to pickle brined chicken tenders and sausage pesto lasagna rolls - AND the salad. I love having salads for dinner in the summertime. It's definitely warmed up here in Tennessee.

Monday - Spaghetti
Tuesday - Pickle Brined Chicken Tenders
Wednesday - S'mores Baked Donuts // Unstuffed Banana Pepper Soup
Thursday - Berry Avocado Grilled Chicken Salad
Friday - Fast Food Night
Saturday - Sausage Pesto Lasagna Rolls
Sunday - Sausage Gravy and Biscuits // 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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Bloomin' Cinnamon Rolls

A fun way to make your cinnamon rolls look a little cuter for a special occasion!

I modified this Bloomin' Cinnamon Rolls recipe to fit refrigerated cinnamon rolls. For the life of me, I couldn't find frozen ones (which incidentally were a staple in my household as a child). None of this is necessary by any means, but it is fun and turns out really adorable and would be great when you're going for that kind of aesthetic, like for a breakfast in bed for your partner or a flower themed sleepover for one of your kids, etc. You do get added butter, sugar, cinnamon, and a little bit of caramel on top, so that's definitely a win.

Creamy Spinach & Sausage Pasta

This simple pasta recipe is ready in under 20 minutes and not only does it have spinach and sausage, but a little kick to it too!

I'm always so impressed with the Monday pasta recipes I make. I can't remember the last time I didn't like a recipe that was a Monday dish. If you've caught on to my pattern for meal plans, I go back and forth between red meat and chicken (fairly consistent with it), I have one free day/leftover day, and there are some themes for each day of the week. Mondays are pasta recipes because they are quick. For those interested, Tuesdays are Mexican food, Wednesdays are soup/stew/chili recipes, Thursdays are throwbacks or Asian food, Fridays alternate pizza and burgers, and weekends are recipes that take a little longer to make.

This pasta recipe is simple and has a kick. I can't believe as a kid I refused to eat kielbasa or smoked sausage because it's one of my favorite proteins as an adult. I love it!

Menu Plan Monday - May 6, 2019

It's finally May. This week we are celebrating Nick's birthday a few days early. He wanted to grill out, so kabobs it is. I'm also making schnitzel with Takis because Nick and Matthew won't stop asking for it haha. I'll make regular schnitzel for myself, but schnitzel with Takis for them. Not sure where Cami will fall. I also added some recipes that are on my whenever list for this month.

Monday - Crispy Parmesan Chicken with Creamy Lemon Garlic Pasta
Tuesday - Tacos
Wednesday - PB&J Muffins // Lightened Up Broccoli Cheese Soup
Thursday - Taki Schnitzel
Friday - The Ultimate Stuffed Crust Pizza
Saturday - Kabobs and Potato Packets with Butterscotch Cheesecake
Sunday - Blueberry Pancakes // Salted Nut Roll

During the month of May at some point - Creamy Root Beer Float Dip // White Spinach Queso // BLFGT Sandwich

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

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Strawberries & Cream Layer Cake

This beautiful layer cake is perfect for summer with fresh strawberries and light whipped cream!

Last October, we had another wedding in the family and I was asked to do the cake. I was tasked to find a strawberries & cream recipe for the bride and a marble cake recipe for the groom. I was really lucky and found the perfect recipe on the first try and bonus: the groom loved it too. I didn't use the whipped topping on wedding day but man alive, it was so wonderful. It's the perfect cake for summertime and it's really really pretty.

Bonus: this cake freezes REALLY well. I made it about a month in advanced and just made sure to wrap, wrap, wrap, and seal the layers. They defrosted pretty quickly and tasted just as amazing as the fresh cake did!

Chili Lime Chicken

This chicken is great on its own but even better in other dishes - like salad or pasta!

I have been using this Chili Lime Chicken recipe for a while for different recipes, especially for salad nights if they fall on Taco Tuesday. If you are wondering what the heck is going on with that red watery food with chunks of tomato in it is...I attempted cauliflower Spanish "rice" and it didn't work at all. Anyway..this chicken is a perfect base recipe to use for a Southwest style salad, but also great on their own. Lots of flavor packed in during the marinating time!!