DIY Popeye's Spicy Chicken Sandwiches

The battle of the fried chicken sandwich yielded some wonderful copycat recipes like this Popeye's copycat!

This was meant to be posted last year but was from 2020 - it's always weird to see pictures from the old house. I personally loved the era of crispy fried chicken sandwich battles and I never got around to trying them all. I am, however, very partial to Popeye's fried chicken and so this copycat will have to do until we get around to having the real thing. We, of course, all really enjoyed it!

Easy Taco Salad with Homemade Cilantro Lime Dressing

Find the recipe on The Recipe Jackpot

Copycat Chicken Bryan

This restaurant favorite has seasoned grilled chicken topped with goat cheese, roasted tomatoes, and basil and drizzled in a luscious lemon butter sauce

This recipe has multiple parts to it and it does seem a little daunting, but if you time everything and read through the recipe a few times, you'll be good to go. I did include little tips for timing before the specific instruction set for different parts, so it's a little less overwhelming. The many parts come together and make this meal astounding. I have never been to Carrabba's and I'll be honest and say that the name made me think it was a Mexican food place. I was surprised to find it was an Italian grill restaurant (and I definitely want to go now). I am up for any recipe that has tomatoes and basil at this point. They all seem like winners. This recipe is different in the grill seasoning - that is one of my favorite spice mixes I've ever used - especially on chicken - and the recipe uses goat cheese rather than mozzarella. I'm still relatively new to goat cheese, but I do enjoy it thoroughly. Last but not least, you have the amazing wonderful lemon butter sauce that is too good it should be illegal.

Bacon Cheeseburgers with Spicy Mayo

A classic bacon cheeseburger topped with a kicker - spicy sriracha mayonnaise!

We eat cheeseburgers about every other week for the most part. I love burgers and like to make different variations. Honestly, this one is nothing too crazy. It's kind of just your basic bacon cheeseburger but the spicy mayonnaise is key. It's nothing too hard or crazy either, but the mayo, ketchup, and sriracha combined are the perfect condiment for this burger or really any burger.

Cheeseburger Salad with Animal Sauce Dressing

This salad is a lower carb version of the In-N-Out Cheeseburger with Animal Sauce!

In 2020, I don't really have a lot of resolutions. I'm not a resolutions type of gal. However, I am continuing my slight change in diet and I want to eat more salads in the new year. I love love love salads, but I got a few complaints from the others about salad for dinner. I think they have come around a little because of recipes like this that are a little hardier than a regular salad. I thought this one was really fun with the slider-like mini burgers. The animal sauce dressing really brings the whole thing together. We added bacon bits to the recipe because why not?!

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.

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.

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.

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.

Easy Homemade Pickled Jalapenos

If you ever find yourself in a pickle (of having too many jalapenos), these homemade jalapenos are as easy as can be and delicious too! Perfect for burgers, tacos, soup, and more!

I was incredibly excited to grow my own jalapenos once again last summer. I had an incident the first summer after we purchased our home, where a gang of chipmunks ate my jalapeno plant, peppers, leaves, and all. They left just the center stalk for me. Mind you, I also was growing habaneros right next to them to maximize spiciness. After the devastation of the chipmunks eating all my peppers and herbs, Nick gifted me an Aerogarden for our anniversary. I did a round of mixed Italian herbs first, then I purchased a salsa kit with two cherry tomato plants and two jalapeno plants. Unfortunately, my tomatoes were bad eggs and didn't grow at all. My jalapenos were bountiful. They were also literally the hottest jalapenos I have ever eaten. They WERE habanero level hot. And that isn't just me. Nick agreed that they were the spiciest jalapenos he had ever had too and he has such a high heat tolerance. This recipe for pickled jalapenos allowed me to use up all the jalapenos from my Aerogarden before they went bad!

Mom's Rhubarb Sauce #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 RHUBARB because apparently I don't know how to plan out what is in season. I honestly don't know what happened and I think I meant to do Rhubarb in March or April and something got mixed around and it was a little too late to change it. So, of course, I was nervous going into my grocery store, but for some reason, we get produce at all times of the year. One of my biggest pet peeves is when I have stuffed zucchini on my meal plan in the summer when it's supposed to be peak zucchini season...and my grocery store is out. Of course, now that it's February/winter, zucchini is everywhere and it looks amazing. We have had rhubarb since December and it looks great, so I was really lucky there.

I decided to try and make rhubarb sauce because I wanted to try out a few different ways to use the sauce. I grew up in Minnesota and we had rhubarb punch at every graduation party ever. There was always rhubarb desserts and treats at every church gathering, baby shower, bridal shower, etc. I, however, have never purchased rhubarb and I have never made anything with rhubarb even though I absolutely adore it and its tartness!

I attempted to make a danish out of the sauce, but I kept having my cream cheese entirely too soft and my filling was runny. Although my second attempt at the danish was actually pretty decent. But still not really a recipe I was ready to post just yet. I will most definitely be testing it out some more and post it in the future.

This rhubarb sauce was so so easy and it can be used in so many ways. Mix it into oatmeal or eat it with some toast. It can be used for pastries, muffins, cake, etc.. Or just eat it with a spoon :)

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.

In-N-Out Double Double Copycat

If you hate missing out on fast food that isn't native to your area, this In-N-Out copycat will make you feel like you are right there at the restaurant!

I have never been lucky enough to visit an In-N-Out. The closest one is in Texas...probably a good 15 hours away. It pains me to see all the burgers from people on the West Coast eating all those delicious In-N-Out burgers. The best I can get is a copycat recipe and I will gladly take that. I am a huge fan of copycat recipes :)

This is the In-N-Out Double Double. It is a double cheeseburger with two patties, two slices of American cheese, onion, lettuce, tomato, and animal sauce (similar to fry sauce, if you're familiar with that). The onion can be sliced or grilled. This recipe called for caramelizing - my favorite! I personally love a simple burger seasoned with salt and pepper and cooked in a cast iron skillet. Then the combination of the rest of the ingredients with the burger make for such a flavorful, juicy meal!

Sizzling Steak Burrito Bowl

Will your burrito bowl be loaded with the works or plain Jane? You decide!

I can't believe I am posting this steak burrito bowl recipe so late in the day. We've had some lovely issues with our internet and I guess I didn't realize how long our signal has been so poor because my computer is connected straight up to the modem, but the tech was able to fix it in 15 minutes and we are good to go now! Hopefully, there will be no more random outages for an hour at a time. Spotty internet stinks!

So back to these burrito bowls...what is awesome about these bowls (and those like it) is that they are customizable. Not everyone in my family will eat the same things. I like pretty much everything whereas Nick will not eat guacamole, sour cream, dressings, etc. So I can make mine loaded with everything and he can make his without -- and everyone is happy. This particular recipe has carne asada seasoned beef, pinto beans instead of black beans, and Spanish rice. Plus a chipotle ranch dressing. So so so good!

Easy Chocolate Ganache

This 2-ingredient ganache is ridiculously easy to make and tastes divine!

I needed a chocolate ganache recipe for the cake I was making for Matthew's birthday. A quick google brought me to the Food Network site and a very simple recipe popped up. It is by far the easiest recipe I think I have ever made and tastes incredibly delicious. It does require some cool time (2 hours in the fridge or 4 hours at room temperature), but it is so worth the wait.

Burgers with Caramelized Onions and Garlic Mayo

These burgers have thyme caramelized onions sealed between two pieces of cheese and are smothered in garlic mayo...nothing better than that!

We have burgers every other Friday (for the most part) and I love to try new recipes every now and then. I tend to stick to very traditional burgers because I am pretty particular with burgers. I like them seasoned with only salt and pepper and then the toppings add extra flavor. I'm not a fan of garlic or Worcestershire sauce in burgers even though I am a garlic-aholic. But I do make an exception on occasion. These yummy burgers do have Worcestershire in them, but a majority of the "oomph" in flavor comes from the caramelized onions and very very delicious garlic mayo. It does take a little bit of time to make because of the process of caramelizing the onions, however, it is all worth it in the end!

I slightly adapted the method of building the burger and sealed the caramelized onions in between two slices of cheese to keep them from sliding off the burger while eating. I also added bacon to ours...because bacon :)

Italian Burgers with Roasted Tomatoes and Caramelized Onions

Find the recipe at The Recipe Jackpot

Rotisserie Seasoning

This homemade rotisserie seasoning mix is something I always keep on hand!

I don't mind buying rotisserie chicken from the grocery store deli, but sometimes I need it toward the end of the week and I really don't want to run out to get a hot fresh rotisserie chicken. I decided to try and look up a recipe for the rotisserie rub seasoning. I was so excited to find this recipe (I feel like I always say I am excited, but I am haha) and I was very impressed with the amount of flavor this added to plain chicken breasts. It goes on all of my chicken nowadays. If I am making chicken that needs shredded up into something, the seasoning goes on it. It's so delicious and I can't imagine not having it on hand now.

Southwest Chopped Chicken Salad

I love a good chicken salad, but this one beats them all with its homemade cilantro lime dressing!

Lately, I feel like I'm getting more adventurous with foods. I'm more willing to try new things and even if it's something I'm sure I won't like, I will try it anyways. I recently tried Vegemite. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about that. But I did without hesitation, so that I could say...yes, I have tried it. I didn't like it LOL. I am proud that I did try it and can say that I have though.

Salad dressings are one of the foods that I am fairly picky about. As a child, I only would eat Catalina. Then as I got older, I was okay with French dressing and Thousand Island. Now I have branched out and will eat Caesar, southwest or chipotle ranch, poppyseed, vidalia and citrus vinaigrette, and more...I don't eat every single one of them, but I'm branching out. So when I saw this one had a homemade cilantro lime dressing, I knew I would have to try it. I was so glad that I did! 

The cilantro lime dressing is cool to the kick from the chicken and is perfect in this salad. Y'all have got to try this recipe!!

Philly Cheesesteak Burger with Roasted Garlic Aioli

Roasted garlic aioli adds another layer of deliciousness to this already amazing burger!

I am no stranger to Philly cheesesteak recipes. I have even made a Philly cheesesteak burger before (this one has beer cheese sauce - yum!). I, however, could not pass up this recipe from Kita of Girl Carnivore simply because of the roasted garlic aioli. Roasted garlic is one of the best things ever ever. Plus I am the only one (except for sometimes Cami) who will eat different mayonnaise/aioli, so I get to be selfish and eat as much as I want of it! :)

Most of the time, I prefer my burgers seasoned with just salt and pepper, but I do step outside my "comfort zone" to try a recipe as is. I really enjoyed the Montreal steak seasoning on this burger. It gave it a smokey flavor that I think it really needed to balance it out. Overall, this was a really great burger. It is a little bit of a labor of love, but I think totally worth it in the end. Especially if you love garlic and mayonnaise.