Menu Plan

April 17, 2016April 16, 2016 Sarah

Happy Sunday! How has your weekend been so far? Ours has been lovely. We spent Friday evening and part of Saturday at a marriage conference at our church. They brought in Dan Allender, a well known Christian author/therapist and let me just say he was phenomenal! This may sound a little funny but I had no idea a therapist could be as funny as he was. 🙂 But it was really a good time to focus on us as couple and on our marriage since things will be changing in major ways for us in just a matter of weeks. Sorry, you’re probably sick of hearing me say “baby will be here in ___ number of weeks.” It’s three, if you’re counting. Crazy! Over the past week I made a huge Amazon purchase to fill in the gaps from our generous baby showers and now we’re just waiting on the last things to arrive [thank you Amazon Prime 20% discount on diapers…coming Friday to a house near you!].I think the plan for this afternoon is to install the car seat and assemble the stroller and pack the hospital bags. Then we’ll be ready? Or something like that. Eeeek! Good thing our meals are covered. 🙂 Hope you enjoy as always!!

Monday

Moroccan Lentil Soup – Pies and Plots

Tuesday

Baked Parmesan Chicken “Fries” – The Cooking Actress

Wednesday

Slow Cooker Stuffed Sweet Potatoes – Foodtastic Mom

Thursday

Sriracha-Jack Pizza – The Spiffy Cookie

Friday

DAY OFF – Go out to eat or order in!

Saturday

Cheesy Chicken & Sausage Pasta – Big Bear’s Wife

Sunday

Simple Teriyaki Chicken – The Pajama Chef

Breakfast

Doughnut Muffins – Pies and Plots

Dessert

Peanut Butter Cup Stuffed S’mores Brownies – The Cooking Actress

This week’s meal plan was brought you to by:

Pin this to your meal planning board for easy access all week long!

Breakfast, Egg Dishes, Recipes

Bacon, Potato, and Egg Casserole

April 15, 2016April 14, 2016 Sarah

This hearty egg breakfast casserole is full of bacon, hashbrown potatoes, red bell peppers [my fave!], and cheese. It’s sure to please!

Bacon, Potato, and Egg Casserole - a delicious, hearty breakfast that is sure to please!

Weekends call for a delicious breakfast, do they not? While I’m a pancake-girl through and through, sometimes I don’t want to stand at the stove flipping pancakes for 30 minutes. Okay, it’s not always 30 minutes but sometimes it sure feels like it, especially when your family or friends are eating pancake after pancake while all you’ve had are the scraps. Haha, you laugh, but it’s true! 🙂 So what do you do to avoid that situation? Make a casserole, of course!

Bacon, Potato, and Egg Casserole - a delicious, hearty breakfast that is sure to please!

This breakfast casserole was part of my recent foray into eating up the food in my kitchen freezer so that I could move things out of the garage freezer in preparation for my freezer-cooking-before-baby extravaganza. Thank you, leftover half-pound of bacon! Thank YOU, half-bag of shredded hashbrowns! I know the bacon was recent, but those hashbrowns? Who knows! The freezer can be a sc-sc-sc-scaryyyy place. But the good news is, this casserole isn’t anything scary at all! It has all your favorite breakfast components packaged into one tasty treat. Since Ben and I can’t eat an entire pan of this goodness in one go, we parceled it out for breakfast all week long, making mornings a little easier. 🙂 I know this will become part of our regular rotation because it was mighty delicious and has endless substitution possibilities. Enjoy, and happy weekend!

one year ago: Curried Chicken Salad
two years ago: Coconut Curry Popcorn
three years ago: Dark Chocolate Crumb Bars
four years ago: Bread Machine Cinnamon Rolls with Maple Icing
five years ago: Chicken Pot Pie

Bacon, Potato, and Egg Casserole

Servings: 12
Time: 60 minutes
Print

from Taste of Home

Ingredients:

1/2 pound bacon
1 large red bell pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
12 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons chopped fresh dill [or 1/2 teaspoon dried]
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil [or 1 teaspoon dried]
16 ounces frozen shredded hash brown potatoes, thawed
4 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded

Directions:

Grease a 9×13 inch baking pan with cooking spray. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Cook bacon on a skillet until crisp, then set aside on paper towels to cool. When cooled, chop into bite size pieces. Drain off most of the grease from the skillet, reserving about 2 tablespoons.

Add bell pepper and garlic to the skillet and cook until just beginning to soften, about 4-5 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.

Meanwhile, whisk together eggs, milk, pepper, dill, and basil. Add cooled bacon and peppers, stirring gently to combine. Fold in hash browns and cheese.

Pour into prepared pan, then bake for about 40-45 minutes or until set in the middle. Enjoy!

Casserole reheats well throughout the week, and individual servings freeze well too.

Bars, Desserts, Recipes

Chocolate Chip Butterscotch Bars

April 11, 2016April 8, 2016 Sarah

These gooey and quick from-scratch cookie bars are filled with lots of chocolate and butterscotch. They’re perfect for when you wanted dessert an hour ago. 🙂

These gooey and quick from-scratch cookie bars are filled with lots of chocolate and butterscotch. They're perfect for when you wanted dessert an hour ago. :)

There’s nothing worse than wanting dessert an hour ago and not getting it, right? My problem always is that I talk myself out of making something, and then a couple hours have gone by and I still want that yummy treat I didn’t make! Ugh, I hate when I do that to myself! In those cases, you have two choices. You can go out and get something [but I’m so frugal and such a homebody that option doesn’t appeal to me very often] OR you can make something quickly. In the latter scenario, you need recipes that do not require softened butter. Because softening butter in the microwave never works. At least not for me!

In the past, my go-to solution for this was these brownies. They’re chocolatey, they’re delicious, and they have you melt the butter on the stove. Perfecto! [And you can make them sans mint too, btw.] Sometimes though, you want something that isn’t quite so intensely chocolatey. Enter these Chocolate Chip Butterscotch Bars! They are cookie bars through and through–crisp tops and chewy middles. Not quite a blondie, not quite a cookie. Cookie bars are their own entity, and they are pretty darn delicious, if I do say so myself. 🙂

These gooey and quick from-scratch cookie bars are filled with lots of chocolate and butterscotch. They're perfect for when you wanted dessert an hour ago. :)

These cookie bars are bursting with tons of butterscotch flavor… from the brown sugar to the butterscotch chips, their flavor has the best sweet butter/molasses/sugar notes you can ask for. And the chocolate chips? Well, they’re just a bonus. A delicious bonus! Enjoy! 🙂

one year ago: Butternut Squash and Mushroom Tart
two years ago: Oatmeal Fudge Bars
three years ago: Neely’s Lemon Pasta Salad
four years ago: Pineapple-Apricot Teriyaki Chicken
five years ago: Sweet and Tangy Pork Chops with Pineapple with Coconut Toasted Rice

Chocolate Chip Butterscotch Bars

Servings: 24
Time: 30 minutes
Print

from Just a Little Bit of Bacon

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar, 12 ounces
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, 6.5 ounces
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9×13 inch pan with cooking spray, or line with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a medium bowl or saucepan, melt butter in the microwave or on the stove. When butter is melted, add brown sugar and whisk until smooth. Bonus–you can use the same bowl or saucepan! Just move the saucepan off the heat.

One at a time, add in the eggs and stir until incorporated. Then add the vanilla, salt, and baking powder and stir to combine. Add flour and stir until almost combined, then fold in chocolate chips and butterscotch chips.

Pour batter into prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Do not overbake! The bars are done when the tops are set and a little shiny, golden brown in color, and pulling away from the side of the pan. Cool completely [or most of the way] before cutting into bars if you want them to look pretty. Otherwise, they can be cut pretty soon; they just might be messy. Enjoy!

Menu Plans

Menu Plan

April 10, 2016April 1, 2016 Sarah

Another week, another meal plan. 🙂 It’s crazy how quickly April is flying by. Today is one month til this little baby is due! I can’t wait to show you nursery pics soon. What’s the best thing you’ve had to eat recently? For me, it’s probably been anything grilled. It’s so fun to break out the grill [errr, have Ben break out the grill] after winter comes to an end and grill anything and everything! Grilled veggies in our grill basket and kebobs are always a favorite around here, as are Ben’s turkey burgers. I don’t know what it is but he makes the BEST turkey burgers. We especially like them eaten with lettuce instead of a bun. Don’t get me wrong, regular burgers on a bun are delicious too but his turkey burgers can’t be beat! Hopefully I can get him to share the recipe on the blog this year. It’s been way too long since he did an OTT post! 🙂 Have a great week!

Monday

Cod Caesar Salad with Homemade Caesar Dressing – Big Bear’s Wife

Tuesday

Baked Honey Chicken Nuggets with Homemade Chick-Fil-A Sauce – The Pajama Chef

Wednesday

Protein Packed Blueberry Chicken Salad – Pies and Plots

Thursday

One Pot Garlic Parmesan Pasta – The Cooking Actress

Friday

DAY OFF – Go out to eat or order in!

Saturday

Make Your Own Pizza – Foodtastic Mom

Sunday

Kofta Platter – The Spiffy Cookie

Side Dish

Southern Fried Okra – Big Bear’s Wife

Dessert

Coconut Chocolate Chip Buttermilk Crumb Cake – The Pajama Chef

This week’s meal plan was brought you to by:

Pin this to your meal planning board for easy access all week long!

Menu Plans

Menu Plan

April 3, 2016April 14, 2016 Sarah

Have you guys been enjoying these meal plans? For me, I’m loving working with friends to get new ideas for dinner! Sometimes the same old, same old gets boring. I love cookbooks and Pinterest as much as the next person, but when you get tried and true suggestions it’s always helpful too! I’d love to know your feedback when you have a chance. Have you tried any of the recipes we’ve been posting?!? Hope you have a great first full week of APRIL! It’s my birthday month, aka the best month of the year… and spring is here. Yay!