Chinese Crispy Lemon Chicken

This crispy chicken has an Asian lemon sauce that is just the best!

I knew this recipe would be a winner when I first spied it because panko-coated chicken is one of my favorite ways to make chicken. I love how it gets crispy but still remains light - instead of getting soggy and heavy. The lemon sauce really added such depth to the chicken. It can be drizzled over the top or served on the side for dunking, which is what I did because we usually have leftovers and I didn't want the leftover chicken to be soggy. I served the lemon chicken with fried rice and asparagus and it was just a GREAT meal!

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

Every part of a loaded baked potato including crispy potato skins are turned into a wonderful soup recipe!

I love potato soup so much and I'm impressed with how many different recipes there are out in the blog world alone. I have had this recipe saved for years, probably around the time I started my blog. I was kind of surprised by reserving the potato peels to fry up but thought it was a really smart idea. It ended up being such a hit that if I peel potatoes now, I fry up the skins instead of tossing them out. Why let such a good part of the potato go to waste?! The potato soup itself is also fantastic and I served it up in a bread bowl and the whole family loved it.

Kung Pao Chicken with Zoodles

Who needs noodles when you can have zoodles?! This Kung Pao Chicken is amazing and the zoodles compliment it perfectly.

I have been eyeing every blogger and their brother's posts with vegetable noodles. I generally try to NOT get more kitchen tools, gadgets, and appliances because I am running out of room. However, when I was grocery shopping and saw a relatively inexpensive spiralizer that was also fairly small, I had to pick it up. I am not necessarily concerned with making "healthy" foods and no one in my house is on a special diet. I don't go out of my way to make fat-laden food either. I really just focus on making a variety of foods and always serve up veggies alongside most meals. I didn't want a spiralizer to make veggie noodles that replaced regular pasta. I just wanted a spiralizer for the option to make veggie noodles instead of regular pasta for a dish.

I am a self-proclaimed veggieaholic and there are very few vegetables I won't eat. I especially love zucchini and really wanted to try zoodles. I was impressed with how easy it was to make them AND how great they were in this recipe. Just a little tidbit, we added sriracha to our individual servings for some heat. We're new to the sriracha bandwagon too, but we love it.

Menu Plan Monday - March 26, 2018

And just like that, the end of March is upon us! We will be celebrating Easter a week late since my mom-in-law is out of town (which honestly isn't a big holiday for us), so we're just doing a little dessert for April Fool's Day and then doing our Easter dinner next week.

Monday - Spanish Rice & Pork Chops
Tuesday - Cilantro Lime Turkey Quinoa Stuffed Peppers
Wednesday - Blueberry Nut Bread // Roasted Cheesy Ham and Potato Soup
Thursday - Jalapeno & Cheese Grilled Chicken
Friday - Crunch Burgers
Saturday - Strawberry Shortcake Donuts // Ranch Crockpot Pork Chops with Mashed Potatoes
Sunday - April Fool's 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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Baked Bruschetta Chicken

Juicy baked chicken with the perfect crispy, crunchy coating topped with bright tomatoes and garlic

Good morning! This week has definitely been super long for me. I am now 3 weeks post-ablation (coming up on a month in a few days) and I am 2 weeks out from being diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism. All the anxiety I had with my heart stuff isn't so bad now and is replaced with anxiety with having a PE. Any ache or pain makes me nervous. I went into the ER on Monday evening with back pain - it was just muscle pain. I went into the ER on Tuesday evening because I hit my head on a windowsill and I'm on blood thinners - but I don't have any residual pain or symptoms, so a brain bleed is unlikely. I always end up with symptoms at night and that means a trip to the ER. I'm there for hours which means I end up feeling super exhausted the next day. Tell me how your week was! Was it long and exhausting or did it fly by?

Today's recipe is a fairly simple one that I really love. The chicken is coated in breadcrumbs and gets wonderfully crunchy in the oven and would be fantastic on its own. However, the bruschetta topping is something else. It's on a whole other level. It's got the perfect flavors to go with the crunchy chicken. The juiciness from the tomatoes is just what this dish needs. I love the little bite from the balsamic vinegar too.

Carrot Cake Roll #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 CARROT CAKE - I had originally planned for this to be in April for Easter, but then discovered that Easter is the very first day of April and that us bloggers would want some of that pre-Easter traffic with our carrot cake goodies. :) Least I could do after last month's pick of out-of-season rhubarb LOL

I chose to share this Carrot Cake Roll recipe because I am so in love with cake rolls now. I made a pumpkin roll and it was so easy. So naturally carrot cake wouldn't be too far behind. It's the perfect spongey cake with sweet cream cheese filling. It truly is such an easy thing to make. I think it would be really fun to make with kids too. On a side note, cake rolls are super dangerous. They never last more than an hour in my house. They are so incredibly addictive!

Creamy Chicken and Asparagus Pasta

This spring pasta dish has delicious crisp tender asparagus and bright sweet bell pepper with chicken and a creamy alfredo-like sauce.

I'm a little late posting today and I'm absolutely blanking on what to write for my little paragraph. So let's break the fifth wall a little. My husband was talking to me recently about how reddit was having conversations about how food bloggers talk too much and they have to scroll past a novel to get to the recipe. Years ago, it was a big thing for bloggers to improve upon their story-telling and write stories for each post. This has never been a strong suit of mine when I don't have anything to talk about. I'm a talkative person and can be rambly, but not all the time. So my posts typically are pretty short and I like that. I was glad to hear that a lot of people really don't care about it and just scroll past the words to get to the recipe. I'd be lying if I said I didn't do the same thing a lot of the time. Do you guys read the stories in food bloggers' posts?

Okay, now to talk about this recipe really quickly. This pasta recipe is similar to an alfredo sauce but not 100% alfredo. I love that it has asparagus and red bell pepper. It's a great spring recipe. It's not one pot, but it is pretty close, so it's nice to not have a billion dirty dishes to clean!

Menu Plan Monday - March 19, 2018

I can't pick a day I'm looking forward to the most. It all looks so great! :)

Monday - Grilled Chicken Pasta with Basil-Cream Sauce
Tuesday - Nachos Bell Grande Copycat
Wednesday - Mimi's Cafe Carrot Cake Muffins // White Chicken Chili
Thursday - Texas Roadhouse Steak (Rub) with Texas Roadhouse Buns and Cinnamon Honey Butter
Friday - Bacon, Pesto, and Chicken Pizza
Saturday - Berry-licious Smoothie Bowl // Mom's Pizza Loaf
Sunday - Kalesidillas // Copycat Twix Bars

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

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Fantastical Friday: National Artichoke Hearts Day

I love artichokes but have never purchased or made anything with artichokes. It's crazy! I hope to remedy this and since it is National Artichokes Day, I'm sharing some recipes that make me want to go out right now and buy artichokes to celebrate today.

Turkey Bacon Chili Mac

A twist on a beloved comfort food classic with ground turkey, bell pepper, and bacon!

I think most kids can attest to chili mac being a staple in their childhood diet. I, on the other hand, did not have chili mac until I had dinner at my now-husband's house as a teenager. His mom fixed chili mac and I fell in love. It has all the comfort of quick skillet meals and it can pack a punch. It can be topped with tons of cheese or none. This particular chili mac recipe is made with ground turkey instead of ground beef and also has bacon. I believe my mom-in-law uses chili sauce and adds cheese to hers. This one is a little different, but still is very fantastic. We did top ours with green onions, but I did not get a picture of it on the plate. If you were a fan of chili mac as a child, you will definitely want to make this version.

Roasted Garlic and Asparagus Soup

This soup is just what you need on a chilly spring day, served up with a side of grilled cheese sandwiches!

This soup will definitely not be for everyone - especially if you are not a fan of asparagus. However, I love asparagus and wish I had been able to enjoy it much earlier than my adult life because YES! Roasted asparagus is my favorite form of asparagus and when I saw this, I was intrigued because it seemed like it would make a great soup. I didn't really have the rest of the family's blind trust with this because it didn't have meat and it almost looks like a cream soup, which I guess it almost is with the milk. Thankfully, even my asparagus-hating oldest son liked this soup. He thought that it didn't taste as bitter like asparagus normally does and I agree that the asparagus does taste a little more mild and is perfect with the garlic. We served up this wonderful soup with just regular ole grilled cheese sandwiches for a more filling meal :)

Chocolate Hazelnut Crunch Truffles

These delicious chocolate candies are the perfect bite-sized decadent treat for any day of the week!

I am in love with Ferrero Rochers and I, for some reason, got this recipe mixed up with another on my candy Pinterest board that was a copycat of the little hazelnut truffles that I love so much. I realized it when I went to go make it, but I wasn't too bummed because these are still truffles and still chocolate and hazelnut. They did take a bit of time to make - mostly chilling time - but were definitely worth it. I made mine with semisweet chocolate, but you can also do milk chocolate for a sweeter truffle. I might do milk chocolate for the center and semisweet for the dipping and see how I like that combination.

Menu Plan Monday - March 12, 2018

I am super excited for Sunday's dessert because it's been forever since I have had mint chocolate chip ice cream. I got a little freaked out when an ER doc told me no chocolate, no peppermint. Even though really that was not a trigger for my SVT. :/ Lots of other great recipes this week too.

Monday - Ground Beef Stroganoff
Tuesday - Chili Lime Chicken
Wednesday - Oreo Muffins // Cheesy Cauliflower Soup
Thursday - Applebee's Oriental Chicken Salad Copycat
Friday - Argentinean Burgers with Perfect French Fries (Bobby Flay cookbook)
Saturday - Breakfast Cheesecake // Baked Fried Chicken
Sunday - Bacon Chicken Avocado Club Sandwiches with Garlic-Basil Mayo // Mint Chip Brownie Ice Cream Squares

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

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Cheesy Cheeseburgers #SundaySupper

These burgers are not only topped with cheese, but have an ooey gooey cheesy center with a bit of a kick!

It's been a little while since I joined in for Sunday Supper Movement but I'm back today for the CHEESY DINNER IDEAS event. My family isn't too picky when it comes to cheese - as long as it isn't Swiss or Blue cheese, we'll eat it. I'm looking forward to all of the cheesy dinner recipes my fellow food bloggers share today and I am excited to share this recipe with y'all!

I have never been very skilled with making stuffed burgers or really burgers with any kind of ingredients mixed in. I somehow always mess them up. My burgers stick and fall apart. So I was very nervous to make these, even though the filling is just cheese. After testing this recipe, I found that a rectangle of cheese works better than a cube for the patties to cook more evenly and to lose less cheese in the middle. They turned out perfectly and eased my weariness toward stuffed burgers. I am definitely ready to try more recipes out, so if you have a favorite, please leave me a link below!

We loved having a bite of gooey spicy cheese in addition to all the traditional burger fixings. I tend to stick to having simple burgers and the toppings do the talking, so it was a nice twist to finally have a stuffed burger turn out well :)

The Junkyard Special Sandwich

You've heard of everything but the kitchen sink, well, this junkyard special sandwich will blow you out of the water with all its wonderful toppings!

I love sandwiches that get lots of toppings thrown on them. This particular sandwich is called the Junkyard Special and I love that name. It's a copycat from a place called Sarcone's Deli in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It contains two types of meat (prosciutto and turkey), two types of cheese (provolone and mozzarella), plus spinach, roasted red peppers, and basil. Provolone is by far my favorite sandwich cheese and I typically eat turkey sandwiches, so this sandwich was really up my alley. It just had a few extra goodies on it. The roasted red peppers and melty, gooey mozzarella really added to this sandwich so well. I loved the sweetness and juiciness of the peppers with all the other more savory flavors. The mozzarella just married everything together and made it feel more hearty. This is definitely a sandwich you will want to make and if you don't share with a friend, I don't blame you!

Blueberry Pancakes

Perfect homemade blueberry pancakes that are buttery and have a hint of lemon to brighten them up.

I really love making homemade pancakes because they really aren't too many more steps than making them from a box. I personally love all sorts of pancakes including plain ones and fruit pancakes and dessert pancakes. I was excited to try these pancakes. They aren't fluffy like some of the other homemade pancakes I have made, but that isn't a bad thing. They are so buttery and remind me of pancakes I used to get with my mom from our hometown diner when I was a kid. They just kind of melt in your mouth. I love the little zip you get from the lemon zest. It really ties it all together.

Warm Spinach Salad

This salad is topped with hard-boiled egg, bacon, and a warm homemade vinaigrette.

I love making salads almost as much as I love eating them. I used to make them frequently for lunch, but I find now that the big kids aren't toddlers and I make more food for dinner, we tend to have enough leftovers for both Nick and I to eat during the week. So I don't have as much of an opportunity to make and eat salad as I used to. This means I am always looking to make a hearty salad for dinner.

I particularly loved this recipe because it had boiled eggs and bacon on it which reminded me of a cobb salad. I really loved the bacon vinaigrette type dressing that goes over the top. Simply wonderful. Overall, an easy recipe to make and personally I think it would be great for lunch!

Menu Plan Monday - March 5, 2018

My oldest baby is going to be 11 this week :'( Where did the time go? Matthew chose his favorite meal of all time to have for his birthday, so we will have two soups this week and no one is complaining. He also chose another Oreo cake. He likes Oreos haha. We have tons of old favorites this week with only breakfasts and the dessert being the only new recipes to make.

Monday - Chicken & Asparagus Penne
Tuesday - Copycat Crunchwraps
Wednesday -  Cinnamon Roll Donuts // Italian Chicken Soup
Thursday - Good & Garlicky Sweet & Sour Pork
Friday - Cheeseburger Pizza
Saturday - Easy and Fluffy Belgian Waffles with Cinnamon Roll Topping
Sunday - Italian Wedding Soup // Chocolate Oreo 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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Fantastical Friday

I've been home from the hospital since late Wednesday morning and I'm going to be working on getting more posts ready because right now, I don't have anything but Menu Plan Monday posts scheduled. So far, I have just been tired and had some issues eating (not yet feeling hungry/full and I get bloated easily). Otherwise, recovery hasn't been too bad. Today is the day my doctor said to return to my normal routine, but I'm going to be taking it easy still and be cautious rather than over ambitious. Hope everyone had a great February - excited for some warmer (and hopefully drier) weather in March!


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Corned Beef Hash

Celebrate St. Patrick's Day with this classic Corned Beef Hash recipe or enjoy it any time of the year - there is no Corned Beef Police!

Since it's now March (HOW?!), I figured I would share a recipe I made last year for St. Patrick's Day. Although I am not Irish and don't really celebrate St. Patrick's Day, I do enjoy making themed meals around holidays and trying new things. I believe this was only my second time using corned beef in a recipe even though I ate it all the time as a kid. Corned beef hash is such a great dish and you can serve fried eggs over it or serve it paired with another breakfast food - like pancakes or waffles. It's totally up to you. Personally, we made our hash for dinner and enjoyed it sans fried egg - although I won't lie, I wish I had made some eggs with it.