Menu Plan Monday - June 29, 2020

There are only 2 recipes on this week's meal plan that I haven't made before: Thursday's dinner and the breakfast recipe. So I already know what to expect and already know I'm going to be a happy camper this week.

Monday - Chicken Bacon Alfredo Roll-ups
Tuesday - Copycat Taco Bell Meximelts
Wednesday - Slow Cooker Tomato Basil Soup
Thursday - Crockpot Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches with Fried Pickles
Friday - Wingstop
Weekend - Blueberry Cream Cheese Muffins // Ranch Crockpot Pork Chops with Parmesan Mashed Potatoes // Easy Oreo Bundt Cake

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

Dill Pickle Cheeseball

The perfect snack food for any dill pickle enthusiast!

I am not sure when it happened but it seems like the blogging world - really food culture in general - has caught on that pickles are friggin awesome! So there are a ton of new pickley recipes being posted and shared and I'm all for it. I don't have many cheeseball recipes hoarded, so I'm all ears for some great cheeseball recipes! I didn't know if I would really care for this recipe because while I love pickles...I'm not a fan of relish - dill or sweet. But I did enjoy this cheeseball so much!

Italian Sausage Pasta with Basil Cream Sauce

Sauteed onion, garlic, sausage, and tomatoes with a creamy basil sauce make for a fantastic dinner!

I cannot tell you when I actually made this recipe for the first time. It seems that I really never got a good picture of it and I kept having to push off posting it until I finally got a picture. I have made multiple recipes with a creamy basil sauce and I could not resist making another one. I really enjoy this one and appreciate that it's another quick pasta dish that I can add to my collection of recipes - especially for busy days!

Chicken Parmesan Baked Pasta

This one pot recipe takes on the flavors of chicken parmesan into a lovely baked pasta dish!

My family is pretty big into chicken parmesan and any recipe that is any variety of chicken parmesan. I knew this would be a quick winner in our household and I was right. I made a few adjustments to the original recipe - it called for whole tomatoes that you blend, but I just used diced tomatoes and skipped dirtying my blender altogether.

Menu Plan Monday - June 22, 2020

I am prepared for my favorites this week - spaghetti, chicken tacos, and pizza loaf! And I'm really looking forward to remaking a few recipes to get some better pictures and the few new recipes also. The grocery store here is still a bit of a hit or miss with things, so we'll see what happens. Last week I was unable to find frozen pineapple, so no Dole Whip for us. However, I'm going to hope I find some this week.

Monday - Bacon Cheeseburger Spaghetti
Tuesday - Easy Chicken Tacos
Wednesday - Swedish Meatball Soup
Thursday - Caprese Chicken Salad
Friday - Spicy Smashburger Cowboy Burgers
Weekend - PB&J Muffins // Pizza Meatloaf // Almond Amaretto Cupcakes

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

Slow Cooker Beef Tips & Gravy

Tender beef slow cooked in gravy and can be served over pasta, rice, or potatoes - your choice!

I have been branching out over the past couple of years and trying more recipes that have "gravy" mentioned anywhere in it. I used to shy away from it even if it wasn't a traditional gravy in the recipe. This recipe has gravy, but it's cooked down to where it isn't really the same as traditional gravy and I probably would have enjoyed it years ago. That's okay though. I have finally stepped out of my gravy-hating comfort zone and have found so many great recipes because of it. We served our beef tips over pasta but you can do rice or potatoes. I know it would be fantastic over a bed of mashed potatoes!

Breakfast Burritos

Homemade hashbrowns, sausage, and egg burritos with loads of toppings are a great way to start the day!

I'm unsure how Nick stumbled upon it, but he got us all hooked on Parry Gripp songs. One of our favorites is Breakfast Burrito. It's absolutely ridiculous but it's the anthem when we make our breakfast burritos. I'm not reinventing the wheel here by posting this recipe, but I do really enjoy it. It has homemade hashbrowns and not pictured is the avocado I put on my burrito. I love that these breakfast burritos have a more Mexican feel to it with salsa, cilantro, and avocado in it.

M&M Blonde Brownies

The perfect snack when you want something sweet but not overly chocolatey, if that's a thing!

Okay, so I don't know why I didn't realize it before but the name for the dessert blondies comes from combining blonde and brownies. Not sure how on earth I missed that! I just accepted blondies as the name for bars that were not brownies without thinking about it being a combination of words. I love blondies (and brownies alike) and I really enjoy M&Ms as an addition to them. I feel like all my favorites are ones with M&Ms in them. This is a very basic, classic recipe and super easy to make. It's great when you have a craving for something sweet.

Menu Plan Monday - June 15, 2020

This week is about to be my favorite week of food ever. I've only had 3 of the dinner recipes, but I know the other three (in the second half of the week) are going to be just as bomb. I'm excited and ready to eat all of this stuff!

Monday - Roasted Broccoli Alfredo
Tuesday - Cilantro Lime Turkey Quinoa Stuffed Peppers
Wednesday - Italian Wedding Soup
Thursday - Pan Seared Top Sirloin with Balsamic Herb Cream Sauce
Friday - Chicken Florentine Flatbread Pizza
Weekend - Coconut Crunch Donuts // Blueberry Chicken [This is a Video link] // Slow Cooker Corn & Jalapeno Dip // Copycat Dole Whip

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

Caprese Florentine Quiche

This quiche has layers of tomato, basil, and spinach nestled in a hashbrown crust!

I love quiches and frittatas. I tend to gravitate more towards frittatas because they don't have the pie crust. However, this quiche has a hashbrown crust and it has layers of all my favorite things. So it won me over very easily. Tomatoes, spinach, basil plus mozzarella cheese - I mean come on!

Meatball Parmesan

A fun way to change up spaghetti night and parm it up!

I can no longer look at parmesan the same after watching The Goldbergs. Parming is Beverly Goldberg's thing. I don't think she's wrong there, Parms are awesome and I was excited to try meatball parmesan. This is a fairly simple recipe. I personally used to put off recipes with meatballs, but they really aren't so much of a hassle if you bake them. You could even premake your meatballs for this recipe for it to be even quicker to make, but it really isn't too bad altogether. I typically end up doing dishes while dinner is cooking, so it works out in my favor :)

Meat Lovers' Sheet Pan Pizza

Find the recipe on The Recipe Jackpot

Menu Plan Monday - June 8, 2020

This week, I'm trying out a few recipes that have been on my meal plan a lot lately that just seem to always get pushed to the side and not made. So Tues, Fri, and Sat, I'm ready for you! I'm remaking Thurs dinner from way back when. It's actually mushroom chicken but I'm just making it double zucchini! I also think I'm going to start trying to make milkshakes once a month because a lot of my beverage board on Pinterest is dessert drinks.

Monday - Easy Goulash
Tuesday - Pork Tostadas
Wednesday - Broccoli Avocado Soup [Kroger recipe]
Thursday - Panda Express Zucchini Chicken
Friday - Garlic Overload Burgers with Creamy Garlic Sauce
Weekend - Blueberry Cream Cheese Muffins // Pesto Cream Cheese Stuffed Shells Bolognese // Caramel Macchiato Milkshakes

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

Better Than Bakery Blueberry Streusel Muffins

These streusel topped muffins are packed with blueberries - fresh blueberries AND a blueberry sauce swirl!

My husband, Nick, often says that the only muffins he'll eat are topped with streusel otherwise they are just a sad, unfrosted cupcake. I'm not that biased, but I do have to admit that I love a streusel-topped muffin so dang much. While I don't find these better than my favorite bakery muffin (that's basically a cupcake), I do enjoy these gorgeous muffins topped with streusel.

Coconut Cream Pie

Who needs chocolate when you can have this stunning, mouthwateringly delicious coconut cream pie?!

I feel like I grew up being sort of indifferent to coconut. I love the little snowball cupcake/marshmallow/coconut treats, but I don't like coconut in candy bars or chocolates - I'm still that way. At some point, I started getting the coconut layer cake from Pepperidge Farm as an adult and that really created a spark of "Hey, maybe I do like coconut" in me. I have never had a coconut cream pie and really wanted to make one. The original recipe was only topped with some whipped cream...I used it all (bonus picture at the end of how ridiculous it looks at the bottom of this post). This has to be one of my all-time favorite desserts and there isn't chocolate in sight. It's unbelievable!

Slow Cooker Ropa Vieja

This slow cooked Cuban-style braised beef will make your house smell insanely good!

Ropa vieja is Cuban braised beef - I'm not sure why all of a sudden I put so many Cuban foods (hopefully authentic) on my meal plan, but I really enjoyed trying a new cuisine.  This beef was so tender and packed full of flavor. It was served up as recommended with white rice and black beans - definitely suited to pair with the braised beef. The house smelled insanely good while this slow cooked in the crockpot!

Menu Plan Monday - June 1, 2020

June is here, but honestly with the stay-at-home/quarantine, the past few months have been a blur of what seems like the same thing - day in and day out. This week has a few new recipes and I'm looking forward to each of them.

Monday - Chicken and Dumpling Casserole
Tuesday - Tacos
Wednesday - Crack Chicken Soup
Thursday - Korean Spicy Noodles
Friday - Pesto Prosciutto Pizza
Weekend - Baked Vanilla Donuts // Copycat Chicken Bryan // Soft Lemonade Cookies

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