Cauliflower Poppers

For some unexplainable reason I have always like cauliflower.  However, no one else even in my extended family even remotely agrees with this like.  But I saw on Pinterest a pin for Cauliflower Poppers and it looked like they were dipping them in ketchup, so I thought that this might be a sneaky way to get Charlotte to eat her veggies.

Delighted Momma's recipe (which I followed) calls for 1 teaspoon pepper and two heads of cauliflower.  I ended up only making them with one head of cauliflower but didn't think to cut the pepper.  This resulted in very spicy poppers.  Charlotte tried one but said they were too spicy and I didn't blame her, they were almost too spicy for me!  But aside from the spice they tasted great!  I'll definitely be making these as a more common side dish in our family but will probably limit the pepper by quite a bit.

Raw cauliflower that's been coated with olive oil, salt, and pepper

Baked Cauliflower Poppers

Chicken and Artichoke Calzones

My friend, Erin, has blogged about her Chicken and Artichoke Calzones multiple times.  She always talks about how this is her "go to" dish for new Momma's or those hurting.  And when she blogged about them a few weeks ago I knew it was time to finally try them out.  Boy am I glad that I did!  They were fantastic and everyone (except James who isn't eating much of anything these days) gobbled them up.  They're a little time consuming to make if you're chopping by hand but well worth it.

All the yumminess before it went into the calzones.  I'll be honest and say that I stole a bite or two and even like this it was fantastic.  I bet it would be great on two thick slices of fresh bread! Maybe grilled into a panini! Yum!

Wrapped up in my (not so pretty) calzones

Fresh out of the oven!

The recipe makes six very full calzones.  You could easily probably make 12 normal sized calzones if you got two cans of pizza crust. I also made mine with thin crust pizza crust (just what I happened to get) and I'll probably try it with thick crust next time.  Or not worry about getting all the filling into the calzones.  Even by stuffing mine to the brim I had filling left over.

Gooey Cookies and Cream Double Chocolate Cake Bars

Jason came home three days before his engineering Christmas party for work and told me that it was a potluck.  Awesome.  I requested that he try and sign us up to bring a dessert since there were so many on Pinterest that I've wanted to try.  Thankfully, we were able to bring a dessert so I emailed him a few choices like Nutella Pretzel Brownies, Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Pie,  German Chocolate Cake Bars, Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie, Best Ever Buckeye Brownies, Peanut Butter Eclair Cake, and a Triple Chocolate Trifle. (Can you tell that peanut butter and chocolate are my love languages?!?)

Jason chose Picky Palate's Gooey Cookies and Cream Double Chocolate Cake Bars and I have to say that I'm glad that he did!  These were pretty easy to make and baked quickly and tasted great.  They were very rich warm but weren't too rich when they were cooled.  And were just as yummy a day or two later as we enjoyed leftovers!  Definitely a good option if you're looking for a pick up dessert to take to Christmas dinner!

Tomato Basil Parmesan Soup

Last week I tried a new crockpot soup recipe.  It's from Today's Mama and I found it via 365 Days of Slow Cooking.  I paired the soup with homemade Honey Oatmeal Bread and it was a delicious meal.  I'm looking forward to making it often this winter!

Tomato Basil Parmesan Soup
Honey Oatmeal Bread

Alpha Chi Brunch

A few weeks ago I hosted an Alpha Chi Alum group at my home for a morning meeting.  I loved the treats that I served and wanted to share in case you need an easy brunch menu that can be (mostly) done ahead of time.

Easy Monkey Bread Breakfast Ring

Note: In the future, I will probably tear my biscuits in half before putting them in the pan because putting them in there whole means you get a huge piece when you get one to put on your plate.

When I made it: Morning of because it's EASY to throw together

Poppyseed Bread

Note: I'm not sure if I just read the recipe wrong or what but I used the disposable bread pans and since they were small I split the recipe up into six of them.  That still gave me fantastic bread but gave me very short slices.  I would recommend using those pans but filling each one up before moving on to the next pan.

When I made it: Day before and warmed in 300 degree oven before serving

Fiber One Apple Cinnamon Muffins

Note: These are fantastic and one of my go-to muffins for weekend mornings.  The mix made almost 50 mini muffins though so make sure you need enough before you start making mini ones instead of regular sized ones!

When I made them: Day before and served them room temperature (could also reheat)

I also had two friends bring items and they brought a bowl of sliced fruit with dip and a breakfast casserole.  I served lemonade (for the kids), orange juice, and water.

James' First Birthday Dinner Menu

I often have a hard time coming up with complete menu's.  So I thought I'd share our menu for James' birthday dinner.  We had around 20 family members and ended up with just enough food.  Next time I'll make more because I would much rather have too much than not enough!

James' First Birthday Dinner

Two recipes of Crock Pot Barbecue

(with buns -- both slider size and regular size)
(I accidentally got beef instead of pork but Jason claimed that it tasted fine.  I would make sure that you get close to 5 lb roasts if possible, because mine were closer to 4 and we didn't have quite enough.)

Large bowl of cut fruit

One recipe of Broccoli Salad

One recipe of Mrs. Kelly's Baked Beans

One recipe of Corn Casserole

(So, so, so good! Should have had at least two recipes of this!)

One recipe of Slim Potato Casserole

(this was a little bland but at the same time too peppery -- it could have used a lot more cheese!)

One recipe of Arkansas Green Beans

(Jason said that these were the best green beans that he's ever had.  I would have to agree.  They were out of this world!)

Strawberry Birthday Cake

Cheesy Chicken Crescents

I have seen recipes that involved using crescent rolls to make a ring and so when I was searching for dinner a few weeks ago I thought that I would take that idea and modify it to what I had on hand.  What resulted was a meal that I loved and every single member of our family ate!  Plus, it was somewhat healthy!  I hope it's a hit with your family too!

Cheesy Chicken Crescents
Serves 4-6

2 tubes of Crescent Rolls
1 package of pre-cooked chicken
1/2 can of Organic Soybeans
2 handfuls of Spinach, chopped (about 1 cup)
1 can of Cream of Cheddar Soup
1 cup of Cheddar Cheese

1. Mix chicken, soybeans, spinach, and soup.
2. Lay crescent roll triangles out overlapping to create a sunburst/ring shape.
3. Spoon chicken mixture onto large part of crescent rolls.
4. Wrap crescent roll dough around chicken mixture.
5. Top with cheddar cheese.
6. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 350 F for 20-25 minutes.