Meal Plan Monday

Last Monday I posted my first link-up for meal planning and it couldn't have gone any better. The meals were all delicious and I'm sure many of the recipes will appear on the blog in the future.

I had so much fun planning these out for the week. From creating my lists to shopping and actually cooking them = so. much. fun. Call me crazy. Also, I learned that 4 cups of rice makes a lot of rice. We were munching on the copycat chipotle meal for almost three days it made so much. But I wasn't complaining.

This week I'm adding something new to meal planning in the form of theme night: Mexican Mondays. So you'll notice moving forward that every Monday is a different Mexican meal. I'm from Texas so duh...I had to choose Mexican food. Anyway, enough blabbing.  Here's my meals for this week.

My Weekly Meal Plan:

Monday: Fajita Chicken Casserole

Tuesday: Tuscan Ravioli in Tomato-Basil Cream Sauce

Wednesday: Leftover Buffet

Thursday: Not Your Average Turkey Sandwich w/Salad

Friday: Leftover Buffet

Saturday: YOYO (you're on your own)

Sunday: Dining Out

**no dessert this week**

Happy Monday y'all!

What are you eating this week?

Share recipes and menus below!

I'm linking up with Laura this week!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars

I've mentioned this before but I've been following Chelsea over at Anchors Aweigh for some time now and she posts some of the absolute best recipes out there. When I saw this recipe, I knew it was going to be on the menu for the week. It did not disappoint. Jillian Michaels would not be very happy with me at the moment because I did indulge in one of these. Okay, two. I mean, three. Whatever, I ate several and I'm not mad about it. I ended up bringing over half of these to work because I knew if I kept them in my house my waistline would hate me and I'm working hard for the wedding.

It goes without saying, these were a hit at work. I can't believe how easy it was to make these. If you've got the itch for something sweet and love cheesecake, you'll obsess over these.

Oh...and it's Friday. Go ahead and do that little happy dance of yours. You know you want to. No one's judging :)

Ingredients:
1 pkg pre-squared chocolate chip cookie dough
8 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8x8 pan
2. Press half of the cookie dough in the bottom of the pan
3. Mix cream cheese, egg, and sugar in a small bowl until the mixture is a thick liquid
4. Pour cream cheese mixture over the cookie dough in the pan
5. Flatten remaining cookie dough with your hands and place on top of the cream cheese mixture
6. Bake for 30-35 minutes and let cool before slicing

Enjoy!

The Boy Behind The Blog: February Edition

So in the blogisphere, there was this link-up called "The Boy Behind The Blog." Link-ups are a very efficient way to link up with fellow readers. It's an active social blogging event that brings bloggers together. Basically, link-ups create a widget within your blog post that allows your readers to add their own links to your link-up. Mostly this just creates more traffic for your blog and could introduce you to some pretty awesome people that you would otherwise never know about.

I realize you didn't ask for any of that explanation...but there ya go.

I joined the blogisphere too late and missed what's become one of my favorite link-ups to read: The Boy Behind The Blog. In this link-up, the special boy in your life, your boyfriend, husband, fiance, father, brother, grandfather (you get the picture) is featured. They answer a series of questions and most bloggers post their responses following their answers. Some of the editions are hilarious and some are more serious but they're all so fun to read.

Even though this link-up has been over for some time now, I'm still going to do it. I'm super excited to ask Stephen some of these questions and I am even more excited to hear his answers. Kind of frightened...but mostly excited. So, without further ado, here's a word from the boy behind the blog.

Questions and Answers (my responses to his answers are in grey):

1. What celebrity would play you in a movie about your life?
Vince Vaughn. No, just kidding...Ryan Reynolds...because he's good looking.
Ryan Reynolds? I was expecting him to say Steve Carell. Mostly because of the ridiculous, sarcastic, joking sense of humor he has in most the roles he plays. But okay...go for the handsome one.

2. What is your dream car?
69 Chevy Stingray
I actually knew this. Yay me!

3. Do you have any tattoos? What, where, why?
No.
Short. Sweet. And to the point. That's Stephen.

4. Boxers or briefs?
Briefs. Boxer briefs, actually.
Why is this even a question? Totally not necessary but there ya go readers. My fiancé prefers boxer briefs.

5. List three random facts about yourself...

--I'm sexy
....

--I'm strong
......

--I sing really well
.........Well clearly this one didn't go the way I expected it to. Also, I love you, but you're tone deaf.

Thanks for participating my sweet fiancé.

Stay tuned for more editions of The Boy Behind The Blog.

**Disclaimer**

I'd like to remain engaged and make it to the altar in the next 7 months so I find it absolutely necessary to say...my fiancé is sexy and quite strong.

There, now it's on record that I said it. In case I'm questioned later ;)

The Perfect Weekend

From the weather, the company, and the events that took place, it was quite possibly the perfect weekend.

I'm quite sad mentioning my favorite part because it wasn't documented via pictures. I spent Saturday afternoon with my sweet Momma. She went with me to the boutique to order my wedding dress. I bought it back in the fall but hadn't ordered it because I've been doing what every bride participates in---shedding for the wedding. After being measured I found out I lost a dress size! I lost inches in my bust, waist, and hips! Y'all...do you have any idea how excited I was to hear that?? So, naturally, my Momma and I celebrated ordering the dress and me losing a dress size by eating at Mexican Inn -- cause that makes perfect sense -- but I'm not even sorry. The food was delicious and I love spending time with my sweet Momma.

After I got back from the boutique, Stephen and I took Cabela to a trail we found down the road. The weather was just beautiful Saturday afternoon and it didn't feel right sitting inside. It was the perfect way to spend time as a little family of three.

Let me preface this part of the post by saying I once again didn't document anything that happened Saturday night. I find spending time with friends and family so much nicer when I don't have my nose crammed in my phone so I missed taking photos again. Fail.

Stephen and I met up with our friends Jason and Miros for dinner in downtown Saturday night followed by drinks. We started at Cantina Laredo and ate out on the patio under the heaters. The food was delicious. If you're ever in downtown Fort Worth and you're looking for a good Mexican food place to eat, I highly recommend it. The queso...oh man the queso. The salsa...oh the salsa. It will satisfy any good Texans appetite. Also, their patio has a good view for people watching. Holla! We jumped around from The Brass Tap and The Flying Saucer for drinks following dinner. We called it a night and waddled home a couple pounds heavier (so much for being one dress size down). A night in downtown with two of the most hilarious people I know was exactly what I needed.

Sunday was Valentine's Day. I'll leave the details from this day for it's very own post but it was absolutely perfect. Valentine's Day is special for me in a couple ways so I always get a little nostalgic when this day comes around.

I hope y'all had a fantastic weekend. I noticed the forecast for the weather this week is going to be nothing short of beautiful. So get outside. You won't regret it!

Meal Plan Monday

There's another link-up going on and I'm super excited about it. Every Monday I'll be linking up with Laura over at I'm an Organizing Junkie for Meal Plan Monday.

I love cooking. So much. There's something satisfying about getting in the kitchen and putting something together and enjoying it with the one you love. But what I can't stand is not knowing what I want to make on the spot. Having prepped the meals and planned them ahead of time is such a time saver. If you've known me for 0.01 seconds, you know I'm a planner and an organizer so this routine fits me to a T.

Shannon over at AKA Design released some awesome free printables for meal planning and kitchen organization. You can check them out here.

I enjoy cooking for Stephen and I can't wait until we have a house full of little ones where I get to cook for all of them. We're not big on sweets but we do enjoy a little dessert after dinner so I've been trying to incorporate a small sweet that we can munch on throughout the week after dinner. I plan on sharing the recipes on the ones we find worthy later on in the blog.

My Weekly Meal Plan: 

Monday: Copycat Chipotle Chicken Burrito Rice Bowl

Tuesday: Sausage and Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Wednesday: Leftover Buffett

Thursday: Slow Cooker Potato Soup

Friday: Leftover Buffett and Salad

Saturday: Not Your Average Turkey Sandwich and Salad

Sunday: Dining Out

Weekly Dessert: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars

Happy Monday Everyone! Hope y'all have a great week.

What are you eating this week?

Share recipes and menus below!

Honey-Glazed Chicken Wings

I know, I know, I know. I said I was signing off from blogging on weekends but it's actually 9:00 p.m. Friday night and I'm scheduling this post to post Saturday morning so technically, this doesn't count. Does that logic make sense? Meh...just go with it.

Aside from my KitchenAid Mixer, I think my next favorite accessory in my kitchen is my Crockpot. Crockpots make life so much easier. My parents had an extra one at the house so they gifted it to me and I've been obsessed ever since. It's so nice to come home and smell dinner and know it's almost ready. Also, the clean up. Super easy. Hardly any dishes. I don't know how it gets better than that.

The same year my parents gave me the Crockpot, my dad got me a slow cooker recipe book for Christmas filled with delicious recipes. I'm still making my way through this sucker but I've come across some recipes I've made in the past I wanted to share.

Ladies, men love meat. A lot. Men also love wings. So, if you have a man in your life who likes to overindulge in the occasional chicken wing, this recipe is just for you.

Ingredients:
3 Tbsp vegetable oil, divided
3 lbs chicken wings
1 cup honey
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 clove garlic, minced
2 Tbsp tomato paste
2 tsp water
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp black pepper

Directions:
1. Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons oil in skillet over medium high heat. Brown wings in batches about 1 to 2 minutes on each side. Transfer with slotted spoon to slow cooker.
2. Combine honey, soy sauce, remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons oil and garlic in medium bowl. Whisk in tomato paste, water, sugar, and pepper. Pour sauce over wings. Cover; cook on low 6 to 8 hours or on high 3 to 4 hours.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Enjoy!

So Fetch Friday

For the record, I will make that awesome word in the title of this post trend again. Any Mean Girls fans out there? I know Lindsay Lohan went off the deep end a little bit but don't be ashamed. You love that movie and you know it.

I'm getting off track here....

It's Friday y'all! The weekend is finally here. I don't really know of any better feeling than waking up Friday morning and not having to reset my alarm for 5:00 a.m. the next day. Although, coupled with one of the best feelings in the world is the worst...having to go to work on Friday. womp womp. Adulting in this aspect stinks sometimes -- okay -- all the time.

 

This weekend is going to be filled with more wedding to-dos, outdoor trails, and spending quality time as a family of three. For those of you who are unaware, the third is our fur baby. I just realized I haven't even introduced Cabela to the blog world yet. Parenting fail. I guess this calls for her very own post in the near future. Oh man...that's going to be a big one but I'll do my best to not go crazy.

Oh, who am I kidding. I could talk about her forever. Look at this face!!!

Moving forward, I will be checking out from the blog on weekends in order to really soak up time with the ones that I love. I think we spend way too much time being consumed with technology. Nowadays, spending time with someone consists of sitting inches apart on our phones playing games, tweeting, snap-chatting, etc etc without having any kind of verbal communication whatsoever...and that's okay. Is it really? No. Obviously I could go on about this forever, but for now, I won't.

It's currently 10:00 a.m. Friday morning. Just seven more hours til we can check out for two days. As my good friend Dory says, just keep swimming friends. You're almost there!

Happy Friday, y'all!

Life Lately

So if you follow me on Snapchat, I previewed some exciting happenings for me and Stephen this past weekend. We've been engaged for the past seven months and I'd like to preface this post by saying I've been planning our wedding since we reached year three (could've been sooner but let's just go with it). Stephen and I knew early on that we wanted to get married one day. When ya know ya just know. But we were both still in college and knew we wanted to graduate before we made any plans in that direction. But, naturally, that didn't stop me from planning the most magical day of our lives. I wasn't going to be overconfident and book anything prior to an engagement -- duh-- but I had all my ideas, checklists, and wants written down for when I needed it.

I couldn't find the wedding book I wanted so I made my own.

Since July of 2015 we have secured the following:

- venue and reception location
- my wedding dress
- DJ
- photographer
- photobooth
- cake baker
- caterer
- wedding planner
- wedding night suite
- honeymoon
- officiant
- flowers
- decor
- calligrapher
- MOH/bridesmaid dresses
- shoes
- hair stylist

and I have successfully made and or picked out the following:

- save the dates
- rehearsal dinner invitations
- MOH/bridesmaid invitations
- wedding invitations
- flower girl/ring bearer invitations
- make up artist

I'd say we're off to a pretty good start! Also...about 90% of this has all been done since like...September. I've been doing nothing since then but making payments and staying in contact with everyone. So for the past few months I've been feeling pretty bummed because there's not much for me to do right now.

This past weekend, on a whim, Stephen and I decided to create our registry! Oh my gosh, y'all, I was SO stinkin excited!!! Everyone always talks about the power that you have when you pick up the scanner. It's true...and it's dangerous. We have been talking about what we want to make of our registry and to be honest, together we've accumulated so many things that we don't have much that we need to register for. So...we made a list of the things that we'd really like and since the list was quite small, we created a Honeyfund to help us with the rest of our honeymoon.

We narrowed down the locations we were registering at to three and called it quits. Anthropologie, Bed, Bath & Beyond and (of course) Target. I was super excited and focused while we were doing this that I forgot to take pictures until we got to Target.

I was so happy to be doing something for the wedding after not doing anything for so long. I'm thankful I'm a planner but I wish I wasn't so proactive at the moment, although I might be thankful for this in a few months when it's crunch time. 

Also, when we got home, I spent about 1.5 - 2 hours adding/removing things from our registry, so there's that. So much for the list. I'm going to blame it on the scanner. Yeah...the scanner.

When you were at this stage in planning, what was

on your list to register for?

Banana Nut Bread

One of my favorite blogs that I've been following for awhile now posts some of the best recipes ever and I'm excited to share some of my favorites with you. I've been home sick the past couple of days so I've been stirring to make something yummy in the kitchen. Over Christmas, one of my sweet co-workes made mini Banana Nut Bread loafs for everyone and they were amazing. I could die for some good Banana Nut Bread. Okay, maybe not but I sure would make it as much as possible if I had the perfect recipe. When Chelsea over at Anchors Aweigh posted this recipe, I couldn't wait to get home and try it out. Let me tell y'all...it's delicious. Stephen and I aren't that picky of eaters. We'll always try something at least once but when we find something good we both get excited. This is one recipe I'll continue to make over and over again and it's super easy. What's not to love?!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
1 egg
3 medium bananas, mashed
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cooking oil
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (I'm not a fan of nuts so I sprinkled very few)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease the bottom and sides of a loaf pan and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Make a well in the center of the dry mixture and set aside.
3. In another bowl, combine egg, bananas, sugar and cooking oil.
4. Add banana mixture to dry mister. Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy). Fold in nuts.
5. Pour batter into your greased loaf pan and bake for 50-55 minutes or until an interred toothpick comes out clean.
6. Let cook for 10 minutes and remove from pan. Enjoy!

One day I'll invest in a better camera ;)