Favorite Recipes Lately

My favorite blog posts are those that lay out a blogger's meal plan for the week. LL and Reluctant Grownup are frequently sharing their weekly menus or favorite recipes and I always look forward to those posts the most. If it weren't for Reluctant Grownup's blog, I may never have discovered the amazing tomato tart recipe that has become a staple in my house.

I'm obsessed with recipes. I collect them like a hoarder. My inbox is swarming with hundreds of recipes that I haven't even tried yet but came across on websites and didn't want to lose to the never-ending depths of the internet. "But some day I may truly desperately NEED a recipe for blueberry zucchini cake and this one just may happen to be the very best and I might never find it again!" I think I truly have some kind of legitimate diagnosable mental condition.

I've come across some amazing recipes lately and I wanted to share the goodness. Some of these are new exciting discoveries that have just been added to my go-to recipes list and a couple others are long-standing regulars in our meal rotation.

Chicken Fajita Soup - just tried this recipe on Sunday. My husband (who rarely praises any of my meals) praised it. Jacob asked to eat leftovers for three days in a row. I didn't make it in a crock pot. I cooked and shredded the chicken, then added all the soup ingredients in a pot on the stove.

Thai Sticky Wings - great for a Sunday when you can cook it over the span of two hours. Cook exactly as written. So good. The sauce is amazing.

Middle Eastern Kabobs - I sometimes just form these into meatballs instead of forming around a skewer. The tahini sauce is perfection.

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole - long time favorite and hands down my favorite casserole. The addition of potatoes and roux to the traditional chicken cordon bleu ingredients is genius.

Southwestern Quiche With Cornbread Crust  - another long time favorite. It's the only quiche recipe you will ever need. Make this on a Sunday or Saturday and throw in all your leftover unused (quiche-appropriate) veggies from the week. I don't know exactly what the meat is that they have listed (never hear of it), I just used Italian sausage.

Chicken Enchiladas With Salsa Verde - I've tried at least five different enchilada recipes. This one is always my favorite.

Southwest Chicken Chopped Salad - I just discovered this a month ago and I've made it multiple times since. It's a great filling salad and the dressing is fantastic.

I'm trying a couple new recipes this week. Like these Pork Chops With Country Gravy. I'm serving them along with some mashed potatoes and an "add-your-own-toppings" bar. I'm going to serve the mashed potatoes in plastic martini glasses (always wanted to do that, I think the kids will love it!). I'm also looking forward to trying these Chicken and Black Bean Chimichangas.

Now it's time for me to head over to Pinterest and hoard some more new recipes.....

Go Away Creeper Lady

I got the creepiest email today. It was a notification of a comment from a past blog post on this blog.

The comment was from a guy saying that a lady had approached him and showed him a ton of pictures of my son (from this blog) and tried to claim that the son was hers and that he was the father. He gave me his contact information if I wanted more information.

I read that and I wanted to throw up.

How sick and twisted! I can't believe someone would do that. The truth of this comment has yet to be verified but even just the thought really creeps me out. It creeps me out so much that I'm considering password protecting this blog....or even unpublishing it altogether,

I know we aren't to expect that much privacy when we blog (even when we try to be anonymous). I know I'm basically publishing things for the entire world to read (read: complete strangers). But it just makes my stomach turn to think about all the ways that my content can be used improperly and without my permission.

This lady seems like a real creeper. But it could probably be much worse (for me anyway, it probably sucks to be the guy she was trying to fool). This has got me thinking a lot about the purpose and future of this blog. The whole blogging thing is not worth violations of my children's privacy or the risk that something bad could happen.

I need to mull things over a bit. I would appreciate thoughts, suggestions, or comments. Has anyone else had a similar experience?

And hey, if you happen to be the creeper lady. GO AWAY.

Google Does It Again

I'm so happy that the person who googled "accidental crotch sweat" was directed to my blog. I hope they enjoyed the pictures of my post-spin class sweat.

I'm confused how six people found my blog by googling "naked full figured women." I'm sure they were disappointed.

And I'm very curious about the two people who came to my blog by googling "peeing on your leg hangover cure." The only real hangover cure is to be sick for three days in a row and then be shown pictures of you swimming in the ocean with only half your clothes on. Then, trust me, you will never want to drink again.