Bacon Bourbon Barbecue Chicken Kebabs and Double Stuffed Taco Potatoes

 I had this on the menu but when it came time to make it we were in an absolute downpour and there was no way any of us were going to go outside and BBQ the chicken. So I made some changes and totally winged it.

I love the bourbon taste so as soon as I saw bacon and bourbon I knew that it had to be made. I made the BBQ sauce but I didn't add in the raw bacon as I was honestly confused on whether I was supposed to add raw bacon or cook it ahead of the time for the sauce. It never said so I decided to skip that and therefore I just made it in a bowl and didn't use a blender.

For the chicken and bacon - I diced both of them up and threw them in a pan to cook. I didn't add an oil as I knew that the bacon would create enough juice to cook everything in. When I could see that everything was pretty much cooked I threw in the BBQ sauce and mixed it all up and let it cook longer.

With the potatoes you have to read the recipe ahead of time as the potatoes need to bake for an hour before you even get started. I threw them in the oven way before I planned to eat dinner. I followed the ground beef directions as directed and everything was super easy. When the potatoes were done I scooped out the middle which does take awhile. Then mixed everything back up with the milk and then stuffed the potatoes. We threw on some cheese and got them back in the oven.

Both the chicken and the potatoes turned out great and it was a very filling meal! The chicken didn't look beautiful but it definitely tasted great!    

You can find the chicken here: http://www.hormelfoodsrecipes.com/recipes/details/8030/bacon-bourbon-barbeque-chicken-kebabs.aspx

Potatoes: https://spicysouthernkitchen.com/double-stuffed-taco-potatoes-and-a-giveaway/

Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas

 I've been on a little bit of a Mexican kick lately and trying to get it in the schedule once a week. I've been trying new recipes and this one jumped out at me for the simple reason that it said easy.

I love quick and easy and this one was super easy to make and didn't take me much time at all to get everything together. 

At the time of writing this recipe up I have found myself just overwhelmed and trying to rebalance. I'm trying to focus more on one step at a time and doing more things that I enjoy when I am not at work. I am trying to clean and get stuff done but I am mixing in more baking and cooking again. I find I really find happiness in that and so I still am constantly writing lists of what needs to be done but not getting overwhelmed by every little thing. Plus the weather has been horrible lately with constant rain and gloom so I am finding that happiness. 

This recipe was so easy to follow and I had it made so fast. The sauce on top was awesome and these were seriously absolutely devoured when they came out of the oven. There were no leftovers and I was excited that I was going to have some!!

I recommend this recipe so much and you can find it here: https://cookiesandcups.com/sour-cream-chicken-enchiladas/

BBQ Ribs with Blackberry Sauce & Oven Roasted Potatoes

 I love the nights when we get to do a more planned meal with more than one thing. It doesn't happen often but it seriously makes me so happy when we get the chance. 

Ribs is not something we have very often as my stomach doesn't always like pork but I really do enjoy them and am happy when it's a nice night to BBQ. These ribs sounded awesome as I love blackberries and thought this would be awesome! 

Now I do not have a food processer so I blended the sauce up in my blender. I think this was a good idea as it made the sauce less chunky and blended everything together super well. 

We cooked the ribs over indirect heat but in all honesty it was taking forever so we ended up cooking them over direct heat. I think my BBQ was left in the rain a little too often by my son and now it is revolting a little. These ribs are awesome and I loved the blackberry sauce.

For so long my daughter wouldn't eat potatoes other than french fries but something happened and now she is all in favor of potatoes. These oven roasted potatoes are so easy to make and full of flavor. Now unfortunately I did not have fresh parmesan so they probably didn't turn out as perfect as they could have but they were still really good. I think I really need to keep more parmesan on hand!

You can find the recipe for the ribs here: https://www.livinglocurto.com/bbq-ribs-blackberry-sauce/

Potatoes: https://www.dinneratthezoo.com/oven-roasted-potatoes/

M&M® Caramel Marshmallow Skillet Cookie

 We were over at a friends recently for dinner and for desert they made a skillet cookie. I have had a skillet Pinterest board for a little bit and have been wanting to make one but now I consciously decided to add it in to the menu for a weekend fun night. 

This recipe seriously contains all of the tastes you could want in a warm delicious mix that will leave you happy for days!

We followed the recipe as directed and it turned out so amazing!!! 

I highly recommend giving this recipe a try! It's a great idea for guests as well as long as everyone is good with sharing! 

This one is unfortunately missing a picture because it was gone so fast! 

You can find the recipe here: https://iambaker.net/mm-caramel-marshmallow-skillet-cookie/

Dissatisfied by Ksenija Nikolova

Title: Dissatisfied

Author: Ksenija Nikolova

Genre: Women's Fiction

Release Date: April 29, 2022

Who is to be blamed for a woman's unhappiness?

Margot's unhappiness is contrary to what you might expect, considering that she lives in Paris and is married to a handsome, successful man she loves. However, as time passes, she feels more certain about her emptiness and realizes how little time her husband Arthur has for her. Finally, she decides to leave him, but then something changes. Not only does Margot not know her husband as well as she thought she did, but she also comes to see that she didn't even know herself that deeply.

Margot's life starts changing when she discovers countless new things about her marriage, which also reawakens old traumas.

But have these signs always been there?

Has Margot's journey been waiting for her long before she became aware of it, and can her marriage be saved?

Margot is surprised to discover Arthur knew her much better than she ever thought possible.

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The Strays by Erin Trejo

Title: The Strays

Author: Erin Trejo

Genre: Dark Romance, Romantic Suspense

Release Date: April 29, 2022

One night was all it should have been. A night of torment for her. Payback for how she treated us in high school.

What I didn’t count on was she would like it. As if I switch is flicked inside her, she begins to thrive on fear.

So I dare her to get to know me, and to my surprise, she accepts. However, secrets threaten to destroy everything. Once she discovers what I’m hiding, she will leave me for good.

I won’t let that happen, but can I stop her?

The Strays - Sleeping With Sirens

Bully - Shinedown

Addicted - Saving Abel

When she’s close to the bathroom, I glance around to see if anyone is watching before grabbing her around the waist and pulling her into the first VIP room I can find. She screams, but the loud thumping of the bass covers any noise she makes.

I pull her further into the pitch-black room and force her body against the wall. I can smell her perfume. So fucking intoxicating.

“Please let me go,” she begs as I keep her pinned in place. I like the fear in her voice. I like that’s she scared right now.

I don’t say anything as I push her chest harder against the wall. Her head is turned to the side, and I can feel her tears as I bring my face down. I smile, knowing I made her cry. I want to make Ray cry. I want her to feel what we felt all those years.

“I love it when you cry,” I whisper. I’m certain she wouldn’t remember my voice, and if she did, I’m sure Ray has forgotten by now.

“What do you want?” she asks, her voice hitching when she does.

“To see you cry,” I tell her.

“Please, let me go,” she begs. I move closer, pressing my body against hers harder now. There’s no letting her go now.

USA Today Best-Selling Author.

Erin is an author of all things Alpha. Her specialty is MC romance but loves to dip into dark romance too. She will weave you a story that will have you gasping for air as you try to figure out what's going to happen next. All of Erin's books will have some form of romance as well as suspense. With that being said you need to keep in mind that Erin's tagline is always true. Fairy Tales Don't Always Have A Happy Ending. Do you think you're ready to take the plunge into Erin's world?

Connect with Erin! She loves her stalkers.

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Cinco De Mayo Feast!

 We love Mexican food and although we have tacos quite a bit we don't usually make a full meal so I wanted us to have the full meal experience this year.

We decided on Chili's Skillet Queso, Flank Steak Tacos, Mexican Rice and a Tres Leche Cake - all fabulous!! 

Bren absolutely loves getting the Queso from Chipotle but I decided to try the copycat for Chili's in part because it looked so easy! The recipe is two ingredients and I found that with the chili that I used there wasn't any need to blend it up as there were no large chunks at all. It was super good and a great appy!

As soon as I saw the Flank Steak Taco recipe come through I knew I had to try it. Last year I began to cook with Flank Steak more as previously it wasn't something I was comfortable with cooking but now I am beginning to get a handle on it although I still have so much more to learn. The most important part with the tacos is to remember to marinate them ahead of time and I had mine marinating overnight. They were so full of flavour! We topped ours with guacamole, cheese, and a delicious salsa that we get from a local berry farm. So good!!

The Mexican rice ended up causing us a few problems as we couldn't find a proper lid to go over the pot so I think the cooking was a little off. That being said the rice was still really good and we will definitely be trying to make it again once we find the missing lid.

I've never made Tres Leche cake and this recipe promised that it would be easy! The only small problem I had was that we couldn't find the hand mixer so I did it by hand until we found the hand blender which didn't exactly whip it up the way it should I didn't get any small peaks. That being said the cake was still super light and it turned out awesome and this is definitely something I will make again. 

You can find all of the links here:

Chili's Skillet Queso: https://copykat.com/chilis-skillet-queso/?utm_source=pinterest&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=social-pug

Flank Steak Tacos: https://www.mybakingaddiction.com/flank-steak-tacos/

Mexican Rice: https://lilluna.com/food-tutorial-spanish-rice/

Tres Leche Cake: https://cookiesandcups.com/tres-leches-cake/