Teriyaki Grilled Shrimp and Pineapple Tacos with Candied Jalapeno and Bacon

 This was a recipe that looked so good to me but Mikaela will not each shrimp except for in sushi so I knew that I would have to wait for a night where it was just Bren and I. After trying this recipe I wish I had tried it sooner as it was amazing!

Now it does take awhile to make as there are many parts of it that come together to make such a masterpiece.

I started off by making the candied jalapenos. I only had about a pound of jalapenos so I did a third of the recipe. I was surprised at how good it made the jalapenos and I could now tolerate them! That being said I cut them with gloves on and my eyes did water. I had a really bad jalapeno experience years ago so it is very rare that I actually bring them into the house!

Next I marinated the shrimp in the homemade teriyaki sauce. These were so good and simple. I loved how much flavor they held! As the shrimp was marinating I began the salsa. I cut up everything and then once the pineapple went on the bbq we were good to go.

We cooked the pineapple on the bbq and then once that was done we moved onto the shrimp. 

I used a chipotle mayonnaise on the tacos and then we used a coleslaw mix and then topped with feta cheese! 

These are so delicious and well worth the effort! 

You can find the link here: https://www.closetcooking.com/teriyaki-grilled-shrimp-and-pineapple_25/ 

Chicken Ranch Macaroni and Cheese

 There are some days where I feel like I am the only person in the house who craves comfort food and that for me is Mac and Cheese. There are those times where I just want a basic mac and cheese but of course I need to try new things so this recipe looked amazing as it has so many of my favorite things!

I really liked mixing the chicken with the ranch dressing ahead of time so that each piece of chicken had ranch flavoring to it and you could really taste it. I also love cooking bacon in the stove as it cooks so much better and in the long run really saves time when you are getting other things done at the same time. 

I did use a 1% milk instead of whole milk as that was what I had on hand so I'm sure it wasn't as creamy as it could have been but it was still really good.

This is a recipe I would make again as I loved the combination of flavors!

You can find the link here: https://iamhomesteader.com/chicken-ranch-macaroni-and-cheese/

Egg Roll Bowl

 Egg Rolls are something that I think my son for sure could live on. This was a recipe that looked awesome so I knew I had to give it a try.

The good think is that this recipe is very straightforward and ingredients that are easy to find or that you already have on hand.

Instead of buying cabbage and carrots I used a coleslaw mix to save time and I used a small package. I unfortunately skipped the bean sprouts as the store didn't have any. Other than that I used the ingredients that were called for.

This recipe was really good and it is something that I would definitely make again and would be great to prep ahead of time for lunches.

I topped mine with sweet chili sauce and it was so good!

You can find the recipe here: https://www.kleinworthco.com/egg-roll-bowl/ 

CHICKEN QUESADILLA

 I love ranch and bacon together so this was a quesadilla that I knew that I had to try. Mexican is one of those foods that we generally have once a week and sometimes it will just be plain tacos and other times we try and fancy it up and put more effort into it. 

Quesadilla's are also one of Brendan's favorite foods to make on his own and generally he just makes cheese ones but if I have other things in the fridge he will through that in too.

For these I used a pre-shredded chicken to save myself some extra time as I can't seem to find enough time lately to do anything. 

I used a pre-shredded Mexican cheese mix as well as I couldn't find the queso cheese on it's own. This can be made with any type of cheese that you have on hand if needed!

I loved how quick this recipe was to put together and the kids loved it!

Looking forward to making it again!

You can find the link here: https://www.smalltownwoman.com/chicken-bacon-ranch-quesadilla/

Peanut Chicken Zucchini Noodles

This was a recipe I had wanted to try for a long time as a lot of people have switched to a vegetable noodle instead of using pasta. This recipe has peanut in the name so I knew I had to give it a try.

I bought the zucchini already spiralized to save myself some time and I also used bagged coleslaw instead of getting cabbage and carrots. This worked well for me and saved me some prep time.

I also used shredded chicken that I had in the fridge as it sis also a great time saver.

The sauce was awesome and I loved the combination of all of the different ingredients. 

This was a great healthy meal and I will be making it again! 

You can find the recipe here: https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/peanut-chicken-zucchini-noodles/

BACON WRAPPED HOT DOGS WITH QUESO

 This was a recipe I was eager to try but due to awful weather we weren't prepared to stand in the rain in to BBQ so we cooked everything inside instead.

So I baked the bacon in the oven and cooked the hotdogs in the pot and then put it all together. For the queso I used an epicure queso mix that I had and it was really good. 

I liked these hot dogs as they were a great combination of flavours although I know they would have been even better on the BBQ! 

Looking forward to trying these again in better weather! 

You can find the link here: https://www.lemonsforlulu.com/bacon-wrapped-hot-dogs-with-queso/?utm_source=pinterest&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=social-pug

APPLEBEE’S ORIENTAL CHICKEN SALAD RECIPE

 This was a recipe that had been on the menu for awhile but never seemed to get made between the kids schedule and my work schedule. I finally had time to make it and was so happy that I did!

Now I did make some quick alterations due to time but I don't really think that it cost much in terms of flavor. Instead of frying the chicken myself I bought chicken fingers and baked those up. I also used a coleslaw mix for the cabbages and carrots instead of buying the separate ingredients. Huge time saver and much more affordable!

The dressing was absolutely amazing and I would make it to go on all my salads! It was so good and both of the kids loved it as well! 

I definitely would make this again and highly recommend it!

You can find the link here: https://lilluna.com/copycat-applebees-oriental-salad-4/