Mandii's Muse

 Today's post is a breakfast casserole. I think this would be great for Christmas morning. I know that it is what I plan on making on December 25! The best part of this recipe is that you can make it the night before. So whip it up before you head to bed and you can wake up to breakfast already being prepared! Plus, if you do your heatless curls and prepare this casserole, Christmas morning will be a breeze! I am going to link the recipe here !  I omitted the pepper and the onion, but you can use the meat of your choice as well! I hope you enjoy this recipe, I know I have!

 I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving! I can't believe that it has come and gone and we are well into the Christmas season! Here was a quick recap of my turkey day! My dad wanted to take some meals to a few of his customers, so on Wednesday I had a chiropractor appointment, and my mom stayed back and started prepping the food. She made a whole meal, but we were only going to eat the green bean casserole. My dad and I helped when we got home. On Thursday morning, we got the meals ready, and my dad went on to deliver them. Meanwhile my mom and I got ready. We loaded everything up we were supposed to take, and headed to my aunt and uncle's house.  We ate, had too much food as usual. We had the usual, turkey and chicken, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, stuffing, rolls, and corn. For dessert we had chocolate, pumpkin, and rice pies.  It was a nice day! How was your Thanksgiving? Did you end up in a food coma after dinner? Let me know in the co...

 This recipe is going to be perfect for Thanksgiving! It's called pumpkin butter, but there is no butter in it! It's very similar to apple butter, but equally delicious! I think this would be absolutely perfect on a Fall themed charcuterie board with pepitas, cheddar cheese, honey, and fancy crackers. Or on a piece of pastry wrapped brie cheese. Yum! This would also be great on an English muffin for breakfast on Thanksgiving morning. If you are attending Thanksgiving somewhere and want to have a hostess gift ready, this would be absolutely perfect! If you need some jars, lids, or labels, here are a few on Amazon !  I don't think you will be disappointed if you make this!

This summer I decided that I was going to make a new recipe every Thursday. A lot of times we can get in a rut with our cooking, and this helps us break out of it. I tried this recipe as my very first one and it was surprisingly delicious! My mom was hesitant at first because of the name, but she ended up really enjoying it.  The sauce was really easy, and I can totally see this being put over pulled chicken and make sliders out of it, or even sandwiches!  Apricot Chicken 1 cup apricot jam 1/4 cup diced onions 2 Tablespoons soy sauce 1 Tablespoon honey 1 Tablespoon dijon mustard 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar 1 teaspoon minced garlic 1 teaspoon ground ginger 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes (I left these out because my mom doesn't like spice, but they would be good in there!) 4-6 chicken breasts Put all ingredients in a saucepan and heat over medium heat until the jam is melted and heated through. I put my chicken breasts in a roast pan and spread the sauce over them. I put th...

My mom has gifted me the Pioneer Woman's cookbooks for the past several Christmases. I can typically be found Saturday mornings on my couch at 10:00 watching her show. I don't think I've ever said "I don't think I'll like that" with one of her recipes. Instead I'm usually drooling over what she is cooking. Her cookbooks are just fantastic. They are step by step, which I LOVE because you know exactly what you dish should look like at a certain point. I've made many things of hers, and they never disappoint. This dish came out of one of her very first cookbooks. I had to tweak it a little bit because I didn't have the ingredients to make homemade pesto, but I had a jar of prepared on hand. It was a simple swap, and one that you can easily do yourself! Let me know if you like this recipe card format. It might be easier for you to read while you are cooking! I served mine with a piece of breaded chicken, but grilled chicken with this would be abs...

I thought I would share some of my recent dinners with you! Sometimes finding something for dinner can be a chore! I mean how many times has your family asked “what’s for dinner?” You have no idea, and end up with a grumpy family because no one got what they wanted! So here’s a glimpse of what I’ve been eating lately! Tacos are my love language, so I try to have any type of Mexican food once every two weeks or so.   Soup is always great for winter, and while I was sick, this potato soup was a lifesaver for my throat and head.   This is a recreation of a restaurant item! We call it a chicken wedge-a, but it is simply a flatbread with cheese and chicken, lettuce, tomatoes, fries, and Italian dressing. We love it!  A staple in any house is fried chicken! We have ours with a baked potato, broccoli, and coleslaw! I hope this gives you some ideas for dinner! If you want recipes for anything, leave me a comment, and I will make sure to post one for you!...

I meant to post this last week, but never did! So you are getting to see it today! This is just a little "what's up" on this Wednesday! 1. What I’m Eating this Week: I am thinking some soup, pasta, and baked chicken with a baked potato! 2. What I’m Reminiscing About: It has to be my recent experience at the Duke game , and all my trips to North Carolina to Cameron Indoor. I absolutely love basketball season! 3. What I’m Loving: I’m loving all the cozy winter wear I get to wear! Now, it doesn’t have to be below freezing, but I’m enjoying the sweaters, cozy robe, and warm fuzzy pajamas I get to wear. 4. What I’ve Been Up To: Not much! Just working, doing the usual grocery shopping/Costco runs, family time I get to have! 5. What I’m Dreading: I think I say this every single time, but I dread the Winter to Summer clothes switch over! It is such a chore that I dread every season. 6.  What I’m Working On: I’m working on upcoming blog posts for you! I’m a...

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! It was nice to be above freezing, and see the sunshine for a little bit! Did your team win the SuperBowl? Here's a little glimpse into my weekend!  My mom made this delicious chocolate cake with peanut butter icing. It was as good as it looks, and we can't wait to eat some after dinner tonight again!  Can you tell who we were rooting for based on our table decor? We had meatball sliders, kielbasa, mini tacos, spinach/artichoke dip, pimento cheese, and potato salad. Yummy!  Since it was going to be nice most of the weekend, my dad was nice enough to wash my car off at the car wash.   I have been doing a #girlreadyourbible challenge for February, in addition to my normal daily readings. I'm doing the book of Philippians. Starting off this week right with a Patriots win on Sunday, and hopefully a Duke win on Tuesday! How was your weekend? Leave me a comment and let me know!

With Christmas days away, I wanted to share with you a quick make ahead breakfast menu that doesn’t leave you in the kitchen while everyone else is opening presents. I have shared these recipes before, but if you are hosting family, these would be great to have on hand. First on the list is Brunch Egg Casserole . This is what I am making for my family this year. It is quick, simple, and you can make it the night before. Plus, you can choose your meat you want to put in. I’m using sausage, but you could easily add in ham or bacon depending on what your family likes. If syrup is more your flavor, you can make the easiest French Toast Casserole . This can also be made ahead, and popped in the oven in the morning. I like to use my homemade French bread for this and shingle the slices. (The picture I have is before I decided I liked this method.) I add a streusel topping to mine, and it is positively delightful! If you have places to go on Christmas morning, and need something sweet, ...

Tuesday was my birthday. I truly had a wonderful birthday week. It was celebrated with my family, and lots of cake. Monday, I went out to dinner with my parents at our favorite restaurant. I had a free dessert voucher from them, so I had the ho ho cake which we all shared. Tuesday, my actual birthday, I went and got my nails done with my mom. Then I went out to dinner with my parents, aunt and uncle, great grandpa, and grandparents. We went to our favorite burger place, and again, had more cake. Haha! Finally on Saturday, I had my birthday party at the house with my family again! This year we had sausage sandwiches, macaroni and cheese, dirty rice, coleslaw, and the best cake ever. It was fantastic! I was able to open presents, and got my traditional nutcracker from my Bubba, and my traditional Snow Baby from my aunt and uncle. She also gifted me a plate from the antique collection that I started collecting. If you know me, you know that I collect Nutcrackers, and SnowBab...

I shared my Wedesday before Thanksgiving over on InstaStories, but in case you missed it I thought I would share it here as well!  My mom and I had a nail appointment, so we finished that, and grabbed lunch at our favorite hot dog shop. Even though we were going to consume 4,000 calories the following day, they still tasted delicious. That evening, my poor Dukies were handed their first loss. The final score was much closer than this photo, but I for one, did not expect to go undefeated this season, and truthfully I didn't expect to win this game. Gonzaga is scary good, y'all. This Thanksgiving break should be named the ice cream break. We recently got a new ice cream maker and I have been having fun trying out some new recipes. I've made vanilla, butter pecan, and chocolate almond so far. For Christmas Eve, I think I am going to make peppermint ice cream. I've made it before and it is to die for!  As usual, we didn't have any food for Than...

I.LOVE.This.Recipe! I have made this recipe several times, and it is the perfect quick side, or lunch option. It is super easy to make, and with only a few ingredients it comes together in about 15 minutes. Here's what you need: 2 Tbs. butter 1 1/2 cups uncooked orzo pasta 1 can (14.5 oz) low sodium chicken broth 1/4 tst salt 1/4 tst pepper 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese 1/3 cup drained oil packed sun dried tomatoes-patted dry and sliced (I use scissors!) 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley 1/4 cup chopped fresh mint (I've made it without the mint, and used a little dried parsley and it turned out fine!) Directions: In a medium skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add orzo and cook stirring occassionally until lightly browned. (About 5 minutes) Next stir in chicken broth, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Cover. Over medium heat  cook until liquid is absorbed. (Depends on your stovetop!)  Remove pot from heat. Let stand covered for 5 minutes, and fluff with a f...

If loving this is wrong, I don't want to be right! I have not made this dip in ages, but I wanted to make it for my Faith Group that I hosted! I could definitely eat this until I was sick, so I wanted to make it where other people were going to eat it with me! It's like a cannoli, only more sinful! Trust me, you'll want to make this! Chocolate Chip Dip Ingredients: 1 package cream cheese 1/2 cup butter 3/4 cup powdered sugar 2 Tbls brown sugar 1 tsp vanilla extract 1 cup mini chocolate chips Directions: Beat cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Add the sugars and vanilla extract. Beat until smooth. Stir in chocolate chips. (I made this the night before to let all the flavors mesh together, and it turned out great!) Isn't this easy? I served mine with windowpane pretzels, but you could easily serve this with animal crackers or mini graham crackers. Just so you know, I take no responsibility for the 5 pounds you will gain while eating this dip...

If you missed part 1 of my WineFest weekend, you can find it here ! Going into this weekend, we knew that we wanted to hit all of the North East wineries one day and the New York wineries the next. So Saturday morning, we woke up and got breakfast at our hotel and got ready for the day. Grape Discovery Center There was a new winery that opened in Fredonia New York, and while we weren't expecting to travel as far as we did for it I am so glad we did! First of all, the drive there was absolutely beautiful. There were vineyards as far as you could see, and we passed a wind mill farm! This was so cool to see from the road, and after a quick Google search, the Arkwright Summit Wind Farm creates enough power to power about 35,000 homes! The winery is called Woodbury winery, and they had the best wine that I tasted all weekend. I bought two bottles, but easily could have bought 4. They have a cute gift shop that has wine goodies, as well as all their wines. The young man that did...

Recently I had a group of girls over for our monthly "Faith Group." Sometimes we cover a Christian book, sometimes we cover scripture, or sometimes we just talk about the issues we are experiencing in our faith. I look forward to these nights because it is so good to get together with like minded women and just talk about our faith in Jesus. We take turns hosting, and this time it was my turn! I just wanted to give you a quick glimpse into what I did to set up for this very informal gathering. For food, we always keep it simple. I made a fiesta taco dip that I got in North East, PA. It was simple, just mix with sour cream and mayo, and pour the dip mix in. I served in with tortilla chips, and that's it! If you have something savory, you always need something sweet! I made chocolate chip dip. (Recipe coming to the blog soon!) I only make this occasionally because I would literally eat the entire bowl. It's that good! I served it with windowpane pretzels, because...

Today I'm linking up with Shay to discuss how we meal plan! Fun fact about me, I so much more enjoy cooking than I do baking. Baking is so precise, where when I'm cooking I can throw a little of this or that in and my dish will 90% of the time turn out well. Meal planning is important, but not necessary in my opinion if you have a well stocked freezer or pantry. I try to look at the grocery store ads to see what is on sale, and plan around that. We try to have some type of protein every night either beef, chicken, or fish. Once every two weeks or we might eat out. Usually in the rotation is tacos or sloppy joes, chicken on the grill with a baked potato and veggies, and fish either a baked potato or macaroni and cheese. Sometimes we'll grill burgers, or have a chicken sandwich. Do we meal plan and say on Wednesday we're having this? No. I absolutely think that in cases that is necessary, but like I said earlier a well stocked pantry and freezer will help you in th...

I wanted to share my weekend at WineFest with you! North East, PA has a WineFest every year. (This is their 37th!) It is an absolutely beautiful, quaint town, and I could totally see myself living in a town like this among vineyards. (Just please don't let me experience their winters!) I went with my aunt and uncle, who have a much better lay of the land than I do, so we took off Friday for a weekend of fun! *I want to preface this by saying that I like sweet wine. So all of my recommendations of wine will be sweet. However, if you like dry wine everyone that gave us our tastings at all these wineries were so knowledgeable and would be more than happy to assist you in finding you your perfect wine.  We were in North East by 12:30, and hit our first winery. Courtyard Winery is so cute, and their wine is even better! Everyone in my group purchased the Mamma Mia Sangria. Chilled on a hot summer day, this wine will be fantastic with or without fruit! They even give you a san...

Wanted to share some quick Friday Favorites with you! This week was a busy one with birthday's! My best friend Courtney celebrated hers on the 1st, and my mom celebrated hers on the 2nd! I celebrated my friend's by taking her out to lunch, and then we went to our local animal park to feed the animals. Then I treated her to a manicure! It was the most perfect girls day, and I was so happy that I got to celebrate her birthday with her! For my mom's birthday, my dad and I prepared breakfast and cleaned it up. She went to lunch with her brother and sister in law, (Hi Aunt Mare!) and then we all went to dinner at our favorite restaurant. I had the tacos, the best! She said she had a wonderful day! Also this week, it was my turn to host our monthly "Faith Group." We continued our study on Max Lucado's book Anxious for Nothing, and it was a great night. I also tried my first ever pumpkin spice coffee. I don't know what took me so long, but I ...

Without a doubt, I’m a breakfast person. I love to make quiches, and casseroles. I think these sticky buns would be a huge hit at a breakfast at church, or a brunch baby or bridal shower. They are seriously so easy! Ingredients: 3/4 Cup brown sugar 1/4 Cup honey 1/8 Cup butter (that’s half of a 1/4 for all you math illiterates like me!) 1/2 Cup chopped pecans 1 tube of refrigerator biscuits (I like the buttermilk kind!) Directions: In a saucepan mix brown sugar, honey, and butter until melted and combined. Place mixture in an 8 inch greased round pan. Sprinkle pecans on top. Arrange biscuits on top of mixture. *You should have 1 biscuit left over, I just break it up and put it in any gaps between the biscuits.* Bake at 350* for 13-17 minutes. Here’s where the tricky part comes in: when it comes out of the oven let it sit for a minute or two, then you need to flip it on a large platter so the honey and pecan mixture can be on top. Don’t worry, my heart stops a little every...

Amazon Prime is a wonderful thing.  Free 2 day shipping? Yes please! I will say that I’m not a huge Amazon Prime person, but I have most definitely been using their service a lot this summer. Now I don’t grocery shop or anything like that on Prime. I will however buy things that I don’t need, or think I need.  (haha!) I used Amazon Prime at the end of the year to buy my school kiddos their end of the year treats. I’ve also used it just recently for Bible school when we needed solar paper for a craft we did. I will occasionally buy some Christmas gifts and stocking stuffers on Prime as well. Here are a few things that I’ve recently purchased on Amazon. I just purchased a Yumbox and a pink Blender Bottle. I’m trying to streamline my breakfasts and lunches/snacks, so those two items were on my list. (Reviews coming in the weeks ahead!) One of my favorite things to purchase from Amazon are books! They are super inexpensive, and of course the selection is great. I’m one of thos...