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Everyone in my family absolutely adores spaghetti. They love to enjoy it with tomato sauce, white sauce and even pink sauce. We even enjoy it with just a sprinkle of olive oil and salt! Any way we can enjoy spaghetti, we do, and it is so much fun. My husband, on the other hand, hates spaghetti. He hates that it is often a mess to eat and that it always untwists on his fork before he can even get it into his mouth. It is definitely a love/hate (but mostly hate) relationship with spaghetti in his book.

Well, since my family loves it and my husband hates it, I have been trying to find a solution for this conundrum. How hard it is to feed people who are polar opposites, huh? Well, after a while of browsing on Pinterest, I was still stumped. I had absolutely no idea what to do to make my family something they love, but also not something my husband hates. So, I called my neighbor Anne who quickly came to the rescue. After hearing my dilemma, she had a solution of a family recipe from long ago in her family: spaghetti baked cream cheese casserole.

Photo and recipe courtesy of Plain Chicken.

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Quick Tip: Sprinkle with any of your favorite cheese over the top.

The other day I was enjoying a homemade salad (you know, still trying to shed some weight from the holidays) and was admiring all the yummy toppings I had on it. I had a bit of honey glazed sliced almonds, some croutons, some Craisins, sesame seeds and a bit of shaved cheese. All of it added the perfect balance to a somewhat too healthy meal.

That got me thinking… what if I did something creative to this dish to make it even better? Say I eliminated the lettuce and added butter instead? Yeah, I know I just threw healthy out the window, but who cares?! This is an awesome idea so far. Maybe instead of almonds, I will throw in flour. And instead of croutons, I will add some oats. Oh, and in place of cheese, I add some vanilla. Yeah, I know I have completely steered away from my healthy salad, but now I have COOKIES! Throw all these ingredients together and I will have made the perfect oatmeal craisin cookie. Together, these ingredients make the best treat (and much better than a salad, for sure!). Do not be afraid to play with your own ingredients, you might get results like mine!

Photo and recipe courtesy of Food.com.

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Quick Tip: Add in white chocolate chips if you’d like.

Every time I see the word “cobbler” it is in the form of a delicious dessert. I have learned that “cobbler” is for sweets and “casserole” is for salty. It is easy to see why that is so as most cobblers have a sweet crumb topping, while most casseroles tend to just be a plain dish in it. However, even with all those different things, there are still a few cracks in the walls.

It is not always perfect like that. Casseroles are hardly ever sweet, but some cobblers are savory dishes. What is funny about this one is that it is a cobbler, but not considered dessert. Sweet potatoes should be good enough to enjoy for dessert, but they are not. They are there to add a sweet touch to an otherwise completely savory meal. Well, wait no further for an original and cool side dish, I bring you the best one: sweet potato cobbler. It is a sweet potato mash as we all know and love, but instead of the typical marshmallows or pecans over the top, it has a cobbler topping that is made with butter, oats, brown sugar and flour. Together, this melts beautifully until it becomes a crispy coating.

Photo and recipe courtesy of Southern Bite.

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Quick Tip: Dust with powdered sugar and cinnamon for a nice topping.

These Are The Easiest (Yet Most Delicious) Cinnamon Rolls You Will Ever Make

I am a huge fan of cinnamon rolls. You have no idea how much I absolutely love them. One of my favorite things to do is go to an Amish farm about 30 minutes away from my home and stand in line for over 3 hours (yep, you read that right, over 3 hours!!) for a dozen of their amazing cinnamon rolls. You might think it is crazy, but these cinnamon rolls are totally worth it. Nowadays, it has become a little harder to make it out there as often as I would like for a dozen cinnamon rolls. It is just so much harder to find the time to stand in line for that!

But, after a few searches online, I think I have found the recipe that although will likely not replace those Amish cinnamon rolls, they come to a close second! I have tried these over and over again, and let me tell you friends: they are fool proof!

There is no way to mess these up, for real! On top of the easiness, they are so delicious! The biscuit dough with loads of cinnamon sugar make for a delicious topping over It all! I absolutely love how these turn out!

Photo and recipe courtesy of Stamps 4 Fun.

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Quick Tip: When completely cool, feel free to add a glaze over this.

My sister is the master monkey bread maker. Whenever we are going to prepare monkey bread, whether it is for a holiday party or just a family get together, she is the one who prepares it. I mean, we might buy the ingredients for her (she hates going to the supermarket), but they stay put until she is ready to put the dessert together.

It is not so complicated to make; it is just that she makes it so well! There is no need for us to go and ruin it with our little ideas of what good monkey bread is. As the saying goes, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” She has been making it excellently for years, so we might as well leave it to her. That is, if she is making the original kind. I have tried my hand at monkey bread quite a few times and you know how? By adding lemon to the mix, chocolate, caramel, bananas, strawberries… you name it, I have tried it. Now, ironically, my husband loves chocolate, but his absolute favorite monkey bread is the lemon flavor. It is strange I know, but when you try the lemon, you will know why he says that.

Photo and recipe courtesy of The Recipe Rebel.

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Quick Tip: Add a little bit of orange zest for more flavor.

After we first got married, my husband and I started going over my in law’s house for dinner around once a month.  My father in law is an excellent cook and always showed off his skills with awesome recipes.  They were tasty, full of flavor and excellently prepared and presented.  We would stuff ourselves with his awesome food and always came home with lots of leftovers.  It was definitely fun!

After a long day of work, we went over his house once and he had prepared some haystack chicken.  Basically, that is just a bowl of rice, with chicken and then topped with lots of different toppings from sour cream to cheese to guacamole to plantains to pineapple. There were just so many options.  It got me thinking…I realized that my husband and I would love that concept- but Mexican themed.  So I got to it, found a great recipe for Mexican chicken and then again Mexican rice.  With that, we prepared a bowl and then topped it with all of our favorite Mexican toppings: refried beans, cheese, sour cream and the like.  It was so fun to prepare our own bowls and they all turned out so delicious!

Photo and recipe courtesy of Budget Bites.

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Quick Tip: This freezes well, so prepare in advance and then just thaw and heat

I had never eaten sloppy joes in my life.  I detested the thought of them because I thought they were exactly that- sloppy. I guess they are and that is the fun, but I do not find messy food fun.  I prefer to eat with a fork and knife like a civilized person than have fun with messy hands. It is just not in me to do it.  Maybe it is because my grandma trained me to use my fork instead of my hands, but it is just too hard to enjoy a meal with my hands.

Anyway, my husband really wanted me to try this.  I was not sure.  I thought it would be a big messy mess and I definitely did not want to get into that.  I wanted something easy to eat and not stressful.  I did not want to risk ruining my dress nor making a mess in public.  That is just too embarrassing!  So instead, my husband found a great solution.  He took me to a place that serves sloppy joe casseroles! Instead of making a mess with my hands, I ate all the elements of a sloppy joe with my fork instead of hands.  It was positively delicious!

Photo and recipe courtesy of Real Housemoms.

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Quick Tip: Serve with a side of buns for the ultimate sloppy joe experience