Menu Monday: Death by Chocolate Bundt Cake

I had a little fun this past week, and made this fabulous Death by Chocolate Bundt Cake recipe from Live Craft Eat that I found on Pinterest! My sweet husband and co-workers said it was a hit!

Check out Live Craft Eat - it is a great resource for fun stuff!

Here's how my cake turned out:

I was pretty impressed with myself, and have to admit it's the first time I've ever used my bundt pan.

The cake is definitely rich, and the perfect cake for when you don't want to ice something. The only mistake for me was that I didn't have milk to drink with it when it came out of the oven!

XOXO,

Mrs. Jones

Ode to Salsa Verde...

The crucial ingredient to my favorite made-at-home Mexican dish, Sweet Lime Enchiladas, started causing problems over this past year.

I had fallen in love with Pace's Salsa Verde. I'd used two other brands, and they just weren't right for this dish. So imagine my disappointment when I found out Pace quit making it. I was slightly devastated and on the hunt for how to replace it.

Nothing worked right. Nothing tasted perfect. Enter severe frustration, until that last trip to Atlanta when I hit up Trader Joe's. Their salsa verde? Even better than Pace's. My sweet lime enchiladas have never tasted so good.

But really y'all? That's a three hour drive to the nearest Trader Joe's. I'm going to be buying in bulk from now on, needless to say.

It just means I need to go visit my ATL blog friends more, right?

XOXO,
Mrs. Jones

Menu Monday: Experiments!

Happy Monday lovelies!

I've actually tried out a few new things I wanted to share this week! I made Homemade Frosty Paws thanks to Cole's blog. I gave EB her first one this weekend, and she freaked out. They smelled a lot like a peanut butter pie!

Don't they look delicious!?! I've got a seriously happy puppy on my hands!

Late last week, I was craving egg salad, but a very, very simple version, Augusta-style if you've ten there to see it and you know what I mean! I looked up about five different egg salad recipes, and decided to concoct my own out of it all. I wanted super simple, Masters' style egg salad and I think I got there.

Mrs. Jones' simple egg salad
Makes about 4-5 sandwiches
Mix and serve on bread:
- 12 hard-boiled eggs, chopped and mashed with a fork
- 5 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup very finely diced celery
- salt and pepper

Have a great day!
XOXO,
Mrs. Jones

Menu Monday randoms...

Well, I'm taking a page from Mrs. Smith's book this week and blogging about the things I cooked last week, because for once, I actually managed to cook a couple of things!

Here's the breakdown, with a few photos! (Go me!)

Bow Tie Fiesta
I snagged this recipe from Blue Eyed Bride's blog and it was a huge hit with the husband! You'll enjoy it for sure! It made for a perfect Sunday night dinner.

Spiced Mocha Cupcakes
Monday night was baking night at my house! I'd been craving cupcakes and milk, and the really good, homemade kind, so I pulled out this recipe that I'd blogged about ages ago. The cupcake part was delicious! I totally screwed up the icing, not use how. So I bought a can of frosting and let that be that. Oh well.

That's about it for this week. :-)
XOXO,
Mrs. Jones

Primal Update #2

It's working, it's working!

I hit my 10 pound weight loss mark on Thursday and I was so excited! I have had a few little slip-ups on the primal eating plan, but that's to be expected! I've had some sweet potato fries and ranch on occasion!

I've snapped a few photos of recent meals!

Salad with hard-boiled eggs, olives and bacon

Baked pork chop, asparagus and baked lemon shrimp

(lemon shrimp from this pin)

Baked parmesan zucchini

(idea from this pin)

I'm excited and still looking for more fabulous recipes. That's all for now! XOXO,
Mrs. Jones

Wishful Wednesday: Puppy Cake!

Okay, it's confession time. We are reality TV people. We love it. Big Brother. Amazing Race. Survivor. And now, Shark Tank.

Oh, Shark Tank! I love watching the pitches and the haggling. It's hilarious. But there never is really something I want to buy. Until I watched last week's episode tonight. Then I saw Puppy Cake! OMG y'all. I think EB needs it. Now.

I mean, there's even a deal. :-) I love deals. And isn't it just precious? Who's

Puppy Cake Mix

$6.99

Who else wants to get to baking some puppy cupcakes? I'm kind of excited about this. Who's with me?

XOXO,
Mrs. Jones

Menu Monday: Omelet Muffins

It's been so long since I've shared a recipe! Goodness! But today I'm back and boy do I have an easy breakfast recipe for you! (And even better, it's a primal recipe that I've been loving for everyday breakfasts!)

Ingredients:
- 6 eggs
- 1/2 cup bacon
- 1/2 cup diced veggies
- dash of pepper
- 1/8 cup mayonnaise
- 1/8 cup water

Optional:
- 1/4 cup cheese (I add it!)

Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Beat all the eggs in a bowl.
- Add all the other ingredients to the bowl and mix.
- Spoon into muffin tin (I actually used a wider, thinner bread tin for mine and it was great. I also doubled the recipe to make husband-ready breakfast for on the go!)

I loved these! Hope you enjoy! You can find more details here. I'll post a primal diet update this week, I promise. There's so much I want to say already, but I'm reading and learning. I'm also hoping the scale goes down a little more before my post about it! :-) But progress is progress, and I'll take it!!!

XOXO,
Mrs. Jones

My "first" Thanksgiving foray...

On the Monday before Thanksgiving, we headed to Georgia like i mentioned. We tossed a whole lot of stuff - and Eve Belle - in the car and hit the road!

By the time we arrived, my mother-in-law had had surgery and we got her Christmas decorations set up before they arrived home. That made her smile! :-)

With my sweet MIL out of commission, I did something I'd never had to do before: cook a holiday meal! I was a little terrified but we had a blast, she taught me a few things along the way and we had a great Thanksgiving dinner.

There was homemade bread.....

And my husband's favorite - coconut cake! I was proud of this one!

The table looked lovely.

Flowers came for my MIL...

I slow-cooked a turkey breast and it was delicious!

Twice-baked potato casserole.... this was a HIT! 

Corn Casserole... I need to blog about this.

My sweet husband made the stuffing and he did good!

The spread - and me with my very first Thanksgiving meal! 

It was a great week and I'm glad I finally got around to sharing pictures and details of our meal! Not to mention, it was Mr. Jones' birthday, so I was super-proud I made his favorite cake successfully! I'm so glad my MIL taught me how to make it - now I can make his favorite for any big occasion!

XOXO,
Mrs. Jones

Kicking off the Holidays...

So, I got my first physical Klout perk on Friday afternoon! I was sooooo excited to get this Klout perk, because Macy's and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade has always had a special place in Mr. Jones' heart. It's his birthday. He's a Thanksgiving baby. And he loves years like this when his birthday falls on Thanksgiving again. So, he got a little excited when I showed it to him!

A few thoughts:

- The packaging was super cute!

- The cookbook looks fabulous! I'll have to try a few things and share my favorites.

- It's a seriously big and cool cookbook. And it retails for about $25. Which makes me giggly that I got it for free! Thank you Klout - and Macy's!

{Disclaimer: I was given a copy of this cookbook by Macy's by Klout. But that's it. 

All other opinions and notes are totally mine.}

XOXO,

Mrs. Jones

A cozy night in Nashville

I left Alabama and headed across the state line to Tennessee on Friday afternoon to meander to Mrs. Smith's house for the first part of our weekend. We kept it low-key and spent the evening relaxing with a glass of wine, pizza and some seriously funny and entertaining tv shows. It was the perfect night for us to relax.

I will share that Mrs. Smith made the BEST homemade pizza for dinner. She blogged about it for her Menu Monday post here. When life and work and all that jazz calms down next week, I will be making this for one of our nightly dinners. It was divine. See?

Mmmm... Honey goat cheese pizza. I'm getting hungry. 

We had the perfect night, and turned in fairly early, which was perfect because our Saturday was jam-packed full of fun! I'll post the rest of our trip soon.

XOXO and Happy Friday!

Mrs. Jones

Menu Monday: "White" Pizza

It was "cook what you have" night one day, and I had already chopped up chicken, cheese and a pizza crust in the fridge.

When Mr. Jones didn't want a normal pizza, I thought "Hmmm, why not use alfredo sauce, onions and make it white?!" He agreed. But then he was stunned when I showed him the uncooked version. He didn't realize it would look all white.

I added a few diced tomatoes for good measure to give us a few more veggies, and it looked a little better then. :-)

To make the pizza, I used Pillsbury pizza crust (refrigerated dough - it's the best - love it!) and smothered low-cal alfredo sauce on it, added mozzarella cheese and a tiny bit of parmesan, diced onions and tomatoes.  Pretty simple if you ask me!

Do any of you love to make your own pizzas?

Happy Monday - hope everyone else survived their Monday! I barely did...

Mrs. Jones

Garden fresh...

So, with the lovely plants Mr. Jones and I have been growing this summer has also come some seriously yummy times. I may have to stop at Whole Foods again on our way back in to town tomorrow because I want more of this awesome crostini.

This is what I did for a "light dinner" a few weeks ago. I want it again. Now. Badly. Diced tomatoes, salt, garlic and a little feta on top of crostini. Can I call that my version of bruschetta? Because I think I will!

I love knowing this came right from our backyard. It's heavenly!

Happy Saturday everyone! We're off to see some family today! Back soon!

XOXO,

Mrs. Jones

I ❤ kitchen gadgets...

Yep. I love kitchen gadgets. Especially nice ones that my grandma gives me. And double especially when they save me money on food! Like my vacuum sealer!

XOXO,

Mrs. Jones

If you give EB a bone...

... Just know she's gotten really spoiled with homemade frozen bone treats lately. So she may or may not be picky.

The latest creation was a peanut butter and mashed banana concoction. She loves it.

Do you make homemade treats for your pets? I'm kind of enjoying it because it's so easy with her Chillin Bones set.

XOXO,

Mrs. Jones