Panko-Crusted Mac and Cheese

With Mother's Day only a day away, I'm sure all sorts of people are going out today to buy a bouquet of flowers and ingredients for a cute little breakfast in bed.  Props for the effort, but the holiday routine is getting a little tired, don't you think?  I mean...why have eggs and toast in bed when you can have homemade Panko-Crusted Mac and Cheese for dinner??  Filled with garlic, bacon, green onions and a gooey, amazingly delicious cheese sauce, the flavor profile of this dish cannot be beat!  Oh, well, except when you go ahead and top it with a crispy panko breadcrumb topping for a little crunch!  Treat your mom right this Mother's Day and give her what she really wants, (hint, hint) Mac and Cheese!

Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas

Happy Cinco de Mayo!  I know you all are probably out celebrating with some margaritas and a little Taco Tuesday action at your favorite Mexican restaurant, but I thought I would share this AWESOME Slow-Cooker Pork Carnitas recipe that my mom made over the weekend!  I saw the recipe in Taste of Home magazine, and she decided to make it for our Sunday dinner.  It totally hit the spot, especially topped with with homemade Guacamole and Southwestern Bean Salsa!  Of course I added a little extra green onion on top of my tacos because I'm loveeee with their flavor!  Even though it's too late to start this slow cooker recipe for Cinco de Mayo dinner tonight, it's still a perfect set-it-and-forget-it recipe for busy weeknights or a nice Sunday supper!

Chocolate Chip Macaroon Cookies

So I haven't really posted in like 10 days.  Oops.  It's so hard to sit at your computer when it's finally 70 degrees, you're sort of in the peak of your house hunting season, oh and you've been to Cincinnati, Iowa and Pittsburgh in the last 6 days while working your 40 hour work week on top of it.  True story, I'm practically superwoman, right?!  So obviously I took this day of rest to come up with the most amazingly delicious cookies I think I've ever made.  The recipe sort of happened on accident.  I whipped up some chocolate chip cookie dough for a little weekend treat and had already put a batch in the oven when I realized that I was craving coconut!  Instead of just stirring coconut and pecans into the dough like normally do, I made a creamy "macaroon" filling that I sandwiched between 2 pieces of cooking dough before baking!  How did I not think of these before?!