Let Me Pintroduce You

Good morning everyone!!  Carrie from Frugal Foodie Mama and I are so happy to have you here for our fifth Let Me Pintroduce You Party! :)

Make sure you spread the word about the party- the more the merrier, right??

<a href="http://www.momstestkitchen.com/p/let-me-pintroduce-you.html"> <img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTcwB-0ep2Kf0xWMBCKrY3LigrVE-3MUVQfEZR_Ut7jMq8riSM3ht37HeEJdGZgT9pqFRJ8Bjw7fpsT0zuVI4sJY1Mj95Riluz9mglnmvE6JK02Umz3HZi3L3Y6zhtGvyr_KH46DEky-0/s1600/PINTRODUCE.png" border="0"/> </a>

Carrie and I originally brainstormed the idea for a Pinterest linky party when the two of us were emailing back and forth one day after discovering how much of our blog traffic was a direct result of some of our recipe posts being pinned and then repinned and repinned again on Pinterest.  We thought why not host a monthly Pinterest party? And thus, Let Me Pintroduce You was born! 

We have decided to add a special Bloglovin linky seeing as how Google Reader just announced it's July 1st exit.  So after you have linked up your Pinterest accounts below, be sure to scroll down a bit and add your Bloglovin link as well! Just remember to give your hosts and co-hosts a follow. ;)

*Just a note- there will not be a Let Me Pintroduce You Party in June or July.  We will be taking a little summer break, and returning on the last Friday in August with a whole new party!  Have fun this week, make some new Pinterest friends, and HAVE A WONDERFUL SUMMER, FRIENDS! :)

This month's co-host is...

Lisa from Cooking With Curls

So, how does the Let Me Pintroduce You Party work?  Easy!

• Please follow Carrie (Frugal Foodie Mama) and Jaime (Mom's Test Kitchen), and this month's co-host Lisa (Cooking With Curls). 
• Try to follow at least two other Pinterest accounts that have linked up and maybe repin a few things that catch your eye while you are at. ;)
• Grab our button above and slap it on your sidebar or your party page on your blog.  Help us spread the word! 
• Be sure to link up your main Boards page of your Pinterest account only, not individual board pages or individual pins.
• Then hop down to the Bloglovin linky & do the same! 
• Send out a tweet & let the Twitterverse know that we would like to Pintroduce them to everyone!

Tweet

Link up your Pinterest accounts here! :)

Link up your Bloglovin blogs here! :)

Candied Bacon Monkey Bread & a Bacon #Giveaway

Father's Day is quickly approaching & I have the perfect Father's Day breakfast all picked out for you!  Seriously, what dad wouldn't want to start his day with bacon??

Growing up, my dad had one meal that he would fix that I would always ask for.  Every Christmas morning started out with his monkey bread.  Without fail, I knew I was getting monkey bread for breakfast that morning.  I was almost as excited about that as I was about the presents.  32 years later & I still try to work having monkey bread into our family Christmas get-togethers :)

So in honor of my dad, I've made his monkey bread on a whole new level!  Bacon added to monkey bread??  Good.  Candied Bacon added to monkey bread???  AMAZING!!

CANDIED BACON MONKEY BREAD

YIELD: 12 servings

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INGREDIENTS:

For the Candied Bacon

• 12 slices Petit Jean Meats Bacon
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon maple extract
• pepper to season

For the Monkey Bread

• 2 cans (16 ounces) jumbo butter biscuits
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 2 sticks (1 cup) butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon maple extract
• candied bacon

COOKING DIRECTIONS:

For the Candied Bacon

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Put the bacon slices in a medium bowl. Season the bacon with pepper & then toss with the brown sugar and maple flavoring making sure they are nicely coated.

Lay the bacon out on a wire rack placed over a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, then turn the slices over and bake for another 10 minutes. Turn the slices over again and bake for another 5-10 or until the bacon is browned & crisp.

For the Monkey Bread

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees again if necessary. Heavily grease a tube or bundt pan. Crumble 4 pieces of your candied bacon & sprinkle in to the bottom of the pan.

Working with one can of biscuits at a time, cut the biscuits into quarters. Add the cinnamon and sugar to a medium bowl with a lid or large Ziploc bag & shake it around until well combined. Add the biscuit quarters to the bowl & cover with the lid. Depending on your bowl size, you might have to work in batches. With the lid tightly closed, shake the bowl until all of the biscuit pieces are well coated. Pour the pieces into the pan on top of the crumbled bacon.

Crumble 4 more pieces of your candied bacon and sprinkle on top of the biscuit pieces in the pan. Repeat the same steps with the second can of biscuits. Crumble the remaining slices of bacon on to the top of the biscuits. Sprinkle any remaining cinnamon sugar mixture over the biscuit pieces (this is totally optional but definitely worth it!)

In a small saucepan over medium low heat, melt the butter and then stir in the brown sugar and maple extract until just barely combined ~ I do not completely melt the butter, just enough to make a nice caramel. Pour the mixture all over the biscuit pieces. Let the liquid settle for a second & then place in the oven. Depending on how full your pan is, you might want to place with a baking sheet below the pan so you don't have any overflows to the bottom of your oven.

Bake the monkey bread for 25-30 minutes or until the top of the biscuits are golden brown. Remove the pan from the oven and let it sit for about 10 minutes to cool. Turn the bread out on to a large plate & let cool some more if you can resist the temptation of digging in!

My favorite bacon makers, Petit Jean Meats, wants to help me help you give your dad the gift of bacon this Father's Day!  One lucky winner will receive the Petit Jean Meats Bacon Sampler ~ we're talking 4 pounds of bacon here y'all!!  You could feed your dad bacon at every meal!! :)



a Rafflecopter giveaway

DISCLAIMER: I was provided with the Petit Jean Meats Bacon Sampler for recipe development purposes.  No other compensation was received.

Wonderful Food Wednesday

Welcome to
Wonderful Food Wednesday- #39

We're here for another week of Wonderful Food Wednesday. Thank you all so much for linking up each week!

Want to be featured? Post your best and we'll pick three of our favorites to feature each week. Check back next week to see if you've been featured on Wonderful Food Wednesday. If you're featured, your recipe will also be pinned to our Wonderful Food Wednesday Pinterest board.

Leave us a comment and tell us what you're cooking up!

Ready for this week's features?

Here's a delightful Caprese Pizza from A Bright and Beautiful Life.

Curves and a Camera guest posted at Frugal Foodie Mama and shared her Oreo Chocolate Mousse Cupcakes:

These Cheese and Bacon Stuffed Mushrooms from Busy Mom's Helper are a bite full of goodness:

Be sure to stop by all three of these fabulous blogs to check out these recipes and lots of others.

If you've been featured, feel free to grab our button and place it on your sidebar:

Rules:

1. Follow your hosts Kerrie @ Family Food and Travel

and Jessica @All She Cooks , Jaime at Mom's Test Kitchen

*If you are a new follower please leave us a message/comment so that we can hop on over for a visit.

2. Visit as many blogs as you can, leave comments, follow and grab their recipes.

If you are interested in guest hosting for a week, please send an email to

twinstravelblog (at) gmail (dot) com

Instagram + Vine Blog Hop

Welcome to the Instagram + Vine Blog Hop! If you're new here, the Instagram + Vine Blog Hop is a party where you link up your Instagram and/or Vine accounts, find and follow new friends, and be continually inspired by what you see in your feeds! No need to have a blog, just an Instagram and/or Vine account!

How to PLAY:

 

1. Follow your HOSTS:

 

Kimberly | Instagram: @anightowlblog | Vine: anightowlblog 

Emily | Instagram: @mrsemshhh | Vine: emily emshwiller 

Angie | Instagram: @blogali | Vine: Little Inspiration
 

2. Follow your CO-HOSTS:

 

Jaime | Instagram: @momstestkitchen

You can find Jaime here: 

Blog :: Facebook :: Twitter :: Pinterest

 ***

Emily | Instagram: @empri88

 You can find Emily here: 

Blog :: Facebook :: Twitter :: Pinterest
 

3. Link up your Instagram Web Profile:

 

 

Just link up your new Instagram Web Profile (http://instagram.com/username) -OR- your web viewer of choice in the linky below!

Note: this URL will not let you choose a profile pic from your feed, so be sure you have a picture you can upload from your computer if you use it! If you get a "Error: The requested URL returned error: 500" error that just means it can't find a picture to use NOT that your link is bad. Just click on "Direct Image URL" if you have one or "Upload from Computer". If you still have trouble, try sticking with Followgram or Webstagram to upload your profile.
 

4. NEW! Link up your Vine Username and/or Video!

 

Add your Vine username (so folks can find you) to the list below! Or link up a Vine video so we can see your cinematography at work! This is new, so there aren't web profiles just yet, but hopefully they'll be out soon! How do you find your video link? If you post your video on Facebook or Twitter, you will be given a URL that looks like this: "http://vine.co/v/bJegq22datT." Just link that up below with your username so we can find you! If you don't have a URL to one of your videos, simply link up your blog URL, but make sure the title is your Vine username so we can find you!
 

5. Check out and follow a few fellow Instagram or Vine friends.

 

Tell folks you follow that you found them through the Hop!
 

6. Spread the word!

 

Tweet about it, share it on Facebook or post about it on Instagram!

Tweet

Now let's link up!

Nice To Meet You {Blog Hop}

It's blog hop time again! Thank you so much to all of those who have linked up on Nice to Meet You.

So let's get this party started!!

Do you want to find more blogs to read? Do you want to meet fellow bloggers? I do! That's why my friends Brenna and Mariely created the Nice to Meet You {Blog Hop}. Let's make some connections with people who like blogging, just like us!



<center> <a href="http://marielyvp.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i1340.photobucket.com/albums/o739/marielyvp/NTMYBlogHop1_zps72537771.jpg" " /></a></center>

We would love to have you follow the hosts and co-host via GFC, RSS Feed, Bloglovin, Facebook, Twitter OR Pinterest. Whichever works best for you ;)

Mariely @ Sensational Creations
Blog/ Bloglovin/ Facebook/ Twitter/ Pinterest/ Instagram/ Google+

Brenna @ Life After Laundry

Blog/ RSS Feed/ Bloglovin/ Facebook/ Twitter/ Pinterest/ Google+

And our amazing co-host for this week

Jaime @ Mom's Tets Kitchen
Blog/ Bloglovin/ Facebook/ Twitter/ Pinterest/ Google+/ Instagram

• Link up your blog (home page).

• Be sure to visit other blogs, leave comments and/or follow.
Remember: this Blog Hop is to get to know fellow bloggers. Play nice :)

• You can invite fellow bloggers to join the party!

**New followers: please leave a comment with a link to your blog so we can follow you back. Tell us from where you are following us (for example Bloglovin) so we can return the favor. Thanks!

 

 

"Bloggers are your community... not your competition!"

-Jamielyn Nye

Link up your blog below!

Oatmeal White Chocolate Bars #SecretRecipeClub

   

Welcome to this month's installment of the Secret Recipe Club!!  This month for my secret assignment I got to stalk the lovely Sally of Bewitching Kitchen.  Sally has been blogging since 2009 so to say she has an amazingly extensive recipe index to choose from would be an understatement!

 

 

 

When I came across Sally's Oatmeal Fudge Bars I knew I had found the recipe to try!  Princess P has been asking for nothing but oatmeal for the past 2 weeks so adding some chocolate to it was a huge hit!

 

 

 

The only change I made from Sally's original recipe was I used white chocolate chips instead of regular chocolate chips & that was done simply because of what I had available in my pantry :)

 

 

OATMEAL WHITE CHOCOLATE BARS

YIELD: 8 large bars

INSPIRED BY: Bewitchin Kitchen

 

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup quick cook oats
• 1 & 1/4 cups light brown sugar, divided
• 1 cup flour, divided
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 10 tablespoons butter
• 1 & 1/2 cups chocolate chips {I used white chocolate}
• 1 egg
• salt

COOKING DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat your oven to 325 degrees. Line an 8 inch square baker with aluminum foil, allowing excess to hang over the edges of the pan. Grease foil; set pan aside.                
2. Combine the oats, 1 cup of brown sugar, 3/4 cup of flour, baking powder, baking soda, and a pinch of salt in a medium bowl. Melt 8 tablespoons of the butter and stir into the oat mixture until combined. Reserve 3/4 cup of the mixture for the topping. Sprinkle the remaining oat mixture over the bottom of the prepared pan and press into an even layer. Bake until light golden brown, about 12 minutes. Cool completely, about 1 hour.                
3. Combine the remaining 1/4 cup flour, the remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar, and another small pinch of salt in a bowl. Set aside.                
4. Melt the chocolate chips and the remaining 2 tablespoons butter in a large bowl, microwaving at 50% power in 30 second intervals, stirring after each. Let cool slightly. Add the egg and whisk until combined. Use a rubber spatula to fold in the flour mixture, stirring until just combined.                
5. Pour the chocolate filling over the cooled crust and sprinkle with the reserved 3/4 cup oatmeal mixture. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, 25-30 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack. Using the foil overhang, lift the bars from the pan and cut into squares. Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature.

 

 

Shane's Turned 21!! #Cheersto21

I'm so excited to be celebrating the big 2-1 with Shane from Whispering Sweet Nothings!!  Be sure to stop by & wish Shane a Happy Birthday!! 

 

 

 

The day we've all been waiting for has finally arrived! I became legal, and you ladies reap the benefits. Over $150 worth of my favorite things all to one lucky winner!

 

the prizes:

$45 to Target * $25 to Victoria's Secret * 2 Julep Nail polish * $20 to Etsy * $50 Starbucks * Starbucks Coffee * $20 to Mintgem * Chocolate * $10 Paypal cash * Nail polish + jewelry * 6 months WSN ad space ($90 value) * Surprise jewelry from my shop

a Rafflecopter giveaway   All to ONE lucky winner chosen at random! **Come back daily to tweet/share for maximum entries!