Friday Favorites-1.9.25

Happy FIRST Friday Favorites of the ENTIRE YEAR!

I’m hopeful your 2026 is off to a great start. 1/6 of the Slaughters kicked off this week with the FLU which is actually the opposite of a favorite. My prayer now is that little virus doesn’t travel through the rest of the house sharing itself with the rest of us.

Today, I’m back with my girl, Andrea, to share some FAVORITES! Let’s get right to the FAVES…

In honor of a NEW YEAR, I want to kick off this week with my Top FIVE Food TRENDS from 2025:

#5 Ninja Creami-this one barely made the cut because the Slaughters have a LOT to learn when it comes to this kitchen appliance. When we get a recipe to “hit”, it’s really delicious but we’ve had many duds as well. This appliance allows you to make frozen foods into a creamy substance. So we often try to make a healthy-ish version of an ice cream with protein powders, protein shakes, etc. Here’s to perfecting a few recipes in the new year!

#4 Dill Pickle Craze-Remember this year when Sonic added an entire section of the menu that was ALL pickle flavored? I didn’t try that, BUT I’m a FAN of many of the “Dill Pickle” flavored foods out there now. I saw these pistachios as we were walking through the airport. If you’ve traveled with my husband, then you know he left us NO TIME to stop for these pickle pistachios on the way to our gate BUT they’re on my MUST TRY LIST!

#3 HEB Grocery Delivery-I know I’ve told you this before but there’s this HUGE grocery store chain in Texas called HEB. It has a cult-like following if you grew up with an HEB. I’m new to the craze BUT I did fall in LOVE with HEB Grocery Delivery. When it comes to produce, the online system asks me how ripe I’d like my bananas or how ripe I’d like my avocados. Let me tell you if your plan is to have tacos for dinner a few hours after these groceries are delivered the ripeness of my avocados is actually REALLY important. This online system also asks me how I’d like my deli meat sliced and as someone who has a real aversion to {kind of all meat} but especially deli meat, I appreciate the question. I still use Walmart delivery because I can save SO much money on all things. I will still use my local grocery store delivery at times for certain things but I almost weekly have a big HEB haul delivered to my doorstep. I’m always so thankful.

#2 The Year of the BOWL-Who knew a while back I’d be SO excited to be eating a bunch of random foods in a bowl together multiple nights a week?! Not me but my goodness, it’s my favorite way to eat dinner. Here are some of my favorite bowls we’ve had lately…

*Street Corn Chicken Bowl-{recipe below-it’s delish}

*Taco Bowl-we almost always have this once a week in some variation. This week I made potatoes to go with the taco meat instead of rice.

*Salmon Bowl-a great way to get some veggies checked off the box!

*Philly Cheesesteak Bowl-{another recipe below}

#1 Good Culture Cottage Cheese-I can see now that we like to do really FUN things with a different food almost every year….kale chips, celery juicing, cauliflower turned into basically anything one year, it’s definitely a trend. 2025 was the year of cottage cheese and let me tell you-I was HERE FOR IT! This particular brand, Good Culture, is THE BEST. I had cottage cheese on eggs, cottage cheese on toast, cottage cheese on ground beef. You name it. I probably tried it. AND I liked it.

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Not only are the bare walls a FAVORITE right now {am I the only one who loves wide open spaces in the house after the decor is down?} but this outfit is a FAVORITE…floral cargo pants, ribbed tee, and mules.

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I put up some of the more Christmas colored things and added this new throw. {It was on MAJOR sale when I ordered-FAVORITE kind of price and comes in lots of colors.}. The weather is making me want to add spring colors. Surely, Texas is going to get cold soon?!

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That Everyday Mama always has some of my FAVORITE quotes. YES! YES! YES!

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After our New York City trip, we returned and wanted home cooked food! I love eating out, not cooking, not cleaning up but I usually hit a point where I just want a meal made at home. I found these Street Corn Chicken Rice Bowls and made those as soon as we were back. They were DELICIOUS! I’m certain this isn’t a love language but Tab insured me I was speaking his after I whipped these up. Also, I used chicken breast {not thighs} and cooked ours in the air fryer. A couple of my kids were gone this evening so I had plenty of space. They’re a new FAVORITE we’ll keep adding to the menu!

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Another new FAVORITE recipe is Philly Cheesesteak Bowls. I saw this on IG and couldn’t find the actual recipe again but this is what I did…

*Made protein noodles {use your favorite kind}

*Brown lean ground beef {I used three pounds for us} but use whatever your family needs

*I added one au jus packet to season the meat plus salt + pepper

*In another pan I sauteed green onions/peppers.

*I added 1 jar of alfredo sauce to the three pounds of meat. Maybe change it up based on your meat amount or if you like saucy meat/not saucy? Adding it to our meat, it wasn’t saucy. Just gave it some flavor.

*I also air fried broccoli, had cheese as a topping, and heated up a bit more sauce.

*We layered ours with your favorites….pasta, broccoli, meat, etc. Each kid chose something a little different and everyone enjoyed it! WAHOOOOOO!! I realize that might be the worst recipe description EVER but just kind of make it work for your people.

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I have some organizing in my future this weekend! Hope you guys have a great one! I’m off now to chaperone a third grade field trip. Wish me luck!

XO