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Fresh Fridays
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Fresh Fridays, January 26

Kathleen

by Kathleen Pope Jan 25, 2024

Hola! As you are reading this we are on our way home after an amazing week escaping the cold and enjoying sand and sunshine!

If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram you probably watched some of my stories!

But, you aren’t here for that are you — you are here for the recipes! And I was able to work ahead before we left and get a few new ones on the blog! Another crockpot recipe, as well as a fabulous steak and ale pie!

Be sure to use the Table of Contents below to discover what interests you most.

  • New on the blog this week | Comfort Food
  • Soup Season is Here
  • Best breads for stews and soups
  • A week in my life…
  • What Readers Are Saying about…
    • Chewy Blondies Recipe
  • Trending Breakast Recipes You Should Check Out
  • What Caught My Eye | Sales and Deals
  • Nightstand News
  • Browse my Amazon Storefront
  • Weekly Inspiration | His Very Heart
Fresh Fridays Logo new 2022.
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure & privacy policy.

New on the blog this week | Comfort Food

This time of year, we want easy, warm, comforting food — especially when it’s cold outside.

  • First up is this crock pot Sausage and Peppers recipe — not only is this an easy dinner but it doubles as an amazing game day snack (for all you football fans)! Dump and go recipe, too!
Sausage and peppers on a wooden spoon from a crockpot.
Italian sausage and peppers recipe

???? Save this recipe for the future ????

Click the heart ???? symbol in the lower right-hand corner of your screen (while on the recipe), and it will be saved to your own private recipe box!

  • Just look at this Irish Steak pie, tender juicy hunks o’ beef in a rich and flavorful Guinness gravy and topped with a cheddar puff pastry crust — my hubby has asked for this to be on repeat this winter!
A fat slice of pie shows off the juicy filling.
Yes! I want this recipe!

Rate the Recipe ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I love it when you try my recipes, rate them, and share your thoughts! It really helps others and boosts the recipe’s visibility. I so appreciate you!

Soup Season is Here

Nothing takes the chill off from the inside out like a warm bowl of soup! Here are our reader favorites!

Bright green bowl filled with creamy broccoli cheese panera soup with spoon and sprigs of parsley laying around.

Panera Copycat Broccoli Cheese Soup

Easy and healthier version of Panera’s Broccoli cheese soup, using real cheese and loaded with real fresh broccoli and carrots!

Read more
Bowl of Panera Thai Chicken Soup, called Tom Kha soup.

Panera Thai Style Chicken Soup Recipe (Tom Kha Soup)

Panera Thai Chicken Soup is a tasty, gluten-free, dairy-free, nutritious soup with authentic flavors. A simple copycat recipe with tender chicken in a spicy-sweet coconut broth, ready in less than an hour.

Read more
Creamy chicken poblano soup garnished with sliced radishes, tortilla chips and avocado.

Easy Creamy Chicken Poblano Pepper Soup Recipe

You will love how easy this chicken poblano soup recipe is chock full of veggies, and tender chicken in a light and creamy broth. A naturally gluten-free, low-carb soup that will have your family screaming for more! A cream of poblano soup if you will.

Read more

Best breads for stews and soups

Who doesn’t love a warm slice of bread with their comfort food? My husband just said the other night, as he was diving into a slice of fresh baked bread smothered in Irish butter…”I think I can live on bread alone.” 😉 Here are my favorite quick bread recipes:

Image of Irish soda bread with butter and text overlay that says 90 best bread recipes for soup.

The Best Bread Recipes for Soup

If you love bread with soup, you must check out my best bread recipes!

Read more
Irish brown soda bread recipe on cutting board with a few pieces sliced, butter in background.

Traditional Irish Brown Bread Recipe

This authentic Irish Brown Bread recipe is a hearty whole wheat loaf made with buttermilk and sweetened with rich molasses. It's a traditional Irish recipe, perfect for serving with stews and soups, and of course on St. Patrick's Day!

Read more
Fluffy biscuit with cinnamon honey butter melting onto small cutting board.

Easy Homemade Cream Biscuits Recipe (2-Ingredient)

Easy Homemade Biscuits. This easy 2 ingredient biscuit recipe without baking powder produces flaky biscuits that turn out tender, moist, and flaky with just TWO ingredients.

Read more
Two images, Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits, a. drop biscuits, b. skillet biscuit.

Red Lobster Cheddar Biscuits (biscuits & skillet bread)

A better than Red Lobster Cheddar Biscuits recipe, this copycat recipe is so easy to make, ready in about 20 minutes! Make them as biscuits or bread in a cast iron skillet. Cheesy, tender, great flavor!

Read more
Irish soda bread with wedge removed, buttered with Irish butter.

Easy Traditional Irish Soda Bread Recipe (4 Ingredients)

Traditional 4 ingredient Irish Soda Bread is the best easy recipe to make from scratch. A dense, crusty, hearty bread recipe from Ireland. Gluten free option too!

Read more

Easy 4 Ingredient Beer Bread

This EASY Beer Bread recipe is one of the easiest bread recipes around. Using just 6 common pantry ingredients, no rise time and less than an hour to bake. It’s the perfect bread for every meal, BBQ, Picnic, Cookout or Party! 

Read more

A week in my life…

I want to be sensitive to my readers and friends who think I have a glamorous life. And I admit that this year, I sure seem to, and I do not take that for granted!

We were so blessed to spend a week in Cabo San Lucas with my former roommate and her husband. I will tell you more about them next week! Relaxing in the sand, surf, and Mexico sunshine was such a treat. We enjoyed long walks, stunning sunsets, times by the pool, and great food!

We were generously gifted a week with my former roommate and her husband in Cabo San Lucas — I feel so very blessed and honored! And since my husband has been traveling for work again, it’s been a wonderful time reconnecting with him!

I’ll post pictures next week, internet is/was rather slow and I had trouble loading pictures.

What Readers Are Saying about…

Chewy Blondies Recipe

Choose your mix-ins! The blondies pictured below were made with malted milk balls — but try butterscotch chips, peanut butter chips, toffee bits, whatever you want!

About to make these for the SECOND time!! I love them! My mix ins are peanut butter chips, chocolate chips and walnuts! So easy to make and so so so good!

Elizabeth
Chewy blondies with whoppers.
Yes, I want THE recipe!

Trending Breakast Recipes You Should Check Out

  1. Overnight Cinnamon Crunch French Toast — such an amazing recipe!
  2. This vegetarian tater tot casserole will have you not even missing the meat! But if you miss it make these air fryer sausage links to go with it!
  3. Breakfast sliders — these are awesome for game day! Bake them, then wrap individually in foil and keep in a crockpot on warm — grab and go!
  4. Top it all off with these gooey Cinnamon rolls or these Apple Pie cinnamon rolls.

What Caught My Eye | Sales and Deals

Check out the images below items HERE! Plus, previous week’s finds!

Here are a few things to cozy up with if you are not feeling well.

  • How cute is this Valentine’s day tea towel, would make a fun hostess gift!
  • Love this comfy oversized cardigan! (15% off coupon)
  • These lidded 2 quart mixing and batter bowls are a favorite!
  • Loving these 2-cup and 1-cup Snapware containers
  • You all loved my new crockpot too!

Nightstand News

I haven’t done a book reading list for awhile, so wanted to do that real quickly — as always, let me know what you are reading too! I love hearing what you love to read!

  • Just starting this for my book club, An American Beauty: A Novel of the Gilded Age Inspired by the True Story of Arabella Huntington Who Became the Richest Woman in the Country.
  • While on vacation this week I’ve so enjoyed this Civil War novel Fireflies at Dusk. The fun part, this was written by the father of a longtime friend!
  • This is a book we’re reading with our small group at church, it’s challenging and yet, really so very simple! What if Jesus was Serious?
  • My friend who we’re with this week gave me this book and I know I’ll love it. Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers.

Browse my Amazon Storefront

Weekly Inspiration | His Very Heart

An excerpt from the aforementioned book; Gentle and Lowly…

“The point in saying that Jesus is lowly is that he is accessible. For all his resplendent glory and dazzling holiness, his supreme uniqueness and otherness, no one in human history has ever been more approachable than Jesus Christ. No prerequisites. No hoops to jump through. B.B. Warfield, commented on Matthew 11:29, wrote: ‘No impression was let by his life-manifestation more deeply imprinted upon the consciousness of his followers than that of the noble humility of his bearing.’ The minimum bar to be enfolded into the embrace of Jesus is simply: open yourself up to him. It is all he needs. Indeed, it is the only thing he works with. Verse 28 of our passage in Matthew 11 tells us explicitly who qualifies for fellowship with Jesus; “all who labor and are heavy laden.” You don’t need to unburden or collect yourself and then come to Jesus. Your very burden is what qualifies you to come. No payment is required; he says, “I will give you rest.” His rest is gift, not transaction. Whether you are actively working hard to crowbar your life into smoothness (“labor”) or passively finding yourself weighed down by something outside your control (“heavy laden”), Jesus Christ’s desire that you find rest, that you come in out of the storm, outstrips even your own.

“Gentle and lowly.” This, according to his own testimony, is Christ’s very heart. This is who he is. Tender. Open. Welcoming. Accommodating. Understanding. Willing. If we are asked to say only one thing about who Jesus is, we would be honoring Jesus’s own teaching if our answer is, gentle and lowly.“

Come to Him this week, dear friends, give Him your burdens; He promises to give you rest!

signature, Love, Kathleen


P.S. If you missed last week’s Fresh Fridays, recipes, sales, tips, ideas, and more!

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Hi, Iโ€™m Kathleen Pope. Here at The Fresh Cooky you will find easy, mostly from-scratch, trusted recipes for all occasions. From speedy dinners to tasty desserts, with easy step-by-step instructions. I am here to help teach you how to make mouthwatering recipes without spending hours in the kitchen.

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Kathleen Pope

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Hey there! I'm Kathleen Pope, a proud wife, mom of two awesome college boys, and recipe nerd. Welcome to my world of easy recipes with a healthy twist! Join thousands who trust The Fresh Cooky as their go-to recipe source. Let's cook up some magic!

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