P2P

Brown Sugar and Walnut Brie Wheel aka Heavenly Appetizer

Saturday at Trader Joe’s we attacked the cheeses with a recommendation of supreme brie and little other knowledge of what we were doing.   Back when we went to Grove Park Inn for our anniversary, we got the cheese and fruit plate and since have been randomly getting  ”expensive cheese” and trying it.  Normally we stick it with a cracker or piece of fruit.  Very unblogworthy but today…today I have something you need to hear about.  I don’t know where I’ve been all my life without this brown sugar and walnut brie thing but I’m so glad it’s here now.

I did kind of my own thing, mixing the recipes here and here but tweaked it for a single serving.

• Half a block of the brie we got, about 4 oz.
• 1 tablespoon of brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon of chopped walnuts
• Toasted sourdough bread slices

Just stack the full block of cheese, sugar and then walnuts on a cookie sheet and then bake it for 2.5 minutes on 450.

Because we were out of any sort of crackers besides goldfish, I made very thin slices of a small sourdough bread loaf we were given and then toasted those in the toaster oven.  When both were done, I put a scoop of the mixture on the bread.  The brie is pretty soft and melted by this point so it’s more like a dip.

Somewhere around the last bite, I remembered I should have taken a picture so there you have it.

Please do not try to count calories. Trust me, it’s worth it.

Taking the Plunge on Cold Brew Coffee

Jo-Lynne inspired me to try this iced coffee thing at home.  She mentioned cold brew coffee and my interest was instantly piqued.  Cold brew coffee?  What is this?  So a-googling and youtubing I went.  Turns out cold brew coffees are less bitter when you use a cold brewing method.  This seems to be the key to making iced coffees at home.  Every other time I’ve tried to make coffee and refrigerate it, it was not a pleasant taste.

Cold brewing is really easy if you have a french press.  And if you do not have a french press, get thee to your local IKEA to get a very affordable one or Starbucks for a longer-lasting, recycled one.  Or, you know, Wally world probably has one too.  I’ve had the IKEA and Starbucks one and the Starbucks one is actually worth the extra money.   So to cold brew coffee with a french press, do this:

1. Put one cup of coffee grounds in your french press
2. Put 4 cups of water in your french press
3. Mix it up
4. Put the top on but don’t plunge it
5. Put it in the fridge.  The time spent there varies widely.  I read anywhere from 4 hours to 24 hours.  I did 12 hours/overnight.
6. After whatever time you decide, plunge the press like you would normally

Voila!  Cold brew coffee!  If you don’t have a french press, don’t worry, you can still do this.  Just get a large jar (old spaghetti jar would work!) and mix the grounds and coffee and put it in the fridge to sit.  When it’s done in the fridge, use cheese cloth, a regular coffee filter or a metal strainer and pour the coffee into another container.  Easiest is probably just to use your regular filter basket and set it on the jar and run it through like normal.

The best part is the coffee lasts up to 14 days so don’t worry about making so much!

Now, what do you do with that coffee?  I found this video from Seattle’s Best to be the best instructions.

But here’s what I did with what I had on hand:

• 50/50 ratio coffee to half & half
• 2 teaspoons of super fine sugar
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• Mix and pour in a handful of ice

Results:

It certainly will never replace my Starbucks Iced White Mocha.  I’m not going to lie.  BUT since I’ve been trying to limit myself to once a week coffee at Starbucks, it’s a nice alternative.  I’m hoping to get some white chocolate powder and use that in place of one of the teaspoons of sugar.  As you can tell from the video, there are lots of things you can do with the cold brew.  Who knew?

Cooking with The Pioneer Woman: (2nd) Weekly Update

Alternately title: I’M FINISHED!!!!!!

I got so excited yesterday realizing I only had one left that I decided to go ahead tackle the end of the book.  I also realized I’d never made the Pot Roast either!  So I tackled both the Breakfast Bowls and Pot Roast as my last dishes of the book.

Breakfast Bowls

These were WAY yummier than I thought they’d be.  However, this took a ton of prep time and I already had the sausage cooked, left-over from the burritos the other day.  While I would eat this again I probably won’t be making it again.

Perfect Pot Roast

Here’s the thing with the pot roast.  The roast my mom taught me to make in the crock pot is one of my favorite recipes ever.  It’s so simple and yummy and I think I wrote this recipe off almost as soon as I saw it.  Not fair but true.   And while this take a lot more prep compared to my Mom’s version, this wasn’t as bad as it seemed.  I still prefer the flavor of Mom’s version better but Scott was ooh-ing and aah-ing the whole time he was eating and I think he preferred this one.  Simply because of the prep time, I’ll stick with the version I have but if I didn’t have a good recipe I’d definitely stick with this one.

So THAT’S IT!  I’M DONE WITH THE BOOK!!!

I’ll probably do some follow-up posts on this but I have to say this is by far one of the best things I’ve ever done.  I fell in love with cooking for the first time ever and I learned SO MUCH all while providing for my family.  Can’t get better than that!

I’ve said it before but this was a life-changer.  PW, I can’t thank you enough!!

Cooking with the Pioneer Woman: Weekly Update

Breakfast Burritos (although not exactly the same recipe I used in the cookbook)

As the second to last recipe I have to make, it sure did take a long time to get to.  The recipe calls for TWELVE burritos and it’s not often I’m feeding more than 2 for breakfast at a time.  So even at halved, it was a lot of burritos!  My uncle and his family stopped in town on the way to Myrtle Beach and I sent them (and my parents and sister for the day) off with these burritos.  I have to admit I was pretty nervous about making these.  It’s not something I’ve ever had so I wasn’t sure what to expect.  Plus, with red peppers, I was a little scared it would be too spicy for a breakfast dish.  However, they seemed to be a big hit.  Or, at least an edible hit!  I didn’t eat one but everyone seemed to like it.  Well, when I say everyone, all the adults.  My younger cousins didn’t like the red peppers, Lexi didn’t try it and Emma would only eat the stuffing.  So, if you have a hungry adult crowd, this would be a great way to fill them up.

OK, these weren’t in the book, but they were so good I have to include them.  Both of them were featured by PW from her Tasty Kitchen site.

Coffee Cake

I’ve never made a coffee cake and I have to say this was yummy.  But boy, oh, boy at the sugar.  I mean, wow.  I’m a sugarholic and let me say that was a lot of sugar.  But in the end, it paid off.  The cake was beyond belief yummy and moist.  I have to say though that this cake was actually better the day after.  When it was still warm, it seemed to fall apart and just hadn’t gelled properly.  Also, I had to let it cook much longer than it called for because I used a different pan and I still had a little bit undone in the middle.  However, you’ll never seem me complain about a little bit of cake batter.

Mystery Mocha

This was SUPERB.  Quite possibly one of my favorite desserts ever.  Restaurants included.  I’m serious.  OK, maybe not THAT serious.  But, I mean, it was seriously yummy.  I made it one day when my parents and sister were over swimming and the 8×8 pan was gone literally in minutes.  The cake part was nice and crusty on the outside and the coffee mixed with the sugars to make the best fudgey gooey inside ever.  It was perfect with some vanilla ice cream.  The best part is it is super easy with simple ingredients.  It was so good I didn’t even have time to take pictures.

ONE more recipe to go to complete the cook book!!

Cooking with The Pioneer Woman: Weekly Update

Katie’s Roasted Corn Salad

Y’all. I have to admit I had SERIOUS doubts about this corn salad.  I even said right before serving, “I don’t know if anyone will like this, I just need to get it off my list.”  Not that I didn’t think it was good if you liked that sort of thing.  I’m not a huge fan of salads like this but WOW.  This really surprised me.  Somewhere, some way this salad was very sweet.  Scott likes to say Emeril explains it best when he says everything was just getting happy together.  Indeed.  And it made me quite happy. I went back for 2nds and 3rds.  We guessed that it might even better the second day like a lot of salads do but no, this was best as soon as it was made.

Simple, Perfect Chili

I don’t know why I waited so long to make this.  I really don’t.  Because this was some YUMMY chili.  I used it to make nachos and seriously best nacho/taco/Mexican meat I’ve ever had.  There’s no way I can go back to those seasoning packets.  Then again, for the size bag of masa I bought just to make these, I’ll need to make it at least 407 more times.

Panko Mozzarella Sticks

I have to be in the mood for mozzarella sticks and the day PW posted the link to this recipe, I found myself in the mood.  I made them less than 2 hours after she posted it.  And yummo.  These really came out to perfection.

I’m getting so close to the finish line here!  I only have 2 more breakfast recipes to go!

Cooking with The Pioneer Woman: Weekly Update

Spicy Pulled Pork

What shall I say about this?  Let’s see.  Well, first, this one is notable because it was the very first recipe in my Dutch Oven.  It did quite well even though it nearly broke the wire racks because it was so heavy.  Wowsers.  What else?  Let’s see…hmmm…what else can I say before I give this a not so fantastic review?  Oh, let’s just get to it.

I think this recipe gave me high hopes!  Really high hopes!  It’s called spicy and man, did I want spicy.  As in, I hope this pork is so full of spice and flavor that Lexi complains and I have to eat her leftovers.  Well, it was not so.  It is not that the pork was bad.  Because in fact, it was yummy as far as pork shoulder goes.  All the kids ate it and it received compliments.  I rather enjoyed squeezing the limes over it and felt like the Austin-ite that PW described.  But I don’t know, it surely was not spicy and except for the pieces that were on the outside it was barely flavorful.  I also find it quite tedious to pull the uber-heavy dutch oven out every single hour to turn the meat.  I guess what I’m saying is I’d rather just stick a Boston Butt in my crockpot and call it a day.

Iny’s Prune Cake

This, my friends, is what you need to go buy the ingredients for and make TONIGHT.  Seriously.  I just laughed a little as I read PW’s post and she said the exact same thing.  But we’re serious, folks.  It is SO GOOD.  And before you go, I should tell you you can find prunes in a can where all the dried fruits are.  That will save you about 15 minutes of shopping the fresh fruits and vegetable aisles and then asking a cashier about them.

Overall this cake was super easy to make.  The hardest part is figuring out when to quit cooking the caramel topping but it is so worth it.  So. worth it.  The caramel seeps in to the cake and makes it so moist.  Everyone had seconds and sometimes thirds for dessert and I might have eaten it for breakfast as well and we might only have one piece left.  It’s in her breakfast section in the cookbook but had there been an eat any time, all the time of the day section, this would be in it.  Go make it.  Now!

Only 4 more to go!

Cooking with The Pioneer Woman: Weekly Update

Y’all, I’m still a little giddy from meeting PW Friday.

Tres Leches Cake

PW posted a link to Tres Leches Cake on Cinco de Mayo and since we had had a Mexican meal just a few days earlier and I didn’t want it again and our lunch at Taco Bell didn’t really count as a celebratory meal but I still wanted to make something for the occasion, I decided to make the cake.  Whew.  Talk about a bad sentence.  For some reason the instructions scared me a tad but it turns out this is a pretty easy cake to make.  I’d never had one but this one came out very moist.  Heather who was on hand at the finish line loved it.  Even Scott who is not a big cake fan scarfed (why doesn’t my spell-check like that word? scarffed? scarved?) it down.  I have to say it wasn’t directly up my alley.  Emma really liked it and Lexi didn’t like it at all.  That makes it 3.5 against 1.5 so I’d say this cake is a winner.

Roasted Beef Tenderloin

When I think of this, there are just a few words that come to mind.  Expensive.  Rare.  Tender.  Yummy.  If you can get past the expensive and rare, you’ll find tender and yummy waiting on the other side.  I just realized the recipe I linked to is not the same as in her cookbook.  The process is the same but the coating (what IS that called?) you put on the top is different.  It includes bacon grease and I will be slathering that on all future pieces of red meat.  Amen.

Oven-Roasted Asparagus

I have a hard time with veggies. I like the usuals…corn, peas, green beans, carrots.  Beyond that, I get a little nervous.  Asparagus is one of those that I’ll eat it if it’s in front of me, but it’s usually something I substitute for french fries at a restaurant.  I say all that to say that the asparagus prepared this way so far has been my favorite. I  actually sprinkled on a lot of fresh parmesan thanks to a hint from Jo-Lynne’s recipe and I think that made it.  Lexi hated it and Emma ate hers but didn’t want more.  The adults all seemed to like it.  I do have to say this was SUPER easy.

Crème Brulee

PW claims this is her favorite dessert in her cookbook and I see why.  This was liked by all.  It was creamy and sugary and crunchy and sweet and all things good to taste and bad for your arteries.  And I got to use a flaming kitchen tool, y’all!!

Just a few things I learned on this one.  The torch only cost $12.99 at a kitchen supply place. I expected it to be much more expensive.  It did not come with the Butane gas.  For some odd reason, Scott had a bottle in one of our kitchen drawers. I suppose it came with some other lighting thingie he keeps for the grill.  So I guess you can buy Butane at your local Wal-Mart?

Also it took me two grocery stores to find super-fine sugar.  I had not a clue what to look for as far as packaging.  Well, do you see that yellow and red container behind my arm?  That’s the Dixie Crystals version.  It was the only one Harris Teeter had and it says it’s made especially for Iced Tea.  Who knew?

Only 6 more recipes to go!  I feel like I need a disclaimer here to say I’m not planning on making the Sangria, Ribeye with Whiskey Sauce or Linguine with Clam Sauce because of the irreplaceable alcohol content.  I do have to say I’d probably eat the ribeye with whiskey sauce or linguine but I don’t know, I can’t seem to make myself cook it.  It’s ok if you think I’m weird.  So barring those, I have the 6 left.

Meeting The Pioneer Woman – Charlotte, NC Book Tour

OK, so it’s no secret I love P-Dub’s cookbook.  And therefore I love P-Dub because she created it all.  But really, I loved her long before the cookbook.  I was reading The Pioneer Woman when she was still posting Black Heels to Tractor Wheels as blog posts.  But as I waxed poetic about the other day, it got a little personal last December when I started cooking.  To say I was excited to meet her tonight is a little understatement.  Yes, we all know I love celebrity in general but really I felt, with thousands others, that I knew Ree and I just had to tell her in person how appreciative I was.  And I did!  So here’s how it went down:

This is Joseph-Beth at SouthPark.  I didn’t know it existed until tonight.

I met my friend Becky there and we scoped out the bookstore and found the nook where the signing went down.  I did a little squee and took a bad picture:

Becky and I then squatted in some chairs and took pictures of ourselves while we began the long wait.  We were actually one of the first there and chatted while everyone began to file in.  But we got kicked off of the second floor where her talk and signing were going down just before Ree came out.  So we went and stood downstairs.

And while we were standing there, all the sudden Ree showed up just a few feet in front of us and went up the stairs.  I grabbed Becky’s arm and said, “There she is!” and then snapped another picture.

And then a few minutes later, a very nervous, sweaty (according to her) Ree came to talk to us.

She was her usual, funny, self-deprecating self as you’ll see below. 

The Pioneer Woman Charlotte, NC from Amy Bennett on Vimeo.

For the record, I was the one that asked her about the ending to Black Heels to Tractor Wheels.  And she wouldn’t budge on any spoilers, darnit!

So the next two hours were spent roaming around the bookstore, chatting with Becky, her mother and her friend (and my new friend) April.  Finally, it was Group G’s turn.  What happens is you get tickets before the signing and they assign 20 people to each alphabet letter.  Each group is called one at a time upstairs so basically you are free to roam until it’s your group’s turn.  Which is genius so there are no waiting in lines!  So we finally got up there and we got in our group’s line.  Ok, so there is one small waiting line.  And I was thinking I might either puke or cry when I got up to meet her.  I did see a familiar face though.  Back in high school days, I worked with that Joseph-Beth worker in the green there, Mrs. Betsy.  I babysat her daughter a time or two.  It was good to see a familiar face.

So Becky and April were before me but when they were done we wanted to do a group shot but I hadn’t met Ree yet.  But when I emerged from the line to get into the picture and Ree saw me, she was all “Amy!  Bennett!”  And Betsy was all “I know Amy!”  And I was all “OMG!  Ree knew my name!”  She really does read my stalker tweets!

So then it was my turn and as I’m sitting down, Ree announces to Mrs. Betsy that we’re acquaintances and Betsy tells me to sit down because apparently I was nervously still standing up at the table.  And then I began to tell her just how much the cookbook changed my life and how appreciative my husband is.  Ree had a great smile and was so nice. 

So then we took a pretty picture!

I told her I had 8 more recipes to go.  And she told me she likes my blog!  And I’m thinking, OMG, Ree has been to my blog!

And then Mrs. Betsy thinks to take pictures of us while I tell her how she changed my life and I give her my gift. 

I’ll try to ignore my funny faces. She gratefully accepted the gift.  If you’re wondering, I decided on local strawberry jam and syrup and a fabric coffee wrap with a “P” on it with another note telling her how much she changed my life.  I signed it With buttery and creamy love, Amy.  And just as I’m typing this I realized that maybe could be a bad idea.

And then!  And then!  Ree asked Mrs. Betsy to take a picture of us with her camera.  Do you see her Nikon sitting there at the front of the table?  Yes that one!  Because we’re acquaintances!

At this point I drifted out to the parking lot on Cloud 9.  I came home and Scott was so funny because he let out a fan girl squee with me as soon as I walked in.  And then I showed off my autographed cookbook.  The same one that’s falling apart and have used approximately 52 times.

See that smile?  Yep.  It was a good night. Love ya, P-Dub!  You’re my favorite acquaintance!

Cooking with the Pioneer Woman: Weekly Update

Hey guess what?  In TWO DAYS I get to meet the Pioneer Woman herself at her book signing in Charlotte.  PW!  20 minutes away!  In 2 Days!  I never thought when I started doing all this cooking that I’d actually get to meet her.  In those days, all her book tours were out west and I was sure she’d never come East.  So glad I was wrong.  I can not wait to tell her face to face how she changed my life.  And I don’t say that lightly.  I do not look at cooking the same way I did 4 months ago. 

The other night I had cooked dinner and stuck some of her oatmeal cookies in the oven while we ate.  We were eating one of the cookies after dinner and Scott said, “Well, you’re just turning into a regular mommy.”  I pretended to take offense to that.  But I knew what he meant. I have fond memories of my Mom’s home cooked meals every night and I know he does too.  I can’t wait to thank PW in person for helping me create those memories for our girls.  And yes, I’m pretty sure I’m going to have a little tear in my eye at the table with her.  Gah!  I must think of something funny to say!  I do want to take her a gift in appreciation.  Anyone have a good idea?

Potato Leek Pizza

I should have included this in last week’s but I completely forgot it (probably because I forgot to take a picture )!  And I’m so bummed I forgot it because this pizza was super yummy!  I’ve never cooked with a leek before.  In fact, the only way I knew what it was and how to use it was I saw I think Rachel Ray or Giada or maybe that big guy with the kitchen show on Food Network using one.  Obviously my memory is not serving me well.  In any case, I wasn’t completely clueless when I chopped the leeks for the pizza.  More than just unknown veggies on a pizza though, I was a little concerned about putting uncooked slices of potatoes without any sauce.  But alas, I shouldn’t have worried.  This was a super yummy, very filling pizza.  Scott liked it as well but we both agreed we still like the Tomato Basil one better.  The kids always request the traditional pizza when I make one of the “fancy” ones but they tried a bite or two and liked it.

Pico de Gallo and Guacamole

I made the Pico de Gallo and the guacamole together.  To make the guacamole, you just stick a bunch of Pico de Gallo in the mashed avacodo and stir it up so it would be kind of impossible to make guacamole without Pico de Gallo.  It was comforting to see PW’s post included both as well even though they are very separate recipes in the cookbook.  Look!  We’re both smart! 

With all the Mexican-ness going on, I made some rice and beans and put out some shells and had Mexican the other night for dinner.  The Pico de Gallo was alright with chips.  I still prefer salsa and/or cheese for my chips.  I enjoyed it more as a topping on my taco.  As for the guacamole, I usually only eat it as a topping and that I did.  It was yummy and I felt very accomplished with homemade guacamole.  So bottom line for us, I think these two things are more of a topping than a dip.  They were both super easy to make and definitely made our tacos better.   You should make some today for Cinco de Mayo!  If I was super smart I would have waited!

Comfort Meatballs

We had a family friend over for dinner Saturday night whose family was out of town so I decided to do a PW dinner.  I made meatballs and her homemade mashed potatoes and some corn.  It was yummy.  The meatballs were super easy to cook.  The hardest part was browning them before baking them.  That is to say, not too hard.  I loved the onions in the sauce.  The kids loved it, our guest loved it and we loved it.  These are definitely going on my rotation list.  Also, they went so fast I forgot to take a picture. Head on over to PW’s site and amazingly, they look similar!

Only 8 more recipes I want to make!

Cooking with The Pioneer Woman Weekly Update

This post is actually really hard to write after being down for 2 days with a stomach bug.  You should see the grimace on my face. 

Cheese Grits

These came out really well.  They were super easy to make and thought they had a great taste for what they were.  I say that because I’m one of those sweet grits girls not savory.  The taste reminded me a bit of the grits in shrimp and grits and I do like shrimp and grits.  But I don’t know.  Overall, I still just like butter and sugar in my grits.  It’s one of those things where I’ll eat it if it’s in front of me but I probably won’t be adding this into our meal rotation.   The kids didn’t care for it so no reason to have that many grits around.

Chicken Fried Steak

Getting towards the end of this book is kind of hard.  Because I made all the recipes up front that sounded so yummy.  So the recipes I’m making at this point are for check list only purposes.  So I’m not a huge fan of chicken fried steak.  It’s another one of those I’ll eat it if it’s in front of me but I don’t have it my rotation.  This didn’t go 100% as planned as the oil burned the first few pieces.  Mine wasn’t a nice golden brown like hers.  In fact, I couldn’t even convince myself to add the picture in the collage.  However, overall I thought it was a good attempt.  The kids ate it and really can’t ask for too much more than that.

Fried Chicken

I will never, ever, EVER complain about fried chicken again.  KFC, I’m bowed down in awe.  It took me forever to get this done.  PW had so many instructions about the oil temperature and I simply could not get mine to stay at the temp she required.  I even switched pans midway through. In the end though I had fried chicken and it was good.  The crust was super yummy and really what else could you ask from fried chicken?

Macaroni and Cheese

These were yummy.  Easy and yummy.  I prefer these over the crockpot versions I’ve done before.

Breakfast Potatoes

Once again I had issues with this. When I went to cube the potatoes after they were cooked, none of the skin would stay on and the potatoes were a bit mushy.  However, I threw them in the pan with the onions anyway and it was all edible. 

Migas

This dish was probably the most out of my tastebuds’ wheelhouse.  I’m not one to throw in a bunch of different vegetables and eat them. When I get an omelet, it’s a cheese omelet.  But I have to say, this had a really good taste.  Loved the Monterey Jack cheese on it.  And Heather tells me it was good with the potatoes.  The kids did not like it at all though so I doubt I’ll make a redo out of this one.  Also?  It was a lot of prep time cutting everything. I definitely would never take the time to do this in the morning.

Wow, this felt like a rough round of cooking.

I’m down to 14 recipes to make!  Make sure to visit PW’s site for more recipes!

Cooking with The Pioneer Woman: Weekly Update

Thanks to a little dinner party, I have enough for a weekly update!

Huevos Hyacinth

I went into these knowing these weren’t really my thing but I figured Scott and Emma, whose taste buds tend to match up, would dig them.  And they did.  Scott I think would have preferred the tomatoes versus the picante sauce I used and I wish I would have had a different cheese to use than just sharp but it worked.

Maple Pecan Scones

I have been so anxious to make these but I kept holding off because Mom had pecans for me.  However, I kept forgetting to get them.  Finally, months later I took a bag full of them to crack open and made these scones Saturday.  Before we get to that can we get to the whole cracking pecans thing?  Because no one told me how to open them.  I figured it was like the little peanuts at restaurants.  Give them little mush and they’d fall right out.  Well…as you know, you can’t do that with a pecan.  So then what do I assume?  Since I don’t have a nutcracker I’ll just go get Scott’s hammer!  I wish I would have taken a picture of the disaster THAT made.  The worse part is the girls decided they liked them so they kept eating whatever little bits I was able to salvage.  I had a certified MESS.  Only later did I find out I could let them soak and they’d come right out.  OH WELL. I got my 1/4 cup of nuts and made the darn scones. 

But the work was so worth it because the bits of pecans in the scones is my absolute favorite part of them.  And I think scones get a bad rap for being dry but I found with the icing they melted in my mouth.  YUMMY!  The girls devoured them with the icing but no one else seemed too interested.  That makes EIGHT scones for me to eat!  I’ve been having one for breakfast every morning.   When I complain about not losing weight, please point me back to this post, please.

Braised Beef Brisket

I was scared to death of the brisket.  First off, I had no idea what to buy at the store.  Only when PW posted about the Passover Brisket and mentioned NOT buying the corned beef brisket did I have a clue.  Second, I’d heard that brisket was tough.  Well, I think brisket has a bad rap in these parts (I understand brisket to be big in Texas) because I thoroughly enjoyed the brisket.  It fell apart with a fork and had I not known, I’d simply thought it was a chuck roast someone had cooked.  I do have to say it’s A LOT of preparation.  Not a lot of work because really, it doesn’t get easier but you have to marinate it for 24 hours, and well, I just don’t think that far ahead most of the time!  Plus, it wasn’t the cheapest thing.  I think I paid $16 for a 7 lb piece.  However, it could have easily fed 8-10 people.  So, I guess what I’m saying is this is best when you’re planning ahead for a lot of people to come over.

Creamy Rosemary Potatoes

Oh boy, I could create a whole post on step 2 – use a mandoline to slice the potatoes.  Do you know how many many people do not own a mandoline?  And do you know that you have to be organized enough to keep around an extra attachment for your food processor for it to slice?  And did you know that the $19.99 mandoline at WalMart really isn’t worth the time and money?  Yeah, well now you do.  So just plan on using your sharpest knife in the drawer to slice you a few potatoes.  You don’t even have to peel them!

OK, so the sauce.  MMMmmm, the sauce.  Jill and I were licking the skillet of the sauce. I was SO looking forward to the potatoes.  But I was a little let down.  I’m not sure if I had too many potatoes or let it cook too long or WHAT.  But those were not the creamy potatoes I had hoped for.  The taste was great and the potatoes were nice and soft and but where’s the cream??

Olive Cheese Bread

I do not like olives.  Scott likes olives.  Jake doesn’t like olives.  Jill likes olives.  It was kind of a toss up.  We made it.  If you like olives, make this.  If you do not like olives, don’t make this.  The End.

Sloppy Joes

These are yummy.  Make them.  The kids loved how sloppy they were and ate every single bite of their sandwiches.  I ate every single bite of both my sandwiches  *cough* #theyweresmallsandwiches

PS.  My cookbook is now officially falling apart.

PPS. Best I can count, I’ve made 39 of her recipes and have 21 more to go.  Why?  I don’t know.  Why not?

Cooking with Pioneer Woman: Weekly Update

Again, behind on the weekly update thing.  Biweekly title just isn’t as interesting though.  I keep recycling all my favorites (tomato soup, pizza, chicken pot pie, mocha brownies) and slacking on trying new stuff.  But this week I found a lady through PW that cooked the entire cookbook and it got me a little pumped. 

I never really meant to cook through the whole thing but why stop now?  Plus?  After I tweeted about it, PW offered to send me a copy of her next cookbook so I could get a head start.  OMG!

That tweet could have been a whole PW Update post on its own, but how about I share a few recipe results too?

Apple Pie (cookbook only)

This was very close to a #fail.  My pie crust was so flaky that when I folded the pie crust up onto the apples, it creased, split and started spilling the yummy cinnamon and sugar sauce everywhere.  You might be able to tell in the picture where I had tried to scoop the sauce up after trying to repair the crust.  But, it never seemed to stick and I had juice everywhere on the pan and it was burnt.  In really good news, the apple pie itself was salvageable, albeit arguably less juicy.  We plopped some ice cream on it and called it good.  Her pie crust recipe is just to die for so you know…pie crust…ice cream…can’t be too bad.

French Breakfast Puffs

These came out to perfection.  Perfection!  I felt like they were just the right consistency as if everything in the baking world timed and heated correctly to come together and make this cinnamon muffin.  I felt like I was eating something straight from the Starbucks baked goods shelf.  Score!  It was perfect as a coffee cake.

Not Your Granny’s Mac and Cheese

I made this to take to a cook-out.  We also had jalapeno poppers to take and while I wanted to try the mac and cheese in the cookbook, I just felt like the Mexican flair to this mac and cheese from her site fit better.  Well, when I started cooking it, I knew if nothing else, this would be a pretty dish.

And then I dumped the pepperjack cheese in and all my doubts began to melt away quite literally

And the finished product did not disappoint

It was yummy!

All these will be on my make-again list!

So…have you bought her cookbook yet? 

Cooking with The Pioneer Woman: Weekly Update

Chicken Strips

Overall these were given a thumbs up.  I did make one mistake and dumped a bunch more flour in my bowl and forgot to re-season.  They came out tasting a little like they needed more salt.  My fault!  The bummer is the kids didn’t care for them and I could barely get them to eat them after stripping off the thick and crunchy breading.  The whole reason to make these were to substitute Chick Fil A and every other kids meal.  I think I’m going to fish for another recipe .  I do have to say they were juicy and *I* enjoyed them just as much as any restaurant.

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Hot Artichoke Dip (in cookbook)

I think this came out really well for what it was.  It was yummy with tortilla chips.  It was a tad sour for my taste.  I think I missed some spinach a la Spinach and Artichoke Dip.  I’m just not a huge artichoke fan.  Scott seemed to really like it and he likes artichokes so who am I to judge or even make this?

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Penne a la Betsy (in cookbook)

I substituted chicken for the shrimp just because I knew Lexi wouldn’t touch it with a ten-foot pole.  Turns out she barely touched the chicken anyway.  But both kids really liked the taste.  Actually Lexi’s comment was the garlic bread was better than the noodles but both of them were better than her Gatorade.  So there you go.  If you’ve made the tomato soup, this tastes just like it but with noodles.  I personally could have used a lot more spice.  My family is so spice-sensitive though it’s hard to play around with that.

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I feel like I’m being harsh this week.  There was nothing that had anyone jumping up and down but they weren’t bad by any means.  I think with a few tweaks, these could go into regular rotation.

Top Ten Tuesday: The Pioneer Woman’s Top 10 Recipes

I’ve been wanting to do this list AND participate in Top 10 Tuesday. But somehow never put the two together?  Who knew?

I have to give this with the qualification I haven’t tried every single recipe in the book but I think I’ve hit 90% of it.  I’m judging simply by the mmm factor taking into consideration I would eat desserts 8 times a day as well as ease of recipe and frequency you make it.  Also judging by how quickly my brain pulled it out of thin air.  So here’s my list so far:

1 – Tomato Soup

This gets such high marks because it’s so delicious and so easy.

2 – Chicken Pot Pie

This is a tummy pleaser for sure.  It takes a little more work because of the crust and time but once you’re familiar with it, it’s pretty easy.

3 – Blue Cheese Sauce

This is so high on the list because I could eat it with a spoon and try to find every reason to eat it again.  It’s not in the cookbook either but did I mention it’s yummy?

4 -Tomato Basil Pizza (including her Pizza crust recipe)

Best homemade pizza ever.

5 -Best Lasagna Ever

I feel like a real cook when I make this.  No can of spaghetti sauce included! It’s not the easiest thing ever but it certainly is yummy!

6 -Mocha Brownies

By far my favorite dessert recipe in the book.  The inch thick icing is just sinful!

7 – Onion Strings

I could eat these for a snack pretty much any time of the day.  They are salty and crunchy and for once I don’t feel like I’m missing out on not buying a Bloomin’ Onion somewhere

8 -Cinnamon Rolls

I only made these once.  They are sinful.  Period.

9 – Jalapeno Poppers

This is a great party snack.  Even people that don’t like jalapeno should like these.  And something about wrapped in bacon and a toothpick make me feel fancy.

10 -Sour Cream Pancakes

My favorite breakfast…besides bacon.

If you’d like to see all the recipes I’ve done, check them out here

Also, go buy her cookbook!

And check out more Top Ten Tuesday at ohamanda.com!

Cooking with The Pioneer Woman: Weekly Update

Maybe this should be a bi-weekly update now?  The last two weeks have been slow.  I’ve been recycling a lot of recipes and scraping by on other things we already had.  Chicken pot pie and tomato soup have become weekly favorites.  A few new recipes of note I did try were:

Angel Sugar Cookies

I’m a chocolate chip cookie fan.  Usually sugar cookies are kind of dry, tasteless a nd just, blah.  The sugar cookies were one of the last desserts I picked to make out of the cookbook.  But man, I’m sorry I made the wait.  These were yummy!  The cookies had a nice kind of after-taste, almost lemon-y.  I’m supposing it’s the cream of tartar.  While the cookies were crumby they weren’t dry.  The only suggestion I would say is don’t skip on the refrigerating the dough.  It helps it set up and makes them nice and thick and helps hold their shape.

Tomato Basil Pizza

I’d made her pizza crust no less than 5 times but for the first time this week, I made the tomato basil variation (we added red onions too).  It was yummy, yummy, yummy.  Scott said it was the best pizza he ever ate…even better than Mellow Mushroom.  We ended up making it again two days later.  The biggest difference I think is we use the expensive mozzarella..the kind in the fancy cheese section.  I really can’t stress enough what a difference it makes.  The pizza is going to end up costing you as much as a Pizza Hut pizza but let me tell you, WAY WORTH IT. 

Twice Baked Potatoes

Have to be honest on this one…the only thing I did was put the potatoes in the oven.  We made these when Kaitlin was visiting and she and Scott whipped them up while I made Ranch Chicken.  I DID eat them though and they were fantastic.  PW also mentions they were freezer-friendly so when we had a good 8-10 left, I was happy to individually wrap them and freeze them.  I pulled them out when I made fish the other night.  Perfect side with almost no work!

All of these are on my make-again list!  Go  buy her cookbook!