30 Recipes

If I counted correctly, I'm at 30 recipes into Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl.  And I'm not tired of it yet:) Seriously, she has such great recipes and for the most part my family still loves them! Here's what I made this last week:

Mac and Cheese. Now I already have a good recipe (as every good southern girl should), 

and this recipe is pretty close to it, so it was very good.

French Breakfast Puffs, yum!

Meatloaf and Creamy Rosemary Potatoes, talk about comfort food!

Basic Breakfast Potatoes, these served as a base for breakfast all weekend,
but are very good on their own!

Breakfast Burritos, I love making a bunch of these and 

freezing them to have for easy breakfasts during the week.

Breakfast Bowls, also included potatoes, sausage and eggs, 

but the tomatoes and basil on top gave them that spring/summer freshness!

Cheese Grits, either I'm a bad photographer (very likely) or its hard to make grits look good.  But they were very tasty!  We already love grits in this family (thanks to our time in SC for), but this was the first time I've baked the grits with eggs in them.  Very creamy and delicious!

Still going...

So, I'm still cooking through the Pioneer Woman: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl cookbook.  I want to clarify, so you don't think I'm some sort of super-mom, that its not as crazy as you think.  I am just incorporating one recipe per day into our menu.  Its not like I'm cooking 5 recipes a day or something. I just made a schedule that includes one thing from her cookbook as one of the things we have that day.  For example, I used the Spicy Pulled Pork recipe yesterday and served it with tortillas, the Spanish rice I usually make and some re-fried beans from a can.  Today, I plan to make the the mac and cheese as a side for our BBQ chicken. If this excites you at all, you should try it. I'm having a lot of fun!  Here's what I've made this week:

Chicken Fried Steak and Mashed Potatoes (I did two recipes this time), is something I've been making for a while.  This is such a good recipe, we really love it!

Marmalade Muffins

Potato and Leek Pizza (I made this for us girls and then used the other pizza crust to make a sausage and pepperoni pizza for the guys)

Cinnamon Rolls! If you have never tried this you are missing out on life. Seriously.  Yes it makes like 40-50 cinnamon rolls, so what I do is make a pan for that day and then the rest I put in dollar store aluminum pans and bake and ice them, and then freeze.  They are really just as good coming out of the freezer and super easy to have on hand or take to a neighbor or someone who had a baby:)

Texas Sheet Cake, I made this for Justin's birthday on Sunday.  When I first got married my mother in law gave me her recipe for Dream Cake and I was informed it was the best cake and also his and his sister's favorite!  I made it before, but not too often. It turns out this is the same recipe, a yummy cake that goes by different names!

Spicy Pulled Pork, great recipe to make especially when you have a whole pig in your freezer! But that's another story.  I made this and had enough to take to a friend who just had a baby (lots of those these days:) and for our dinner and leftovers!

Another Week on the Pioneer Woman Project

So cooking through this book has been so much fun! I am really loving trying all the new recipes, and repeating ones I already love. So far most of the recipes have been a hit with my family as well.

Here's what I've been cooking:

 We made these potato skins for lunch one day, and Nate absolutely loved them, 

he keeps asking to have them again.

I could go on and on about these Mocha Brownies, but all I'll say, is you should make them.

On Friday night we had the French Dip Sandwiches with the Onion Strings, they were good and a Mexican beer was just right with the meal!

Saturday morning I made the biscuits on page 44, and they were very good, 

but a little crumbly, and I forgot to take a picture.  

That evening we had company for dinner and I tried out the Sangria and Hot Artichoke Dip on them, both were a hit!

(This was before I cooked it)

I'm pretty proud of the Chili recipe I already use, but I have to say I think this was a bit of an improvement:) Justin (who also thinks I make good chili) agreed.

I love these Huevos Hyacinth! They are easy to make, have a pretty presentation, and taste great!

If you've ever thought of trying something like this, I would highly 

encourage you to do it! It is so much fun!

Pioneer Woman Project

Well, I haven't blogged much lately and usually I blog about the kids and our adventures.  But for the next few weeks, I'm turning this into my Pioneer Woman Project blog. I've always wanted to cook through a great cookbook like Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking.  But for this season of life that is not very practical.  So I'm cooking through the Pioneer Woman Cooks (her first cookbook) for the next few weeks.  I love all of her recipes!  Also, my family eats most of her food, its affordable and easy to find and pretty easy to make, so its perfect for this season of life.  I hope that by putting this out there for y'all to see, I will follow through. I am not going in order, because I don't want to just eat appetizers, then breakfast, etc.  I made a schedule (surprise!) and hope to stick to it for the most part.  Enjoy this journey with me!

So far, I've made 5 recipes and taken most of the pictures.

I started out with the pancakes on Saturday, and they were delicious. 

 That's also my schedule with Adriana's input:) 

On Saturday I also made the jalapeno poppers and corn salad (forgot the picture). These were delicious!

This is something I started making after our friends Derek and Erika watched our kids and made it for them, they called them swamp eggs.  Apparently you can call them whatever you like, but they are always a good fast breakfast!

On Monday we had fajitas for dinner and I followed the Pioneer Woman's recipe for pico de gallo and guacamole, but were great!

This recipe for Iny's Prune Cake was in the breakfast section, and to be honest I wasn't sure how my family would handle a prune cake (is anyone?) so I made it for a ladies Bible study and brunch, and it was excellent! My kids loved it too (Justin didn't get any..) This is definitely a recipe worth repeating and don't let the word prunes scare you, its so good!

(Sorry we ate the cake and didn't take the finished picture. Don't you love my little cake tester? A sweet lady at church made that and gave it to me when I hosted a ladies coffee a few months ago!)