Mission Accomplished!

Well, I did it, I cooked every recipe in Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl! It feels good to have it accomplished, but I'm pretty sure I'll feel a little lost without having to make recipes from the book, but its also good, a little less pressure:)

All in all, we still love most of the recipes and there are many I intend to incorporate into our regular menu. Its cowboy food, pretty straight forward and pleases everyone!

I would definitely recommend trying something like this if you enjoy cooking or baking.  A friend of mine is taking on the technical challenges from the Great British Baking Show! I think that is awesome, and scary...I'm not a good baker. But I'll be happy to help her taste test.

Here's what I made in the last few days (I seem to have gotten a little sloppy with my pictures, but got a little better again at the end):

Beef Tenderloin, this was so good and so easy to make! Will definitely be making it again! 

Cremè Brûlée, this is one of my favorite things to eat ever! And I learned my lesson with this one: always listen to the Pioneer Woman.  In my defense I did try to find a kitchen torch, but gave up too soon and decided to try the broiler method.  Of course I did let Justin try and use some torch out of the garage first, but it was only making a huge flame and nothing was happening to the sugar.  Besides the really burnt, black sugar the creme was actually really good.  Lesson learned. 

 I sort of wanted to avoid actually posting this picture, but it seemed like the right thing to do.  As bad as it looks, every guest ate it up and said it really was good:)

Burgundy Mushrooms, this is definitely my favorite recipe,  mostly because mushrooms are probably my favorite food! These were so good, I was sad to share them. 

Beef Brisket, well the picture didn't turn out and really neither did the brisket.  It was not anywhere near tender enough.  It had good flavor, just don't know how it ended up so tough.

Patsy's Blackberry Cobbler, except I didn't have blackberries so I used blueberries and apricots.  She does mention you can use any of those in place of blackberries, so I still get credit for the recipe.

Red Velvet Cake, the final recipe.  On Sunday I finished almost two months of cooking through this wonderful book with this lovely cake.  I'm not a huge cake fan, but this does taste very good and it makes a beautiful presentation!

Thanks for following along on my little cooking journey!

Home Stretch

Well, I only have a few recipes left to make from Pioneer Woman Cooks.  I think it will be sad when its over, but also a little relief not to feel like I have to make something that week.  Here's what I've made the past week:

Lasagna, the kids really loved this, but what was so surprising is how much Nate loved the zucchini!

Tomato-Basil Pizza, delicious!

Angel Sugar Cookies

 

Tomato Soup, it was supposed to be Sherried Tomato Soup but I decided not to bother with the Sherry just for this soup, and it was really good anyway! The kids love tomato soup and grilled cheese, I mean who doesn't? 

I have a few more recipes to make this

Almost there!

After this last week, I am down to only 10 recipes left in Pioneer Woman Cooks! Its taken a little longer than I thought, partly because I've put off some of the desserts, but I'm still having fun with this project.  Here's what I made this past week:

Chicken Pot Pie, the girls and I would be happy to eat this everyday. The boys, not so much.  And it really is pretty easy to make, especially if you make some of the pie crusts and freeze ahead of time as she suggests and then cook (I like to roast) chicken one night and save the leftover chicken for this. Perfect!

Oat Crispies, great to take to neighbors

Comfort Meatballs, kind of like meatloaf-meatballs, and considering how much we love meatloaf around here, these went fast!

Olive Bread, even Justin tried it. I almost cried that made me so happy!

Linguine with White Clam Sauce, something I had made before, but this was even better. 

 Justin loved it!

Fried Chicken, so simple but kind of hard to get just right.  I love this recipe, but I need to make it more often to perfect it. I think Chicken Fried Steak is easier to make sure its cooked through, the chicken on the bone makes that tricky.  I'll just have to keep making it.

Peach Crisp, I know I am not good at making food look good, sorry. This is pretty good, but I think I like my usual cobbler recipe a little better, not too different from this.  Also, I had to use peaches I canned last season instead of fresh so that probably didn't help.

Flat Apple Pie, oh my! So good, make this today!  It also uses the perfect pie crust recipe so, easy to just pull that out of the freezer and then I had apple pie filling in the freezer I had made last year, and there you have it, flat apple pie in no time!

Sometimes you get backed up on desserts (especially when only us girls eat non-chocolate dessert and I really do try to control myself), so you feed it all to your church small group!

I rarely do this, but I made three recipes at the same time for dinner last night.  It was doable, not too hard.  I made Ribeye Steaks with Whiskey Cream Sauce, Iceberg Wedge with Homemade Ranch and Twice Baked Potatoes.  Another win for me and the Pioneer Woman!

I will finish up in about a week and a half and post the final pics then!

Got my second wind

Well last week, I was able to pick up speed again in cooking through the Pioneer Woman: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl.  We are still enjoying the recipes, but need to find a way to get all these desserts made! The kids bought me a Pioneer Woman coffee mug and set of serving bowls for Mother's Day, I think they may have figured me out:) Here's what I made this week:

Beans and Cornbread, the recipe did not call for soaking the beans but I know better and should have done that.  They were a bit too gritty, soak your beans folks!

Perfect Pot Roast, need I say more?

Simple Enchiladas, simply good and make a lot! Great to take to a friend who's had a baby:))

Pineapple Upside Down Cake. So the men in this family only eat chocolate desserts, which means the three of us girls have been eating this for several days.  We may have to call in reinforcements if we are going to get through the desserts in this book.  Volunteers?

Penne Alla Betsy, quick, easy, good!

My new Pioneer Woman coffee mug, if you know me and my coffee mugs, be assured this is the correct size for a coffee mug. 

Slowing down

Well, I'm a little over half-way in the Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl, but I'm slowing down a bit.  Last week was pretty busy so there were a couple of days I missed cooking something actually from the book.  But I'm still pretty close to being on track.  Here's some recipes from last week:

Maple Pecan Scones, I love scones and these are no exception!

Cowboy Calzones, a people-pleaser for sure and it made a lot of them, 

so I froze some to save for quick lunches later!

I made Chicken Spaghetti on Sunday, but forgot to take a picture and now its all gone.  It was good, but I need to remember to saute the onion and pepper before adding it in for some members of the family, who will remain unnamed, but don't like "crunchy veggies." This is a recipe Justin also grew up with.  As it turns out my mother in law and the Pioneer Woman, have several recipes in common.  Its that good down home, southern stuff.  Can't go wrong!

Skillet Cornbread, another recipe I learned from my mother in law.  If you make cornbread in anything besides a cast-iron skillet with bacon grease melted in it, well you are just wrong.  Sorry.

Tonight I'm making a good ole pot of beans (yes a pioneer woman recipe) to eat with the cornbread, talk about comfort food! I learned how to make beans from my mom, or at least that you better have a ham hock, or bacon or something in there! This brings back childhood memories for me.

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!