She's making tacos for dinner.   And I'm not doing anything.  This is pretty great. :)

Dinner

Tonight I tried to make a roast chicken a la The Pioneer Woman.  What?  The Pioneer Woman?  A shocker, I know.

I coated the whole thing with butter, lemon zest, lemon juice, rosemary, salt and pepper, filled the inside with lemon halves and more rosemary, and roasted it in the oven for 1 hr 15 mins.  The skin turned out crispy, which I like.

It was good.  I'd recommend it... if you can get over rubbing down raw chicken.  *blech*

I don't think I've ever washed my hands so much in my life.

Super Bowl Saturday

Today I'm making dessert for tomorrow.

I headed back to The Pioneer Woman's website and searched for some of her favorite recipes. Tomorrow we're having chips and homemade salsa, sliders (Sloppy Joe sliders for the kids and I forget what the other one is called. I'm too lazy to look it up. Spicy Whiskey sliders?? IDK. Whiskey is in the title, though, for sure. ;) )

I was looking for a dessert that reminded me of football, and as I was browsing through her options, she has a cake called "Pig Cake". Pig... pigskin.... football. It's a loose connection but it worked for me.

As I was reading the recipe, I realized that it's essentially the Mandarin Orange cake my mom makes. But Mom's is a three layer undertaking that never turns out well for me. My dad, however, won a church cake contest with it once in Corsicana. The first and last time I ever remember Dad baking.

Pig Cake is a sheet cake. THAT I can handle! It's really yummy in the summer. It's a yellow cake mix with mandarin oranges. Crushed pineapple and whipped cream with a little vanilla pudding makes the frosting. You refrigerate it so it tastes refreshing... almost like you're doing something good for your body when you eat 3 pieces. :)

I should wait and post a pic once we cut into it, but I have no patience for that.

I'm working on not complaining as much... not on being more patient. ;)

The only one who will eat this with me is Jack. Maybe Caroline. But Jack LOVES Mandarin Orange cake so I'm counting on him to put this cake away before it goes bad.

For the rest of my family, I made a version of the Hershey Kiss cookies. This time I put refrigerated cookie dough in mini muffin tins, baked the dough for 7 minutes, pulled them out of the oven, and stuck candy in the middle.

They turned out pretty ugly. I sliced some of the dough too thin. I didn't spray some muffin cups enough with Pam. But they're yummy!!

As Jack told me, "Don't worry, Mom. It doesn't matter if it's ugly. It only matters if it's tasty."

And that's exactly why desserts don't stress me out... unless it's a holiday dessert or people are coming over. If desserts turn out badly, who cares?

Now if I mess up those sliders tomorrow, I'm gonna cry.


Recipes:

Pig Cake

Cookie Dough and Candy

My last dinner post

You can breathe a sigh of relief. Hopefully next week I'll have other things to talk about.

Last night Pasta alla Marlboro Man.

It was ok, but there wasn't anything really special about it. It was rigatoni with meat sauce.

Honestly, in this pic, I can talk more about the other things you see.

Vitamin water has been on sale at Kroger so I've been buying it for the last 2 weeks. I think it's really good! Not so much the one I was drinking last night, but their lemonade is yummy. And the labels on their bottles make me laugh. There's always some little description of the drink on the side of the bottle that someone with a sense of humor writes.

And you see my snowman tablecloth. Sigh. I'm so ready to be at a point where I don't have to cover my table with goofy things like this to keep it clean. We have a wooden table that collects crumbs in the grooves, and the kids are SO messy. Without the tablecloth, we nag and get frustrated with them. With the tablecloth, my table looks ridiculous.

But not as ridiculous as the dish towels we have in the kids' chairs so that when they drop things in their laps, it doesn't ruin our cushions.

I know companies make things more attractive than blue and white striped dish towels to protect seat cushions, but this is what works for us. I just wish we didn't live like this sometimes. Someday we'll be out of this stage, though, right?? :)

Anyway.. back to the regularly scheduled programming of dinners...

Next week--

Sloppy Joes, Hot Dogs, Cheese Soup, Lasagna, Chicken Tacos, Ravioli, Frito Pie, and King Ranch Chicken.

Although the menu may not sound particularly healthy, we're going back to ground turkey and fat free sour cream. No nitrates and low sodium. Taking a walk on the PW wild side for a week was fun though. :)


Having said that, here's a shameful admission--- just between you and me--

I'm sitting here making my grocery list and seriously considering making the PW's Milky Way cake this weekend.

Something like 8 or 20... I can't remember the exact number ;)... Milky Way candy bars have to be melted down to make this thing. Even I'm a little scared of it, but the kids saw it on the website and requested it. And, to be honest, I'm a little curious myself.

What can I say? I'm a dessert person. Desserts don't have to be healthy.

I'm not sure they need 20 candy bars melted into them... but that won't stop me from trying it. :)

Breakfast for dinner

I love breakfast for dinner. 

I confess I get in ruts... or maybe they're routines... that makes me sound organized and efficient instead of seriously lacking in creativity.... where I cook the same types of food every week.

One night is Mexican. Two nights are pasta.  You know what I mean?  And within each type I have just a few recipes that I use so it gets kinda boring.

Before the kids were big enough to eat with us, "breakfast for dinner" night was a weekly thing.  I love it that much!!

So when I saw this recipe for Cinnamon Baked French Toast, I had to try it!

I forgot to take a pic straight out of the oven.  Oh well. You get the idea, even though it doesn't look so good here. I swear I buttered the heck out of this dish, and yet-- it stuck.  Grr.

It's a cross between bread pudding and coffee cake.  That's a great thing in my book.

Believe it or not, she suggests serving it with another pat of butter and syrup on top of it.  And what's worse... we did it.  It was AWESOMELY DELICIOUS.  And so wrong.  But so right. :)

I'm betting she's Paula Deen's niece or something.  I have to remind myself that I'm not on the frontier.  I'm not going to bale hay.  I have no plans to work cattle.  I can not afford to eat this many calories!!!

(Although something tells me she doesn't really do all of those things either.)

But every now and then, it IS nice to indulge, I must say. ;)

In the spirit of "balance", I did serve this with turkey bacon and scrambled egg whites.  Because I'm responsible like that.

You have to read the recipe to really understand how indulgent this is... especially if you were to eat it for breakfast.

Dinner last night

I wasn't kidding when I said this is what I'd be blogging about this week.

Nothing else going on. 

Except some snow.



Last night I made Italian Chicken Soup.  I bought a whole fryer chicken, cut it up, cooked it in chicken broth, sauteed veggies, etc, etc, etc.

It was good, but for all the work I did, it wasn't THAT good.  I'm not sure I'll be making it again.

But the recipe called for pasta called Ditalini.  I had never heard of it.  Have you???  Is this a common pasta?

It is so cute! Yes, the pasta. Cute. Each piece is like a half of a macaroni. I'll use it again. Just because it's cute.

Here's the soup... I added more stock after I took this pic. This doesn't look much like a soup. I think I had accidentally let it reduce down to nothingness. But I'm posting the photo because I wanted to show you my new Dutch oven. :)

I treated myself at Kohl's. It was $108, but I got it for $68. I love Kohl's.

The cast iron is heavy as heck but really does heat more evenly, and the enamel coating has made clean up a breeze.. for Jason. ;)

Here it is... looking more like soup.

And here's the recipe..
Italian Chicken Soup

If you're actually clicking on these links, pay no attention to the fact that her pics of her food look nothing like my pics of her food.  It's because she's a better photographer. 

And cook.  Hush!

Tonight: PW Chili

I opted to go without the beans. And I went with cornbread instead of Fritos/ Frito Pie.

For her recipe, click here.

It was a yummy cold weather meal. :)

..............

BTW... I do own "real" plates and bowls. We went to plastic when the kids were old enough to eat at the table instead of at a high chair. I wanted us to all be eating off the same plates. Maybe that's strange. I found these cute Target plates/bowls, and we still use them.

But I did register for grownup place settings when I got married. I promise. ;)

More Pioneer Woman Cooking

Sooo...

I'm slightly obsessed. This is VERY much my personality. I get on kicks and stay on them until I burn out to the point that I can't even stomach the thought of [fill in the blank with my obsession].

Remember when I was eating only foods from the perimeter of the grocery store?? All fresh and organic?? Now... I still buy organic produce, dairy, and meat... but I'm definitely on the pop tart aisle too.

Remember when I was running all the time?? Now I'm at the gym 3 days a week-- weights only, no cardio. If I want cardio, I lift the weights faster. :) Running further than 2 miles doesn't even sound fun to me anymore.

Right now... It's the Pioneer Woman. I'm sharing what I'm cooking because I'm at a loss for what to blog about.

Now that I'm back to work I can't blog as much. I don't have as much time, and the school wouldn't like it if I shared stories, I'm sure.

Besides-- do you really want to hear me complain about the trials of indoor recess or how my paycheck went from $627 to $614 thanks to the new tax laws?? I doubt it. But-- while we're on the subject-- can I just tell you how much I LOATHE Congress?


I'll be doing Pioneer Woman cooking this week so I'll share THAT with you instead.

That's fun, right? :) Ok, it's not. But I don't know what else to do!


Oh... concerning the chocolate cake I made last week... AMAZINGLY GOOD!!! I'll be making it again and again and again. Love!! Love!! LOVE!!!!

**Of course I'm an admitted chocoholic with a sweet tooth affliction.**

My most recent Pioneer Woman recipe was for her Easy Calzones.

I made 15 calzones. The other cookie sheet is not shown.

Easy. Not to be confused with fast. These suckers took a while. From rolling out the dough to crimping them with a fork and brushing with egg wash. It's a process!

But even my pickiest eater **cough,cough SARAH cough, cough** ate this. That's truly a sign of culinary success!!

This is definitely a weekend recipe. You need your husband home to keep the kids out of the kitchen and you need about an hour to work.

With all that effort, it was a relief when everyone gave them 2 thumbs up! :)

And this is the Pioneer Woman's Chocolate Cake

I bought a sheet pan for the occasion. Believe it or not, I didn't own a sheet pan. I know! I was surprised too.

Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting! MMMMMM!!!!!!!!!

Of course it's hard for anything to taste bad when it calls for 3 3/4 sticks of butter.
**YIKES!!**
**My fish oil vitamins for heart health will counteract the butter-- don't you think??**

I know Jason prefers a white icing on chocolate cake... but I'd have preferred to add the chopped pecans the recipe called for and didn't. You win some and lose some. It's all about compromise. ;)

Just like I'm completely compromising my attempts at healthy eating tonight.

There's something about the smell of a warm chocolate cake cooling in the kitchen that makes me VERY happy! :)

Here's the link...

Pioneer Woman's Chocolate Cake

Pot Roast... Mmmmm!

One of the only reasons I love winter is that it's a great time for cold weather meals.  I'm a sucker for soups and stews.... and pot roast.  I don't want roast in July.  But January?  Yes, please!

During my weekly shopping trip, I bought the roast, onions, carrots, potatoes, and a seasoning packet-- prepared to do the same ol' pot roast in the crock pot.

While crock pots make things easier, I have to confess that I'm not a huge fan of using them. 

A) I have to remember to start dinner in the morning to let it cook all day.  I'm not thinking about dinner in the morning.

and

B) It seems that, no matter what I cook, crock pot dinners taste the same-- they taste like the crock pot.  Chicken, beef, or pork... Italian seasoning or Mexican spices... they all have the same "I-can-tell-I-cooked-it-in-a-crock-pot" flavor to me.  I can't explain it. 

But I don't have a roasting pan or a dutch oven, and I'm not really sure how else you cook a pot roast if not in the slow cooker.

Well, as usual, I forgot to put the roast in the crock pot this morning and thought, "Great. What's Plan B for dinner?"

Then I looked on The Pioneer Woman's website.  She has TONS of pot roast recipes.  None of them use seasoning packets, which makes me happy.  All of them are simple!!  And I don't need my crock pot.... I used a big All Clad pot I have that is oven safe. (I forget all the time that my All Clad is oven safe.)

Plus I love her blog.  Her commentary is hilarious!  I don't often remember to reference her site.  I'm not sure why. Everytime I do one of her recipes we love it.

I went with the basic pot roast because I already had the ingredients on hand.  It smelled DELICIOUS cooking in my oven for the last 3 hours.

Here's our dinner... It was yummier than this picture makes it look, especially with the big onion taking up so much of the plate. ;)

And here's the link.

Pioneer Woman's Perfect Pot Roast

A link to her mashed potatoes.  I didn't have a masher and didn't use my electric mixer... hence the lumps.

Pioneer Woman Mashed Potatoes

Making pasta salad

Caroline and I made a pasta salad.

The pasta was made of brown rice flour and milled flaxseed, but everyone (even my picky eaters) thinks it tastes like the "real" thing. Of course when I make it for them, I usually drown it in tomato sauce.

The salad dressing was just olive oil, lemon juice, a little garlic, salt and pepper. The other stuff in the salad: cucumbers, olives, tomatoes, and feta cheese.

She's the ONLY one in this house that would be willing to eat that with me.

I love that she'll eat healthy food. It makes cooking for her and with her so much fun. Jason worries that her taste buds don't work and thinks I should talk to her pediatrician.

.................

This is her strange smile and "I'm making pasta salad with Mom. Oh yeah!" pose.

Not quite right

My fish sticks look like egg rolls. :-/

When the moon hits your eye,

like a big pizza pie, that's amore....

That was the song I was singing in my head because Saturday night was MAKING PASTA NIGHT. And that's the only Italian song I know.

(Ok. It's not really Italian I guess. But it does use both the word "pizza" and the word "amore". And those sure as heck aren't Spanish words.)

Oh, there was also this song from this show the kids used to watch when they were little. It was on constant loop in my brain as well. It goes...

Pepperoni and zucchini and a lotsa mozzarella.
Pepperoni and zucchini and a lotsa mozzarella.

That's all I know. Which is annoying, isn't it? Why are the songs that get stuck in your head the ones that you don't know all the words to? So irritating.

But this is not a post about songs; it's about MAKING SPAGHETTI. (Be sure you read "spaghetti" the way Giada says it. If you watch her, you know what I'm talking about. "Spaghetti".)

So not a lot of pics.

But I busted out the food processor and made the dough with Caroline and Sarah.

In this photo, you can see the dough wrapped in plastic, the pasta machine clamped to the counter, and the white tower so that Caroline would be tall enough to help.

From this point on, it was a floured-y mess. Mayhem really. Fun mayhem, but mayhem. All hands on deck. Jason, me, all of the kids. It was like how many idiots does it take to make spaghetti?

Answer: at least 5.

And I don't have a drying rack. So I piled it up on the floured counter. I need to buy a drying rack.

While the instructions said that a floured countertop was acceptable, it was impossible to get all of the extra flour off before cooking, which led to pieces that were pretty gummy.

But look at the yumminess... Pay no attention to the floral tablecloth. I feel like there's so much in the background of all of my pics that requires explanation.

And no, I didn't make the sauce... though I have new sauce recipes I want to try. I wanted to try making the pasta at home and nailing that one down before I added another step.

It had to be good-- it got 2 thumbs up from the pickiest people I know. (Jason and Sarah.) :)

We'll do it again sometime.

Look at me making my first ever stir fry

In a wok. Served on this here small serving platter.
There is no way in heck my kids are gonna eat this. I'm not entirely sure  Jason will either. But yay for branching out!! :)