Onion Strings

It's been a VERY long time since I posted here about The Pioneer Woman's recipes. The prune cake wasn't the last recipe I did. What happened was I started cooking each week with Melanie and I would post my recipe on my daily blog HERE.I never got around to copying the post to this blog which was my intention.  I'm going to try and do that now, and hopefully this Fall get back on board with cooking from Ree's cookbook. I've heard she's got a cooking show coming out on Foodnetwork this month AND she's got another cookbook in the works, although I haven't heard anything about a date for that one.

I'm not sure how I keep this message at the top of my page, so I may just have to copy and paste it to the last recipe I add.

Melanie picked PW's Onion Strings for this weeks recipe. Let it be known that for some reason I have an even worse fear of frying with hot oil, than I do baking with yeast (see my post on Cinnamon rolls) so I wasn't really looking forward to trying this recipe! That's not to say I didn't want to eat the onion rings or 'strings' as PW calls them. I love onion rings but rarely will I eat them and I NEVER make them at home - I remembered why after making these ones!

It's a simple recipe though, first take a large onion and slice it very thin, then pour over 2 cups of buttermilk and let sit for an hour.

Then take two cups of flour, add salt and a little cayenne pepper. When you're ready to fry, add some of the onions to the flour to coat them, then tap off the excess flour before immersing in to hot oil!

this is the part I don't like, the oil always seems to splash me!

after a few seconds though they settled down and fried up nicely. I had burgers grilling on the grill outside but managed to keep an eye on these babies at the same time. It did take a few minutes for them to brown - not just a few seconds which I was expecting from what PW had said about watching them because they turn brown pretty quick. I did this in 3 batches.

and voila. . . . here they are

I could have eaten the plate full but I resisted and I grilled burgers so we could 'top them off' with the onion. . . .

Verdict: I just love onion rings so these were a hit in my book, but would I make them again, probably not, not for a very long time anyway- the reason being is the whole house stinks of yucky oil after you've made them. I made these last night and I came in the house today and can STILL smell oil a little. The oil in the pan is always gross afterward too and I never know what to do with it. Jason said I just had to pour it down the sink, which I hate the thought of but had no other choice really. Most certainly delicious, Kristen loved them and she doesn't even like onions!! but not something I would ever make on a regular basis.

Homemade Ranch Dressing

I couldn't post my PW recipe until tonight because I was waiting to make the ranch dressing for dinner! Homemade Ranch Dressing . . . .

This is one of the recipes that Melanie thought she wouldn't make, so I thought I would do it while she's away. It was a simple recipe, just mayo, buttermilk and some herbs and condiments (like Worcester sauce and vinegar and a little hot sauce which is optional. HERE'S the recipe from PW's cooking blog.

I served the dressing over iceburg wedges and had it with our meatball sub for dinner tonight.

Very tasty (go easy on the garlic) but I don't think I'd make this a lot just for us. It would be nice to make as a dip for crudites if you're having friends over for a bbq or something.

PW's Pizza Dough

This week Melanie picked Pizza to try. The recipe is actually for the pizza dough then PW has a couple of different toppings she does, one is tomato and pesto and the other is leek and potato with bacon. I'd love to try both of these but no one else in the house would eat them.....so I opted to just try the pizza dough and do our usual cheese and pepperoni topping for Jason and Kristen.

The recipe itself seemed pretty easy, add 4 cups of flour to your mixing bowl and a tsp salt,

drizzle in 1/3 cup of olive oil,

then add the yeast and water til it forms a dough

put it in a bowl and set aside in a warm place for 1 to 2 hours

you then simply spread the dough out on a cooking sheet that has a little olive oil on it

It's supposed to look pretty rustic and have lots of bumps in it from your fingers, this is the best I could do!

ready for the oven.

here it is out of the oven after just 10 minutes. I used ready grated mozzarella cheese but it actually looks like cheddar?

Ready to serve!

Verdict: I was happy how the dough turned out, no mishaps, it seemed the perfect consistency. Fresh out of the oven it, I have to say it was pretty yummy. Not much taste to the dough but I could say that about most pizzas to be honest (I can take it or leave it). I would make this again, it's easy to put together and so long as you have packets of dry yeast in you will usually have everything you need already in the pantry. Kristen and Jason gave it two thumbs up.

In hindsight after reading Melanie's verdict I am more than willing to give Smitten Kitchen recipe a try too ;-) Check out Mel's blog and see what she thought.

Mac and Cheese

I can't say I'm a huge fan of mac and cheese, well certainly not the box type,(although I will eat it on occasion) but I thought making it fresh with 'real' cheese might be worth the effort - that's why I picked this weeks recipe from the PW cookbook Macaroni and Cheese.

It's a pretty simple dish - you can find the full recipe HERE. Boil your macaroni pasta and make a cheese sauce!

First I melted the butter in a pan then added flour. Cook this for about 5 minutes (I think I only did mine about 3!)

Then pour in the milk

next I added the cheese (I've actually already 'tempered' the egg and added that too)

mix the sauce with the pasta

pour in to your dish and sprinkle cheese on top

bake for about 20 to 25 minutes, until hot and bubbly!

Verdict: I can't say that I love this dish, but nor do I dislike it.... it was just OK for me. Jason really liked it, but I think why I wouldn't rave on about it is that like any pasta dish with a lot of cheese in it, it just screams 'unhealthy' to me, and it does taste rather greasy! Not to say it didn't taste nice, just not a dish I love. And if I'm honest I really think my sauce 'curdled' a little even though I took careful steps to 'temper' the egg like PW tells you. Kristen didn't care for this dish but that's not surprising, all she's ever had is box mac and cheese and she said she preferred that still (no surprise there).

Would I make this again ?.... probably not, but it was fun trying it.

Roasted Corn Salad

I chose Roasted Corn Salad for this weeks recipe because I noticed the fresh corn on the cob in my local grocery store and it is priced really low -- 4 cobs for $1! I love fresh corn on the cob so I thought I would like this recipe....

I need to double check the recipe book, I noticed Melanie mentioned she cooked her corn first, but I didn't see it tell you that in the book and I actually just roasted mine along with the vegetables on my outdoor grill?

The only thing it didn't tell you to grill was the fresh tomatoes (not pictured above). And for the record you will see I only have 4 corn cobs and not 8 because I halved this recipe. The recipe says it will make 6 cups and I knew it wouldn't all get eaten so I just decided on making half that amount. You can see the recipe over at Mel's Blog.

So, you simply grill your veg, then chop everything up and place in a bowl. . . .

pour on the oil and balsamic vinegar dressing and chopped basil and mix together - that simple! but was it that tasty?

Verdict: Sad to say I wasn't impressed with this dish :-( I really wished I was, I mean I love everything in it, love the corn, love red bell peppers, squash, red onions - I just love all that fresh stuff, so why didn't I like the dish? I honestly thought it was too 'greasy'! I think I would have preffered to just scoop this dish up with a tortilla chip WITHOUT the dressing. That way it would have tasted fresh and crispy I think. I also would have preferred a fresh cilantro taste rather than basil. This dish reminds me more of a fresh salsa and cilantro is a must have in that case, whereas basil is more for a pesto dish (just imo).

Jason wasn't too impressed with this dish either. Honestly, after the first few tastes the rest went in the fridge and I thought I might try it later on top of chicken. Later never came, I took it out the next day and gave it a try... by then it was just cold and greasy, so it went in the trash :-(
Sorry PW!

Egg In A Hole!

There are many names for this week's dish, picked by Melanie. The one I like best which is as simple as the dish itself, is 'Egg in a Hole'! You simply take a slice of bread, cut a hole in it with a cookie cutter, fry the bread in butter and drop the egg in the hole - what could be simpler than that? Nothing..... this dish was so easy to do and a perfect way to spoil my hubby on Father's Day. Yes, this, along with a delicious hot cup of coffee was his 'special breakfast' on his 'special day, and he loved it :-)

I used my cast iron skillet

what made it even more special was the bread... baked by my hubby himself, this is his wonderful honey wheat bread that I had in the freezer.

flip it over and it's nearly done!

Voila! Breakfast is served!

Verdict: I could only get one slice of bread in my skillet at once, but I made another one of these for Kristen too. It got two thumbs up from both Jason and Kristen.... me? I'd give it 3 thumbs up if I could - not the healthiest of breakfasts (I don't even like to think of how much butter was soaked in to that bread) but totally delicious, and perfect for Lazy Sunday Mornings. Definitely a keeper I just can't bring myself to make it very often (which I think my arteries will thank me for). But yay, another hit from PW :-)

Catching up with PW

It's been a VERY long time since I posted here about cooking The Pioneer Woman's recipes. The prune cake wasn't the last recipe I did. What happened was I started cooking each week with Melanie and I would post my recipe on my daily blog HERE.I never got around to copying the post to here which was my intention.  I'm going to try and do that now, and hopefully this Fall get back on board with cooking from Ree's cookbook. I've heard she's got a cooking show coming out on Foodnetwork this month AND she's got another cookbook in the works, although I haven't heard anything about a date for that one.

I'm not sure how I keep this message at the top of my page, so I may just have to copy and paste it to each new post until I have added all the recipes I've done so far. 

Here's the what I made after the Prune cake - posted to my daily blog on June 1st, 2010 

Edna Mae's Sour Cream Pancakes

It was my turn to pick the recipe this week and I chose Edna Mae's Sour Cream Pancakes. I have very little experience with making my own pancakes, I usually just buy them frozen and Kristen is the only one that eats them! When I don't have frozen in I've been known to use Bisquick and make my own, and I have tried a whole wheat recipe from 'Healthy Cooking' magazine which were ok but nothing to write home about. I've never tried pancakes with sour cream in them before so, just like a lot of the other wonderful recipes in this book, I couldn't wait to try these.

You start by mixing one cup of sour cream with 7 tablespoons of flour, 1 tbsp sugar, 1tsp baking soda and 1/2 tsp salt. Stir together very gently.

next, pour in 2 large eggs whisked with 1/2 tsp vanilla extract.

Again stir gently - above is my batter all ready for pouring. . .

I think you all know how to cook pancakes right? The recipes says to pour 1/4 cup at a time to make each pancake. See the pancakes on the left, they are the first ones I poured, but I think 1/4 cup was a bit big, so I used a little less mixture for the rest.

Looking good don't ya think?

and as quick as a flash - they're ready :-) The recipe said this would make 12 pancakes but I only got 10 out of the mixture. Let me add, 10 wonderfully delicious, hot fresh, melt in your mouth pancakes!

Verdict: I loved these pancakes, and will definitely be making them again. We all ate some for breakfast last weekend and they got thumbs up from Jason and Kristen too. What I loved about them is they are so simple to make, and the texture was nice and light, although not 'fluffy'. I found the pancakes a little flat I guess but that wasn't a bad thing. They tasted yummy and were soft and delicious - I think I liked them better than anything I've ever had at IHOP. Hop on over to Mel's and see what she thought of them!