More Time in the Kitchen....

Okay, here is round two in the many recipes I've been trying lately! These are all new to us since the beginning of the year, although some have been made many times already!

First of all, I LOVE love LOVE the recipes (and stories) at The Pioneer Woman. Ree just won "best blog of the year" at the bloggies in Houston, if that's any indication! The following are some of the many recipes you'll find on her site. I love that she has step-by-step tutorials, showing everything as she goes along....although with our dial up, I rarely can see the photos :(

Apricot Bars -- this are FABULOUS! And made with lots of oats, so they're healthy... http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/05/apricot-bars-are-they-for-breakfastor-dessert/

Crash Hot Potatoes -- yes, I've written about these before but this is one of those recipes I'll be making often! http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/06/crash-hot-potatoes/

Dump Cake -- I may have written on this before, too, but it's something my 4 and 5 year old can do by themselves with very little supervision..... http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/04/dump-cake-a-potluckers-paradise/

Egg-in-a-hole -- a couple years ago, one of my kids' babysitters was all excited that she had "egg-in-a-hole" for breakfast. She tried explaining it to me and finally gave up. I was excited to see it on PW's website...and it is pretty easy to make, another breakfast favorite of ours! http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/07/egg-in-a-hole-see-alternate-names-below/

Oatmeal crispies -- This was another snack recipe we tried and LOVE. You can make lots of this dough ahead of time and freeze it. Since it's something that my kids, again, can do with little supervision, we'll be making this when I need to find something to occupy them! DELISH! http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/09/marlboro_mans_favorite_cookies_oatmeal_crispies/

Onion strings -- oh YEAH! If you follow PW's instructions step-by-step, you won't have any of the side affects onions sometimes cause....But seriously, these are yummy, addictive, and easy to make. http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/03/onion-strings-oh-yeah-baby/

PW's No-Knead Dinner rolls -- these are quick, simple, and very yummy! They make about 48 rolls (in muffin pans), so I did 1/4 batch.... http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/11/pw_dinner_rolls_-_no_kneading_required/

Back in January I did several guest postings for Lindsey over at Cafe Johnsonia. She has a great selection of recipes, and following are a few of them:

Bread or rolls -- these are very good for home-made hamburger buns or just simply dinner rolls. http://cafejohnsonia.blogspot.com/2008/03/homemade-buns-or-rolls.html

Caramel-topped Flan -- ooohhhh!!! SOOOOO good! However, you are supposed to cook the caramel topping until it is a light caramel color then for an additional 5 minutes. I found that was too long (and I didn't even go a full three minutes) -- it had a bit of a burnt taste. I'd go just until the caramel color comes next time....and there will be a next time! http://cafejohnsonia.blogspot.com/2008/03/tuesdays-with-dorie-caramel-topped-flan.html

Cream-filled strawberries -- these were a huge hit when we had my brother- and sister-in-law and family over. They also used the extra cream filling on the palacinta (see previous post for recipe) with great results! These'll be even better when I can use fresh Carter's strawberries! http://cafejohnsonia.blogspot.com/2009/01/valentines-treats-cream-filled.html

Crescent Rolls -- I remember my aunt making homemade crescent rolls and all the painstaking work that went into them. Wasn't sure I wanted to tackle these, but thought...why not? This is a multi-day recipe (mainly for chilling time), but well-worth it! They don't make a very flaky buttery crescent roll, but they were good enough where my father-in-law had THREE at one sitting! That's saying alot, for those of you that know him! http://cafejohnsonia.blogspot.com/2006/11/crescent-rolls-makes-16-rolls-dough-cup.html

Rosemary Balsamic chicken -- if I've not written about this before (and I think I have), I don't know why not! This is something I'll make every few weeks, varying the herbs and spices, but enjoying it every time!! http://cafejohnsonia.blogspot.com/2006/09/rosemary-balsamic-chicken.html

Sour Cream Cherry Muffins with pecan struesel -- The recipe says it makes a dozen muffins; it made 15 very LARGE muffins ... which was a good thing since they are so good! http://cafejohnsonia.blogspot.com/2009/01/sour-cream-cherry-muffins-with-pecan.html

Domestication in Progress is another blog that I found with great recipes! Here are a few:

Tortellini Soup -- this is quick and easy to make, very delicious! We've had this a few times already and will again soon! http://domesticationinprogress.blogspot.com/2007/08/tortellini-soup.html

Waffles -- I had to laugh at how quick and easy these directions were...but these waffles are GREAT!!! Definitely something I'll be making again! http://domesticationinprogress.blogspot.com/2008/05/waffles.html

Nutty Banana Bread -- I made this today and it's definitely a hit! There are two recipes on this link, both are wonderful (I made the second recipe several weeks ago) http://domesticationinprogress.blogspot.com/2007/06/banana-bread_08.html

Of course, Marie at Makes and Takes has some yummy recipes, too, and one that I make often (and I believe wrote about before) is her delicious rosemary peasant bread. http://www.makeandtakes.com/rosemary-peasant-bread -- please note: most of us are what she refers to as "in the south" as in elevation. Do add the extra flour!

And somewhere, SOMEWHERE! are the recipes for parmesean-herb pan biscuits as well as banana sour cream muffins...I just can't find them online right now! I'll keep looking and post them when I do...because you've gotta try them!

I've also been enjoying my new Better Homes Cook Book, an "old" cookbook, but new to me! Found a great sloppy joe recipe as well as the herb-roasted chicken I made the other night! Not only that, I threw together a great stew the other day when I got a three hour notice to make lunch for ten workers at church! No problem...if you have time to can during the summer! I browned a pound of Carter's ground beef, added some Watkins beef soup base, a quart each of Carter's carrots, Carter's green beans, Carter's tomatoes, a pint of Carter's peas, and a bag of Carter's frozen sweet corn. Added some pearled barley about 20 minutes before serving, and voila! Delicious lunch!

But...my trying new recipes isn't over yet. I still have a huge stack to go through, includng steak bites, banana-chocolate-chunk cookies, nutmeg struesel muffins, rootbeer cookies, pasta carbonara, and more....as I test, I'll tell!

And, when I get a chance to download some photos, I'll show you some of the many green things we ate yesterday!