Getting on the Pioneer Woman Bandwagon

This week I was organized. I had a menu plan. It was a great menu plan.

But then last night, driving home from work, I realized that even though it was Thursday, I didn’t want meatloaf. It was too pretty outside to make meatloaf. Meatloaf should be made when its cloudy and drizzly. Not when its bright and sunny and almost warm.

So I had to change my plan. Quickly.

Then I remembered my friend Ree. OK, I guess that in order to call her a friend, we ought to have had some kind of two-way conversation. So far our friendship was defined from me reading about her photography, food and life on her blog. And if that makes me a friend, she’s got a LOT of friends. ‘Cause everyone’s reading her blog it seems.

Everyone also seems to be cooking her recipes and raving about them, like her Pork Tenderloin over at The Big Red Kitchen, her Pasta Carbonara over in The Kitchn, and several of her dishes at Lauren’s Kitchen.

I remembered one of her recipes I’d seen for BBQ Meatballs. And, as usual with her blog, I remembered the photo looked Drool-inducing, want-to-lick-my-monitor, amazing. Then I pulled up the recipe, and my mind was set on making this recipe the moment I read this line:
“You’ll know they’re done when your house smells so good you want to marry it.”
C’mon. Really. Who could resist a promise like that?

And the promise was fulfilled. After about 20 minutes in the oven, the boys started appearing in the kitchen asking what smelled so good. I popped the oven door open to see if they were finished yet, and my mouth immediately started watering from the smell.

She was right. I wanted to marry my kitchen.

Then, as we ate dinner, I realized that I was wrong. I can’t marry a kitchen, no matter how good it smelled.

I want to marry the meatballs.

Or maybe just a torrid love affair.

Pretty in Pink

Ahhhh…smoooooth….creammmy….riiiich…

Tonight’s dinner was the same pink sauce that Anna and I made with the gnocci last month, only this time I served it with fettuccine and shrimp.

Hush. I don’t care that it looks like spaghetti. It’s fettuccine. I didn’t forget to buy fettuccine. And you can’t prove it.

Cause it’s gone. Gobbled up.

You should have heard the table. Nobody was talking. We’re not supposed to talk with our mouths full.

Time Travel and Pie

I have come to believe that the internet is a time portal.

I sit down to check out a couple quick things and the next time I blink, and hour’s gone by. Or two.

Sometimes three.

So if you visit my house and find that I didn’t get my kitchen floor mopped, and wonder why there’s laundry piled up, know that it isn’t my fault. I just got caught in a time warp.

Then sit down and have some of Smitten Kitchen’s Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie.

Strange how I can always find the time to cook, though. Isn’t it?

The Problem with Pigs

Pigs are destroyers.

It’s one of the things that you just don’t know until you see the dead daffodils.

Or the torn up lawn.

Or the broken door to the shop where the food is kept.

They love to roam, rut and roll. Its part of their nature. Unfortunately, it’s also detrimental to landscaping and the checkbook.

But in the end, I’ll forgive them.

Cause I LOVE bacon.

Missin’ Texas

First, let me start by saying we LOVE living where we do. The greeness of everything…being close to family…life in the country…almost everything.

What we don’t love, however, is the lack of Tex-Mex food. Most of the restaurants around here are Cal-Mex. If you don’t think there’s a difference, then you’ve never had Tex-Mex. Less cilantro, more cheese. Less grilled, more fried. Less veggie, more meat.

I was in the mood for some real Tex-Mex food. Some remember that great restaurant-we-used-to-go-to-food. Some hearty, beefy taquitos. And the only place to get them around here is at my own dining table.

To make your own taquitos, you will need:
Day One:
- Roast (4-5 pounds). Choose a roast that would be good for pot roast (chuck, round-bone, etc.)
- 1 can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (in the Mexican Food section of every grocery store I’ve
ever looked for them in)
-2-3 cloves garlic
Day Two:
-1/2 onion (sauteed)
1/2 pound cheddar cheese
1 pkg corn tortillas (probably about 20)
oil

Day One:
So yesterday I did some preparation. I whizzed the chipotles, the included adobo sauce and the garlic cloves around in my food processor. This mixture was dumped over the roast in the crockpot and after I turned the roast over a time or two to distribute, I plopped the lid on the crockpot, set it to low and walked away for about 6 hours.

After 6 hours, I pulled the roast out, and put it in a bowl in the fridge. The sauce that was left behind in the crockpot I poured into a separate container and also refrigerated it.

Day Two:
Fast forward to tonight. Pulled the roast out of the fridge and Nick and I hand-shredded the meat, pulling the chunks of fat & gristle out. The sauce was de-greased (easy since the fridge chilled it into a layer on the top of the container and I just had to lift it out and throw it away). The sauce then went in a saucepan with some sauteed onions and reduced about 1/2. The reduction went into the food processor and was whizzed around until smooth.

At this point, you’ll have to make a decision as to how much heat your family wants. I added all the sauce to the bowl of meat, but next time I’ll probably just add 1/2 of it. It was pretty spicy. Of course, if you would rather have little spice, you could use a mild taco sauce or even just tomato sauce. Grate about 1/2 pound cheddar cheese and mix that in with the beef and chipotle sauce also.

Pour 1/2″ or so of oil into the bottom of a pan and set it on a medium burner to heat up.
Turn the oven on to 425 and set out a rimmed baking sheet.

When the oil in the pan is warm, it’s time to begin. Place a tortilla in the oil until the tortilla starts to bubble up, and immediately remove tortilla to a board covered with a couple paper towels. This warms the tortillas up enough that they won’t crack when you roll them. Place about 3 T of the beef mixture on the tortilla, and roll them up into a tube shape. Set them on the baking sheet with the edge down to keep it rolled. I did them in batches of 3.

Please note, this will make a mess! Your stove will be covered in dripped oil.

Once you have used either all the tortillas or all the meat, pop the baking sheet in the oven. Bake about 15 minutes, then pull them out and turn them upside down to continue crisping for another 10 minutes or so.

Serve with sour cream, guacamole (if you’re not allergic like me) or salsa.
Then close your eyes and imagine you’re in Texas.