What I Cooked this Weekend!

Now I realize there might not be a whole lot of people who would say cooking is one of their favorite things to do, but it is one of mine. And have I cooked this weekend!!

Recently I became aware of Ree Drummond, aka Pioneer Woman. She sounds like a pretty awesome lady. She's married to the love of her life (Marlboro Man), has 4 cute kids, lives on a cattle ranch, cooks, takes beautiful pics, has a very informative and entertaining blog, and has a cookbook that hit #1 on the New York Times bestseller list, and has now written The Pioneer Woman - Black Heels to Tractor Wheels (basically the story of how she met "Marlboro Man" and fell in love).

Over Christmas vacation, I stumbled across her blog (http://thepioneerwoman.com/) while reading another blog (http://thelittlebrownhouse.us/) . . . can you tell what I did between Christmas Day and New Years? The Little Brown House was raving about Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls. So I decided to give them a try. Let me just say, they are AHmazing, and that's putting it lightly. Since then I've purchased her cookbook and her book and highly recommend them both.

The recipes are very easy to follow, don't call for any exotic ingredients, and have met with rave reviews from my family. I've made Basic Breakfast Potatoes, Edna Mae's Sour Cream Pancakes (don't think I will ever make pancakes from a mix again), Chicken Spaghetti, Chicken Fried Steak, PW's Creamy Mashed Potatoes, and Comfort Meatballs. Haven't been disappointed by one recipe.

So this weekend I decided to try Three Cheese Stuffed Shells with Meaty Tomato Sauce (http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/10/three-cheese-stuffed-shells-with-meaty-tomato-sauce/) and Spicy Dr. Pepper Shredded Pork (http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/03/spicy-dr-pepper-shredded-pork/). Not together, of course. I put the Three Cheese recipe together quickly late yesterday afternoon to take to a friend who had hip surgery recently. Her husband and mine like to get a rise out of us by calling us "woman". Now, this all came about during a sermon when the preacher was quoting Jesus who addressed a woman as "woman" and they thought it was funny to call us that, but they normally say it in a stern sounding voice like "WOMAN". Somehow, I don't think that was how Jesus was saying it. Anyway, our friend texted Dan after eating the Stuffed Shells and said he would no longer call me WOMAN, but he would now call me Mama Mia. I'm taking that as a compliment. We will be having our Stuffed Shells for supper tomorrow night.

Tonight we are having the Shredded Pork. It's been cooking in a 300 degree oven for six hours and it is falling apart (I peeked just a few minutes ago and had a taste - YUMMY!!). I'm serving it as PW suggests on warm flour tortillas, topped with shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes and grated cheese. Can't wait for supper.

So if you're stuck in a rut and tired of cooking the same old thing, please visit PW's website and try some of her recipes. You won't be sorry. Her recipes are very easy to follow and she includes beautiful pictures if you need step by step help. And you'll probably giggle a few times as you are reading her recipes.