Thursday, May 31, 2012

Beef and Bean Burritos - Pioneer Woman was right!

Ok, again, no drip beef. It's on the agenda for...drumroll please....today!

In the meantime, we did try out the Beef and Bean Burritos and I am happy to say that this came together very quickly, which is essential in our busy household many a night.

And, yes, I know, it's from the new cookbook again. I guess I am an impatient sort and just can't stand waiting to try out a few of those recipes!

So, I assembled all the ingredients and found I only had 1 lb. ground beef on hand. Not a problem, because even with 5 little folks to feed, they don't eat that much, and some only wanted beans in their burritos. Sometimes they just aren't that adventurous.

I was able to find the same sauce pictured in the recipe at Kroger; El Pato, so I was happy about that because like I've mentioned, I do, generally, like to play it by the book the first time I try out a recipe...generally.

All the bean only eaters liked their burritos just fine, only 3 of us had beef and bean and all 3 liked them very much.

So, 3 out of 3, not bad.

On to the drip beef now....see you after a while.

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Plans are Made to Change....Right?

Well, as usually happens around these here parts, things change...often. One thing is that I found myself wanting to intersperse recipes from the first cookbook along with the second, so I may just pick and choose from the two and continue on. Can you handle the madness? I thought so. Carrying on...

So far, no drip beef, but it's still on the schedule...for soon. How's that for vague?

We did, however, try the Dr. Pepper Spicy Pulled Pork - minus the spice.

As much as I'd like to say my born and bred Texans all eat super hot jalapenos by the dozen with nary a tear, that isn't the way of things. Maybe they have too much of their Tennessee raised mother in them, I don't know.

All that to say, I did leave the peppers out. I do plan to try the recipe again soon for a Sunday afternoon church lunch, and make it just like the recipe says, but until then, we'll review it minus the spice.

Ok - remember that adage about rules being made to be broken? I think recipes are made to be tweaked. I was going to be in and out the day I planned on this recipe, so I used the crockpot. I know...I'm deviating more and more from the original recipe and methodology, but a Mom has to do what a Mom has to do. I will say this, USUALLY I am a strict "do it exactly as the recipe says the first time I try something" type of person, so in future perhaps you can trust me to stick to the recipe more closely...at least that first time out!

So, in the crockpot it went, low and slow all day whilst I tended to the needs of the crew. All ingredients were kept the same w/the exception of leaving out the peppers.

Dinner time! The meat was super tender, easy to pull apart w/two forks. Served up on whole wheat buns to the crew. I definitely think the addition of the peppers would make the meat more flavorful, but even w/o them the pork was good and I enjoyed it very much. Children's reviews, as usual, were mixed. 1 child devoured an entire sandwich...the rest...picked in varying degrees.

So, out of our family of 7, 3 gave it a big thumbs up. 4 luke warm. Par for the course. If I ever find a week's worth of things the whole crew will heartily eat, we may just have those over and over and, well, over.

'til next time!

Monday, May 21, 2012

Long time coming

I'm sure I'm not the only one out there that watched "Julie and Julia" and read the book, not necessarily in that order, and then later mused about doing the same thing as Julie. Then, thought again about the giant Julia Child French cookbook and thought maybe that task might take, well, the rest of their life, and maybe a smaller challenge would be better for them. Besides, I'm not a young married woman, but a 12 years into marriage woman with 5 children to care for...a smaller cookbook might be best.

Later, it occurred that it might be fun to work my way through the Pioneer Woman cookbook gifted to me by my loving husband, and that's where the "idea" stayed for a while...a thought.

Occasionally the "thought' came back to me and I wondered if I should give it a whirl, but again and again I shoved the idea back and reminded myself I didn't have time for another "project" what with raising a small army and such.

Tonight, however, I decided to jump in.

The idea - to cook my way through the Pioneer Woman's first cookbook (yes, there's a new one now, I know...I have it....we'll see how well I do with the first one, then get back to that).

The goal - to actually try all the recipes and give them a rating, just for fun. We'll see how many of the children give the recipes a thumbs up, and move on to the next one. Are you ready? I am.

Time table....we'll see. The hope is that I can try at least 1 "main dish", 1 "side", and 1 "dessert each week. The reality will be whatever happens :)

This week, because sticking to the plan isn't always the way things go around here, we plan to try out the Drip Beef (new cookbook, pg. 64), Beef & Bean Burritos (new cookbook, pg. 66), and Dr. Pepper Spicy Pulled Pork (1st cookbook). I know, I said I'd start with the first cookbook, but plans are made to be changed it seems. Everyone ready? Drip Beef in T minus 2 days! Stay tuned!

CatieB