pw rocks

The Pioneer Woman is my new favorite person. She’s genius. I want to work my way through her book Julie & Julia style. Without all the sweat, tears and unpronounceable recipe names. Because PW’s recipes familiar, easy and super delicious. She has pictures for every step. That’s just my style. I do not take pictures every step. It’s dangerous enough when I’m cooking…I don’t want to bring my camera into it. Check out her website or cookbook for these yummy dishes we cooked up this weekend. (I’ll post recipes Ree doesn’t have on her website archives. Buy her book! You won’t regret it.)

Hot Artichoke Dip

2 – 14 oz cans drained artichoke hearts	1 – 8 oz block cream cheese
1 c mayo	cayenne pepper
2 green onions, chopped	1 c grated parmesan

1. Preheat oven to 350. Add one can of artichokes, the cream cheese and mayo to the food processor.
2. Sprinkle in cayenne (we used crushed red pepper, because I didn’t have cayenne) and green onions.
3. Pulse the mixture. (You don’t want artichoke flavored baby food.) Add the parm and salt & pepper to taste.
4. Chop the other can of artichokes. Add the dip to the pieces and stir together.
5. Pour the mixture in an oven safe pan and cook for 15-20 minutes.
**We served this Friday night when we had guests over with pita chips. I finished off the leftovers on Saturday :)

Creamy Rosemary potatoes

1/2 stick butter	1 c half and half
1 c heavy cream	5-6 thinly sliced russet potatoes
4 finely chopped garlic cloves	1 diced medium onion
1 – 8 oz package cream cheese	salt & pepper
2 minced rosemary leaves	3 sliced green onions
1 c grated parmesan	3 tbl minced chives
1/2-1 tsp salt	ground black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350. Rub softened butter along the bottom of a 13x9 baking dish. Mix the half-and-half and cream in a large mixing bowl.
2. Slice the potatoes very thin. Place in bowl and drizzle with half the half-and-half/cream. Melt butter and add garlic and onion. Cook until translucent ~4 minutes.
3. In a large skillet over med-low heat melt the butter.
4. Cut the bar of cream cheese in half and add to skillet. Stir until smooth. ~3 minutes
5. Pour in the reaming mixture of half-and-half/cream and stir to combine. Add salt and pepper and stir.
6. Add the rosemary and green onions and stir to combine.
7. Add the 1/2 c of parmesan.
8. Pour the cream soaked potatoes in the baking dish. Pour the cream cheese mixture over the top. Sprinkle with the other 1/2 c of cheese.
9. Bake for atleast 1 hour or until golden brown.
10. Remove from the onion and sprinkle with chives.

To continue with my PW cooking spree, I whipped up some of her pizza dough Saturday so it would be perfect for this beauty Sunday night.

Caramelized Onion & Prosciutto Pizza

I didn’t really provide prior details  of the pizza to Preston. We plan our weekly menu on Sunday nights and I just told him we were having pizza. When I pulled out the prosciutto he said “I would’ve paid extra for pepperonis.” Well, too bad for him this isn’t Pizza Hut. Lucky for him I purchased enough prosciutto for us to munch on while I prepped the meal. See directions and pictures here.

It was pretty good! P didn’t really know what to make of the sweet, caramelized onions. He said it tasted like desert. He did divulge that it wasn’t the WORST meal I’ve ever cooked. So that was a relief (<—GREAT SARCASM) I was pleased but not overwhelmed by the pizza. Needless to say, I had enough to take to lunch today..and probably tomorrow too.

This pizza would be a good lunch pizza for us. Maybe I won’t caramelize the onions next time. I loved the saltiness and crunch of the baked prosciutto and the pizza dough made the perfect crust. Even reheated!

This concludes my weekend journey with the Pioneer Woman. I did slip her Comfort Meatballs onto this week’s menu, so I’ll let you know how it goes!