Pioneer Woman's Potato Skins

My husband loves potato skins. When we first started dating I remember him ordering them as an appetizer and I didn't really like them but now 8 years later I find my self enjoying them as well. When my hubby requested these I decided to pair them with steak for dinner as an alternative regular baked potatoes. It turned out fabulous!! Unfortunately she does not have this recipe online with pictures but here is the recipe:

What You Need:

8 pieces of thick-cut bacon

8 (cleaned) potatoes

canola oil

kosher salt

1 1/2 cups sharp cheddar cheese

1 cup sour cream

4 sliced green onions

How to Make It:

1. Bake the potatoes for 45 min in the oven at 400 degrees or until they are fork tender
2. Fry your bacon up (my favorite part, who does not love bacon)
3. When your potatoes come out of the oven, slice them in half, then with a spoon core out the potatoes leaving a little flesh on the skin
4. Next brush both side of the the potatoes with canola oil and salt both sides liberally
5. Cook on both sides for 7 more minutes each or until the skins are crispy
6. Grate your cheese (or you cheat and buy the already grated kind) and chop the bacon into bits
7. Sprinkle the potatoes cheese and bacon, then return it to the oven just until the cheese melts
8. Then right before you serve spoon in some sour cream, and sprinkle with green onions

**Note: We cut down on the portion size from the recipes since there is only 2 of us but this is the original recipe

It is was delish!! (Not to mention Bob's special steaks are the yum!)

Pioneer Woman's Pico de Gallo

I am going to try and post about cooking through Pioneer Woman's (PW) cookbook every two weeks. Yesterday I made her Pico de Gallo. Bob and I both love chips and pico so I was really excited to try this recipe. To see Pioneer Woman's post with step by step pictures go here.

**Note: I only used one Jalapeno because I am not a huge fan of hot but that is totally up to you.

I really liked this recipe and it would make a great snack or addition to any mexican food inspired night.

Here is Pioneer Woman's Recipe:

What You Need:

5 whole Plum (roma) Tomatoes
½ whole Large (or 1 Small) Onion
Whole Jalapeno Peppers
Cilantro
Lime Juice
Salt To Taste

How to Make It:

Chop jalapenos, tomatoes and onions into a very small dice. (Leave seeds in your jalapenos for a hotter pico). Adjust amount of jalapenos to your preferred temperature. Next, chop up a nice-sized bunch of cilantro. Just remove and discard the long leafless stems before chopping. No need to remove the leaves from the stems completely. Place all of these ingredients together in a bowl and give it a good stir.

Squeeze the juice of half of one lime into the bowl. Add salt to taste and stir again.

Happy Cooking!

**note: to me it needs a little more tomatoes**

Roasted Potatoes and Asparagus

Need a great side dishes that area break from the canned green beans and the boxed macaroni and cheese, well I have some for you. This is a great pair you can add to any meal!

What You Need for Both:

A bundle of Asparagus

Olive oil

A bag of red potatoes

Italian seasoning

Salt

Pepper

Roasted Potatoes:

Who doesn't love potatoes, this is a easy side dish to fix and forget and when your main course is ready so is your side dish!

How to Make the Potatoes:

1. Preheat the over to 45o degrees
2. Wash the potatoes off, and cut them into quarters
3. Take and rimmed baking sheet and line it with tin foil
4. Spread the potatoes on the pan
5. Drizzle the potatoes with olive oil
6. Then sprinkle liberally with salt, pepper, and italian seasoning
7. Place in the oven and bake for 35 minutes

Asparagus:

Need a new veggie to add variety to your meals? A few years ago I discovered how much I really liked Asparagus and love to add it as a side dish to meals.

How to Make the Asparagus:

1. Wash the Asparagus
2. Cut the bottoms off
3. spread on a baking sheet
4. Drizzle with olive and salt and pepper
5. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes

**side note**

Since I made these two dishes together I baked the potatoes at 400 degrees for 25 minutes then cut the oven down to 350 and placed the asparagus in the oven for 15 minutes, and they both were finished at the same time. I served it with Balsamic chicken.

Cooking with the Pioneer Woman in 2010

Hey Y'all! I am so excited I can hardly contain myself as I write this post. Have you heard of Pioneer Woman? I discovered her blog a few months ago through Bakerella and have been following her ever since! Former city girl Ree Drummond, aka Pioneer Woman, blogs all about her life on the ranch with her family, showcases her beautiful photography, and amazing recipes. What, you have not heard of her. Well then please take a moment to check her outhere. Pioneer Woman recently published a cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks. It is full amazing step by step recipes, tales from the ranch, and gorgeous pictures(which she took). I bought that cookbook today and I am so excited about what I am about to share with you. I am going to be cooking through The Pioneer Woman's cookbook in 2010! I am so excited kinda like Julie and Julia! There are about 65 or so recipes and I will be trying to post every other week right here on my cooking blog about this exciting journey and recipes I tried! Do you want to join me and other bloggers? Then simply pick up a copy of her cookbook and head over to this blogto get your fun little tag ( as seen below) for your blog and info on how to get involved with other bloggers who have joined in this quest. Don't have blog, then now is a great time to start one, it is not hard! Come on Y'all this will be fun!

Hope to have you join me in cooking through The Pioneer Woman's cookbook in 2010!

This is a copy of my post from my main blog, Pulling a Julie and Julia.

You can follow my journey right here :)

A Cookbook Christmas

Hey Y'all! No, I did not forget about this blog it is just been awhile since I have been in my kitchen since I have been adjusting to my job but I am working on changing that! I am pretty excited about this new year and my new cookbooks! Christmas is for cookbooks right ?!? I received four new cookbooks this Christmas.

Which ones did I get? Well.......

The Deen Brothers: Take it Easy

Julia Child's The Art of French Cooking (Have you seen Julie & Julia?)

The Joy of Cooking

Cookie Craft

I am so excited about getting in the kitchen again on my days off. I have already pulled out the Deen Brothers cookbook and I whipped up two recipes from it tonight. So my sweet blog friends I am back, and so are the recipes!

Fried Apple Pies

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with delicious dishes, we certainly did. Thanksgiving night my husband's best friend came over with a special request, Fried Apple Pies. I had made this dessert one other time when experimenting with apple recipes for this past fall season. After searching for the perfect recipe to capture that fresh out the oven at an apple barn flavor I found the perfect one. It was very easy and of course by one of my favorite cooks, Paula Deen (I am Southern through and through).

What you will need:

• 5-6 Gala apples (Paula's recipe calls for McIntosh but I am partial to Gala)
• 1 tube of 8 flaky biscuits (I get Hungry Man's in the green tube they are the best to me and you can get the 10 biscuits tube but your pies will be just a bit smaller)
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
  
• 2 tbs butter
• 1 tsp lemon

How to make it:

1. Add the butter to a large pan and melt.
2. Add the apples, sugar, cinnamon, and lemon juice and cook over medium heat until the apples are soft, about 15 minutes. Prepare for your kitchen to smell divine!
   
3. Remove from the heat and cool.
4. While the filling is cooling roll the biscuits out on a floured surface, so they don't stick. Make it so each biscuit forms about 7 inch circle.
   
5. When filling is cool, place 2 to 3 tablespoons of the filling on 1/2 of each circle.
6. Brush the edges of the circle with water, you can use your finger.
7. Fold the circle over the filling to make a half-moon shapes. Seal by pressing the edges with the tines of a fork.
8. Heat a deep fryer or a deep pot halfway filled with oil to 350 degrees F.
9. Carefully add the pies to the oil, 1 at a time, and fry until golden brown, turning the pies about every 2 and 1/2 minutes for even browning. Each pie will cook for about 5 minutes total.
   
10. Drain on paper towels.
    
11. Sprinkle a little powdered sugar on and serve immediately with vanilla ice cream.

If you love apple pies you will love this dish, give it a try and enjoy!
Happy Cooking!

Yummy Meatballs...

I absolutely love spaghetti and meatballs but I have never made meatballs before. So I pulled out Kraft Food and Family Magazine and found this great recipe it made enough for my pot of spaghetti and then I froze the other half for later.

What you need:

2 lb Ground Beef Chuck
2 Eggs
1 box Stove Top Chicken Stuffing
2/3 cups of Water

How to Make Them:

1. Preheat the oven at 425 degrees
2. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl
3. Form 1 inch balls, I used a tablespoon to measure them out, and place on a cookie sheet lined with tin foil
4. Bake for 20 minutes
5. The mix in with your favorite spaghetti sauce and noodles and serve!

Enjoy this dish and Happy Cooking!!!