Spaghetti with Artichoke Hearts & Tomatoes

It's official: Ree Drummond (a/k/a "The Pioneer Woman"), is my new "go to gal" when I want something tasty to cook. Her websites are chock full of yummy goodness, she has a quirky sense of humor, and regularly does Ethel Merman impersonations. What's not to love? She recently published a cookbook (available on Amazon.com, if you're interested) called "The Pioneer Woman Cooks" - and, I gotta tell ya - it's number one on my list of wants. I've never actually DROOLED over a cookbook before, but hers sure got me salivating!

Anyway, I've been drooling over her recipe for Artichoke Hearts and Tomato Spaghetti since she posted it. I'm going to make it tonight. It looks fairly easy, I have everything the recipe calls for (well, with some substitutions), and it's pasta. Add a glass (or two or a dozen) of white wine, and this approaches taste bud heaven for me. I'll check in later and tell you how it tastes.

Spaghetti with Artichoke Hearts and Tomatoes

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 medium onion, finely diced
1 14.5 ounce can artichoke hearts (quartered or whole), drained
1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes with juice
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup chicken broth, more as needed
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
salt & pepper to taste
1 pound thin spaghetti
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons chopped chives or other herbs

Cook spaghetti till al dente. Drain and set aside.Melt olive oil and butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and saute for 2 to 3 minutes. Add artichoke hearts and tomatoes. Stir and cook for 8 to 10 minutes. Reduce heat to low. Stir in cream and chicken broth. Add salt and pepper to taste (do not undersalt!) Cook over low heat until heated through, then turn off heat.Place drained pasta in a large bowl. Sprinkle with 1 cup Parmesan. Pour sauce over the top. Add chopped chives. Toss lightly to combine and coat; add a tiny bit of reserved pasta water if sauce seems too thick.

Delicious!

Roasted Garlic & New Potatoes a la Pioneer Woman

So, Pioneer Woman (Ree Drummond) just posted this on her website. EVERYTHING this woman posts looks so yummy! This recipe has the added attraction of looking extremely easy. Just my kind of recipe! I'm making meatloaf either tonight or this weekend, and I know these will go oh so yummily (is that a word?) with meatloaf and spinach! FYI - Her cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks, is coming out very soon, and is already available for pre-order at Amazon.com. This is on my wishlist, and if any of y'all out there like her stuff, this cook book is the MUST HAVE new cook book! Go check it out! Then (if you haven't already), go check out her website(s). This woman is insanely talented! The title below links to this recipe on her website. She has all sorts of pictures and funny commentary to go along with this recipe. You should go read it!

Roasted Garlic & New Potatoes

20 small to medium new potatoes
5 to 7 whole heads of garlic
1/3 to 1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 to 1/2 cup dry white wine
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Quarter new potatoes and set on a large rimmed baking sheet. Lop off the very top of each garlic head and arrange throughout the potatoes. Drizzle olive oil over the tops of the garlic and all over potatoes; do the same with the wine. Generously salt and pepper potatoes and garlic. Toss potatoes to coat. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake at 375 for 45 minutes. Remove foil and continue baking for 20 to 30 minutes until nice and golden. You can then pop the roasted garlic out of the "shell" and mix it with the potatoes in a bowl, or you can just dive in and scoop them up off the baking sheet - it's your call!

A Variation on Clara's "Poor Man's Meal"

So, a while back, Tooz posted a video of "Depression Cooking with Clara's" Pasta with Peas. I really liked this little granny, and liked the idea of relatively cheap ways to feed the family, so I went to YouTube and watched a couple more episodes. One of her recipes was for "Poor Man's Meal". Basically, you take some potatoes and peel them, chop up half of an onion (I used a sweet onion), and chop up some hotdogs (because hotdogs are cheap meat, and were cheap back during the depression, too). Put enough olive oil in a skillet to lightly coat the bottom, then fry up the potatoes and onions. When they are almost fried through, add the hotdogs. Clara notes you can add your favorite spices and anything else you have handy (she likes to use spaghetti sauce in everything). Then keep stirring to prevent sticking, until it is heated through. Serve some veggies or a salad on the side, and you have a filling, cheap meal.

I made this the other night, (I added shredded cheese over the top at the end) and Jamie loved it. Last night, he asked for it again. This time, I got creative. Instead of hotdogs, I used some cubed ham we had leftover from chef's salad. I also added a packet of Hidden Valley Ranch seasoning mix (if you don't have any ranch seasoning, adding ranch dressing after it is cooked is just as yummy). We also added a can of tomatoes (Jamie's idea), and it was okay - but not spectacular. I think it would have been better if we had used mushrooms instead, and two packets of ranch seasoning instead of just one.

Clara has three seasons' worth of episodes of depression cooking recipes on YouTube. She even has a DVD for sale, and a cookbook coming out this fall. With the economy the way it is, I'm planning on watching more episodes and getting tips on how to cook delicious meals that cost less. Clara's YouTube page is here.

Thanks, Tooz, for introducing us to Clara's recipes!

Puddin'... Southern Style

I've been a bad, bad mommy. I have deprived my child. Until earlier this week, he had NEVER had banana pudding "southern style". Do you know what I'm talking about? It's banana pudding with sliced bananas and Nilla wafers in it. I myself had never had it until I was about Jamie's age. Maybe that's why I neglected to ever fix it for him. Or maybe it's because I love the taste of banana, but hate the texture. Anyhoo, for anyone who doesn't know what I'm talking about, here's the recipe.

Ingredients:

2 packages of Jell-O instant Banana Cream pudding (or you can do it the hard way and make the old-fashioned, cooked kind of pudding. To me, it's way too hot to do that, though!)
1 box of Nilla wafers
2-3 Bananas, sliced
1 tub of Cool Whip

• Fix the pudding according to package directions, except do NOT pour into individual serving cups.
• Layer a large, flat bottomed bowl (or casserole dish) with one layer of Nilla wafers, as many as you can fit across the bottom and up onto the sides
• Put a relatively thin layer (about half of a package of pudding) of pudding on top of the Nilla wafers.
• Take one of the sliced bananas and layer across the pudding.
• Put another 1/2 package of pudding on top of the bananas.
• Put another layer of Nilla wafers on top.
• Put another layer of 1/2 package of pudding on top of that.
• Put another layer of banana on top of that.
• Put the last 1/2 package of pudding on top of that
• Put another layer of Nilla wafers on top of that.
• Layer on a thick layer of the Cool Whip, covering the whole top
• Put the last bit of banana slices on top of that

For best results, let sit long enough for the Nilla wafers to get kind of soft - usually overnight. However, if you can't wait that long (and Jamie and I couldn't) go ahead and dig in. It will still be delicious!

Pioneer Woman's Potato Salad

Ever since I started following my old high school chum Jessi's blog, I've also followed Pioneer Woman's website, the link to which was on Jessi's blog. All I can say is, "Thank you, Jessi, for 'introducing' me to Ree!" Anyhoo, this recipe for homemade potato salad looked absolutely delish, so I couldn't resist posting a link to it here. I may just have to make this when I'm off work on Friday (woo hoo!)

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/06/fourth-of-july-week-perfect-potato-salad/

Enjoy! I know I will!