Pioneer Woman Cooks Reviews #6 and 7: Chicken Spaghetti and Angel Sugar Cookies

Last week when my in-laws were visiting I needed to cook something that a) pretty much everyone would like, b) would fill some big eaters up, and c) wouldn't cost every last dollar in the bank account. So I flipped through the cookbook and found Chicken Spaghetti. I had everything needed for this recipe except for the pimentos, and since one 4-oz. jar of pimentos is under two bucks, this was it! Ingredients (minus chicken):



Here it is finished:

I would say that this is a non-offensive, bland casserole. Don't expect a flavor explosion. If you make it, ADD SOMETHING, like hot sauce or olives or just more cayenne pepper. Another thing about this is that it is a lot of food! The recipe said it serves eight, but mine had 14-16 servings in it, easily. So you'll be eating this for a few days. Hope ya like it!

Ratings:

4 for easy

4 for time required

2 for consistency with cookbook (she says it tastes great)

2 for taste

Overall: 3 out of 5, mainly because it was easy, not for taste or aesthetic appeal.

Now for the Angel Sugar Cookies:

I took a ingredients pic, but once they were finished I had lost all excitement about this recipe so I did not remember to take an after shot. So sorry! But let me just tell you... these were nothing special either. Very bland and floury. I won't be making these again. Ho-hum. So far I am not impressed with PW's cookie-making ability!

Take a quick look at the ingredients and you'll notice two sticks of butter and a whole cup of oil too! Ugh. It's just too much.

Ratings:

3 for easy

3 for time required

2 for consistency with the cookbook

1 for taste

Overall: 2.25 out of 5 (Save your butter for a better use, people!)

Pioneer Woman Cooks Reviews #4 and 5: Homemade Ranch Dressing and Penne alla Betsy!

I was skeptical-- Could a person actually make a ranch dressing at home that tasted like real ranch? I followed Ree's recipe to find out. In her cookbook, she says to serve it over an iceberg wedge, so that's what I did. For the record, though, this does not a salad make in my mind! You need some onions, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, cheese... something more than iceberg lettuce and ranch! Okay, that said, on to the review!

Homemade Ranch Dressing did not disappoint! It was just like the ranch we all know and love except better. I will definitely make this again, and you should too. The recipe filled a 16 ounce jar.

Ratings:

4 out of 5 for easy (I took off a point here because there are a lot of fresh herbs you are going to have to find at the grocery store! I had to go to two stores to find them all.)

4 out of 5 for time required (you need to let it refrigerate to let the flavors come out.)

5 out of 5 for consistency with cookbook

5 out of 5 for taste.

Overall: 4.5 out of 5 Yay Ranch!

*UPDATE* Here is her post for the Ranch recipe! http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/06/homemade-ranch-dressing/

On to the next review, Penne alla Betsy.

Betsy is Ree's little sister and this is her favorite pasta dish. It looked so good when I first saw it on the website, and I was happy to find it was also in the cookbook. This dish has some of my favorite things: pasta, cream, wine, shrimp, onion, garlic, butter and fresh basil! Yum. Oh, it's so gooood.

It is so good! Oh, did I already say that? Well, it is! It's delicious, creamy without being heavy, and refreshing. I know that sounds weird, but for a dish with butter and cream, it is amazingly light tasting. It really is a perfect summer meal. Try it. Make it for friends. They'll swoon! Here's the link if you don't own the cookbook.

Ratings:

5 out of 5 for easy

5 out of 5 for time required

4 out of 5 for consistency with the cookbook (I took off a point here because she never tells you to remove the tails and chop the shrimp, however in her final product it's obvious that's what she did.)

5 out of 5 for taste.

Overall rating: 4.75 out of 5, the highest rating yet!

Pioneer Woman Cooks Review #3: Olive Cheese Bread

Okay. This is not for everyone, namely those who can't stand olives. I have three friends that I know of who absolutely will NOT eat an olive! Can you believe it?

I LOVE olives, however, so here we go... You mix up black and green olives, half a cup mayo, a pound of monterey jack, two green onions, and, get this, a whole stick of softened butter. This cheese spread was delicious just like this.

I tried it on a pretzel. Yum!

Then you spread it on thick onto a french bread loaf cut in half.

Bake for 25 minutes at 350...

Oh, yes. Yes! Soooo good! You must try this today!

Here are the ratings:

4 for easy

5 for consistency with the cookbook

4 for time

5 for taste

Overall: 4.5! Yummy!

Here's your bonus Kate pic for the day:
Yesterday was the first time she wore her hair in pigtails! Cute!

Pioneer Woman Cooks! Review #2: Oatmeal Crispies

Ok, for this week's review we've got the ultra simple "Oatmeal Crispies." Not much to say about these; they were easy to make, even for baking-challenged me. What would I change? I would like a few more pecans in mine and I'd like to see how butter would change them if I substituted it for the shortening. What exactly is shortening, anyway? It scares me. At least I know how they make butter and what's in it... anyway, I liked these cookies right out of the oven, but once they cooled they were rock-hard.

But you can't say she didn't warn us; "crispy" is in the name!

The ratings (from 1-5):

5 for easy
5 for consistency with cookbook pictures
4 for time required
2 for "best ever tasted?"

Overall rating: 4

Pioneer Woman Cookbook Review #1: Lasagna

Throughout this summer, I will be attempting to review one Pioneer Woman Cooks recipe per week here on my blog! I hope you are as excited as I am! And I hope that doing my P90X workouts will combat all the butter, cream, and cheese in her recipes.

Last week, I cracked open her cookbook and looked for something to start with that I had most of the ingredients on hand already. I chose the lasagna because I have a particular way that I have ALWAYS made lasagna so I'll have something to compare Ree's recipe to.

By the way, I hate that I just ended that last sentence with a preposition. Just sayin'. Back to the story!

Let's start with the "cast of characters" as Ree says. Her pic:

My ingredients looked almost exactly like this except that I used pre-shredded mozzarella, fresh basil (I have a plant!) and shredded Parmesan instead of powdered. On we go:

This recipe was very simple to put together. You really don't have to be an expert in the kitchen to make this lasagna. However, it did take me about two hours start to finish. Too much time in the kitchen for a busy mom of four like me!

Here's how mine looked right out of the oven (my pic):

I had invited our friends Devin and Sarah over to try it out, and they both loved it. Ben and the kids raved about it too. No one said anything negative about it at all and everyone loved that it had hot breakfast sausage in it. Were they just being nice because I had made it?

But here's my opinion on her lasagna (after all, that's why you're reading this, right?). I thought the meat sauce part was very good. Extremely tasty. Loved it. And that's about it.

The FIRST thing I'd change is that I would add a third layer of noodles to this dish. It only has two layers of noodles with half the meat and cheese mixtures on top of each layer! It made for a very meaty casserole instead of the fancy noodle layers I knew as a kid. I got one bite that was nothing but melted mozzarella and I just about gagged.

The SECOND thing I'd change is that I would switch the cottage cheese out for Ricotta. I was keeping an open mind about the whole cottage cheese thing until I tasted it. No contest, Ricotta's sweet, creamy taste and consistency beats the heck out of plain ol' cottage cheese. I'll never stray again.

So here's Pioneer Woman's pic of her finished lasagna:

The ratings:
On a scale from 1-5 (5 being the best)

I would give this recipe
a 4 for easy,
a 5 for consistency with the cookbook pictures,
a 2 for time required, and
a 3 for "best ever tasted?"

So the overall rating for "Lasagana" is (drumroll please...) 3.5 out of 5!

See ya next week!