Things I've cooked recently...

Time to share some great recipes I tried out recently...

The Pioneer Woman's Chicken Cacciatore - I modified the recipe and made it in a slow cooker. I browned the chicken, minus the flour coating, then added everything (plus a can of chicken broth) to the slow cooker and set it on low for 6 hours. The results were good and it was very tasty. Probably would have been better in the oven like PW does it, but my work schedule required a slow cooker dinner.

Shredded Beef Sliders from Evil Shenanigans. The beef in this dish was delicious. At first I found it a bit spicy but after reducing the sauce and adding honey (instead of all that sugar), it was absolutely perfect. I tossed the shredded beef with the sauce and served it on a whole wheat roll. Just like a BBQ Beef Sandwich. I will make this again for sure! The mixture freezes well too. Not a true down South BBQ Beef Brisket sandwich, but pretty darn close.

S'Mores Brownies from Buns In My Oven. I made these to take to work one night. Since I was taking them to work I chose to use my creme brule torch instead of broiling the marshmallows at home. Fun, but WHAT A MESS! But the brownies were very tasty.

St. Patrick's Day Chocolate Spritz Cookies. I still haven't figured out how to use my cookie press so instead for Spritz, I rolled the dough and made slice & bake cookies. The cookies were very good but the icing (royal icing) wasn't the right consistency for sandwiching between two cookies. I think a butter cream frosting would have been better. I ended up drizzling the icing over the cookies in a zig zag pattern. They looked neat and tasted good.

The Pioneer Woman's Chicken Scallopine. This one was so-so. The meal itself was tasty but I ran into some issues during the cooking process. First, my chicken did not cook through during the initial pan frying. I ended up browning the breasts in the pan and finished them off in a 400 degree oven for 10 minutes or so. The second issue, and this was the most disappointing one, when I added the cream to the sauce, it separated (curdled!). I suspect it's because of the lemon juice. Next time I would add lemon juice at the end, rather than in the middle. The sauce tasted great but looked kind of funky. The last change I made was to add the cooked noodles to the pan with sauce, tossed it around and cooked it together for a minute so the noodles sucked up all the yummy sauce.

Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Bites. The Pioneer Woman calls them Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Thingies. Whatever you call them, they are delicious and simple! I have made them twice now and both times my guests were impressed. Definite crowd pleaser and a must-have for the next party