Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies

I am not exaggerating not one iota when I say this next sentence:

Until about a year and a half ago, I did not know that cookies didn't come from pre-made cookie mixes.

Seriously.

I know... I know... Try and keep your snickers and scoffs at a minimum, please. I'm new at this whole domestication and cooking thing. I shouldn't be "new" ...but I am.

I don't know why I thought that, but when my husband asked for me to make him cookies, I would say, "Well, I would but I have to go to the store and get cookie mix first."

No wonder he looked at me like I had two heads.

Both of Clint's parents are excellent cooks and bakers so having me around in the kitchen was (or maybe still is. I don't know.. ask him. You know, on second thought, don't ask him. I can't handle the truth just yet.) quite the hinderence.

Bells didn't start ringing until I saw The Pioneer Woman's first episode on her Food Network show and she made malted chocolate chip cookies from scratch.

Ding! Ding!! Ding!!! 

You can actually mix flour, sugar, vanilla, eggs, butter with a few other ingredients and make your own cookies!!!!????!!!!

Wow! What a concept!

I wasn't lying when I told you that the kitchen is not my forte. I'm getting better though. Now when Clint asked for a batch of cookies, I can just whip up a batch, no pre-made "cookie mix" needed.

And not to mention cookies made from scratch and with the love of your sweet little hands will make you want to throw rocks at pre-made "cookie mix"...but I wouldn't advise it... it's not very nice... and it might get a little messy.

Now I know that making cookies is probably one of most kindergarten things you can make, but hey... it's a start.. a very delicious, scrumptious, add-pounds-to-your-butt-cheeks start.

Here is my variation of one of my favorite cookie recipes:


Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies

You will need:

- 2 1/4 cup flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup butter (softened)
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 2 whole eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels
- 1 cup milk chocolate morsels
- 1 cup of chopped pecans

Tip: Pecans that you buy at the grocery store are usually higher than a giraffe's booty. So my suggestion is to find a farmer's market or an individual seller and keep a good quantity of pecans on hand. If you like pecans, of course. You get more nuts for your money and you are helping out the little man. Granbury is known for pecans so there are local vendors all over the place. Just check it out.

Oh! Oh! Oh! Another tip: Having Martha around has definitely been one of those things that just makes your life so much easier and it's perfect for making cookies.  Martha is one of my closest BFF's these days. If you don't have a Martha already (or a Frank, or George, or Bruce, or Nelda, or whatever you decide to name your mixer) I suggest you put it on your wish list ASAP. It will change your life.

Preheat your oven to 375 degress.
Step 1: Mix your flour, baking soda and salt in a medium mixing bowl and set it aside. You will be needing this later.

Step 2: Zap your butter in a microwave safe bowl for about 10 seconds and cut it up in pieces. It mixes easier that way.

Step 3: Add your butter, brown sugar, white sugar , and vanilla to your mixing bowl and mix until creamy.

Just right! Yum! Wait a minute while I go get on the treadmill!

Step 4: Add one egg at a time until well blended.

Step 5: In little batches at a time, mix in your flour mixture. Believe me... mix it in slowly or you will have a flour bomb go off in your kitchen. Don't ask me how I know...

Step 6: While everything is mixing and playing nice, take your cup of pecans and give them a rough chop to desired chunkiness?... consistency?...  just chop 'em like you like 'em

Step 7: Give Martha a rest and stir in your cup of semi -sweet chocolate morsels, milk chocolate morsels and your pecans by hand.

Step 8: I like to smooth my mix out in my bowl, put plastic wrap on it (so it doesn't get that nasty hard skin stuff on top) and pop it in the freezer for about 20 minutes. Just to make the dough firm enough to where you can just scoop it out on your cookie sheet.

Step 9: Forget to take pictures of the next steps.

Step 10: Put small balls of cookie dough on your baking sheet 2 inches apart and put it oven for 10-12 minutes.

I hope you enjoy this easy little recipe. What a simple but lovely way to get started in the kitchen.

- Kaci



You've Got Mail!

Tuesday when I came home, I found this on my door step...

Getting packages is one of life's greatest surprises. I know, I'm lame. But I will take all the surprises that come my way, that's for sure!

I open up the box and find this...

How awesome of a mother-in-law do I have? She got me the new Pioneer Woman cook book I have been raving about!

I didn't call her and tell her it was on my wish list, she just knew that it would be a great treat for me. She ordered it and made sure it was delivered on the day that the cookbook released.

I called her as soon as I opened the package and squealed in her ear about how excited I was to have The Pioneer Woman Cook: Food From My Frontier.

It just donned on me that I own all 4 of The Pioneer Woman's books! Does that classify me as a stalker? I'm going to say it classifies me as a lover of amazing things. You should check out her other books too:

Black Heels to Tractor Wheels: A True Love Story

Charlie The Ranch Dog

and my first cookbook love:

The Pionner Woman Cooks: Recipes From An Accidental Country Girl

I opened the package and tried to sit down to read through it but I had to start the creamy potatoes (which are a recipe from the first The Pioneer Woman Cooks) because we were having guests over for dinner.

Oh, and I made the Chocolate Sheet Cake from the first cook book for a friend at work for passing her nursing exam and it was a total hit!

The cook book is beautiful just like the first but packed with a bigger variety of recipes. I absolutely cannot wait to dig into and make deliciousness from it. Here are just a few pictures that I took of it before I had to go cut up some taters.

Iced Coffee! Yes please!!

Beautiful photgraphy

Do you have any Pioneer Woman cook books? Would you like for a certain blogger chick host a giveaway for her new cookbook? Hmm...

Peace out,
Kaci

Skillet Crab Dip

We went to Bass Pro Shop the other day (we seem to do that alot before and during hunting season) and ate at the restaurant there. For an appetizer we had crab dip and it was delish, so I decided to make my own.

Like my dutch oven, I have had my eye on this little mini skillet at HEB for quite some time but never really had a reason to get one. Well now I have a reason so I just picked one up the next time I went to HEB. It's pretty neat and perfect for my skillet crab dip. To be honest, I just threw ingredients together that sounded yummy. I really don't have exact measurements but the recipe below would be my educated guess... or maybe uneducated.... well it's just a guess!

Clint and I ate the whole skillet with tortilla chips for dinner one night.

Ingredients:

1 cup of crab meat

8 oz package of cream cheese- softened

1/2 cup mushrooms

1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese

1/4 cup chives
1/4 cup purple onion
1/2 stalk of green onion
1/2 cup roma tomato
1 tbsp of garlic salt
1 tbsp of Lawry's Seasoned Salt
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
2 tbsp milk

Step 1:

Cut your crab meat into little chunks. I like a chunk of good ol crab meat but you can cut yours more finely if you wish because it's your crab dip.

Step 2:

Cut your mushroom up. I like these chunky too.

Step 3:

Dice your roma tomato.

Step 4:

Chop up your chives from your green onion.

Step 5:

Chunk up your onions. If you haven't noticed I like everything chunky. I like to crunch down on a bite of good flavors and not minced up flavors.

Step 6:

Since your cream cheese has been sitting out this whole time, now is a good time to cut the block into squares. This helps you mix it up better.

Step 7:
Throw all of your ingredients into a mixing bowl.

Step 8:
Add 1/2 cup of cheese.

Step 9:
Add your Lawry's seasoned salt, garlic salt, salt and pepper.

Step 10:
Add your milk.

Step 11:
Stir all your ingredients.

Step 12:
Spoon ingredients into your skillet.

Step 13:
Put your other 1/2 of cheese and green onion on top.

Step 14:
Put in the oven for 20 minutes on 350 degrees.

Step 15:
Serve, devour and enjoy every milisecond of the wonderful flavors!


I hope you like this recipe! I LOVE it. It's amazing.

Love ya!
-Kaci

Dutch Oven

If you know me personally, then you know that I can be impulsive, and with that impulsiveness, obsessivness usually follows. I get pretty obsessive about the things I'm impulsive about. Follow?

My current impulsive obsession is cookware. Since I have submerged myself into cooking and baking, I want every kitchen device available. If I were independently wealthy, you bet your buns that I would have every gadget, pot, pan, and utensil there was. Since that's not the case, I have to budget in my new toys.

I've had my eye on this one piece ever since HEB opened it's doors about a month ago. They have their own line of cookware called "Cocinaware" and it is beautiful. They are all in bright, vibrant colors, made of good quality and are reasonably priced . Take note that I'm no expert but I'm learning my way through the culinary world, therefore I'm not going to give you an explanation full of specific, knowledgeable info. All I'm saying is that they are pretty, not cheaply made and affordable. This beaut cost $30. Do you really need any more info other than that? Maybe you do, but that's all I care about.

So here is my first and new dutch oven!!!



Isn't it beautiful? Yes, I am pathetic. I get excited about a dutch oven. They had several colors to choose from like: red, orange, purple, green, dark blue and light blue. I picked the light blue one because it spoke to me. Not really, I just loved the color.

As I'm typing it's in the oven with my first pot roast. This blog is full of first!

I will let you know how the pot roast turns out.

Happy cooking!

-Kaci

Operation: Feed The Family

As you have heard me mention before, I am learning my way through domestication. So, on that note, I wouldn't say that I'm NOT a good cook because I never really cook. And I guess I couldn't say I'm an awesome cook because I never really cook. My idea when Clint says "What's for dinner, honey?" is a bowl of cereal or take-out. My brain is so not in that track of actually cooking anything that me slaving over a stove is never even a thought. My poor husband is usually in charge of the kitchen because he is an awesome cook! But I've decided that I need to step up my domestic game and put "Operation: Feed the Family" into action.

On a girl's trip to Salado, while Colleen was roping in the girl's roping, Beth and I decided we would check out the shops in downtown. In one of the stores, I found "The Pioneer Woman Cooks". I have wanted to buy this book for so long but just never pulled the trigger. So I figured, what the hell, this is a "me" trip and I bought it.

Let me tell you one thing, this is my kind of cook book! The ingredients are things that we ACTUALLY eat, not weird, hard to pronounce food that I wouldn't even know what isle to look down in the grocery store for the ingredients. The recipes are simple, and I need all the simple I can get. And they are delicious! And for me to make something and it be edible is like winning a gold medal. I made the chicken spaghetti and it was definitely a hit. Clint loved it. Blaze kept eating off my plate. I was so happy and puffed up my chest a little bit. I don't think y'all understand how deprived of a good wife and mother my family has been in the kitchen, but it was bad.

I didn't take pictures or step by step instructions because I believe that The Pioneer Woman does such a good job of it that I didn't want to insult her by trying to do my own, but I made Chicken Spaghetti from her cook book. The next week I made chicken fried steak, creamy mashed potatoes, and peach crisp with maple sauce. All fabulous! The next week I made Cajun Chicken Pasta and it was out of this world good! And today I am trying a pot roast.

Have you ever seen the movie "Ratatouille"? You know the part where Chef says "Anybody can cook!" For the longest time I giggled at that part because I always inserted my own caption, "anybody but Kaci!" But Chef, you are right! Anyone can cook!

If you are starting out like me and have no idea what the first step in making mashed potatoes are, I encourage you to pick up "The Pioneer Woman Cooks". It's fabulous and beautiful and so much more than a cookbook.

Happy cooking!
-Kaci

Poor, Lonely Recipe Box

I picked this cute little recipe box out to be on our wedding registry wwwaaaaayyyy back. Way back 3 years ago. hehe!

Notice "The Pioneer Woman Cooks"
in the background. It's been my bible
for the last month.

It is multi-functional with the top folding up so you can place your recipe card on top so you can read it while you cook. It came with cute dividers that I can divide my recipes by categories.

By now you are probably wondering why I am blogging about my recipe box. The reason is because it is a poor, lonely and not to mention EMPTY little recipe box! We are going to have a good ol recipe swap! The way this works is you will comment or email me your favorite recipe. I'm going to post mine. It is my favorite because it is the first meal I made my little family. I mean actually make all the ingredients and see it through to its completion. I didn't pop a frozen pizza in the oven, or heat up a ready-made lasagna. I actually MADE this. I'm embarassed to say but, since we are all about being honest here, this was 3 weeks ago. You could have knocked Clint over with a feather when he walked in from work and saw me in the kitchen and not burning something. Anyways... let's get to swapping!!

This is straight from "The Pioneer Woman Cooks" and it's Clint AND Blaze approved!

Ingredients

• 2 cups Cooked Chicken
• 3 cups Dry Spaghetti, Broken Into Two Inch Pieces
• 2 cans Cream Of Mushroom Soup
• 2 cups Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese
• 1/4 cup Finely Diced Green Pepper
• 1/4 cup Finely Diced Onion
• 1 jar (4 Ounce) Diced Pimentos, Drained
• 2 cups Reserved Chicken Broth From Pot
• 1 teaspoon Lawry's Seasoned Salt
• 1/8 teaspoon (to 1/4 Teaspoon) Cayenne Pepper
• Salt And Pepper, to taste
• 1 cup Additional Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese

Preparation Instructions

Cook 1 cut up fryer and pick out the meat to make two cups. Cook spaghetti in same chicken broth until al dente. Do not overcook. When spaghetti is cooked, combine with remaining ingredients except additional 1 cup sharp cheddar.

Place mixture in casserole pan and top with remaining sharp cheddar. Cover and freeze up to six months, cover and refrigerate up to two days, or bake immediately: 350 degrees for 45 minutes until bubbly. (If the cheese on top starts to get too cooked, cover with foil).

Get to cookin'!

-Kaci