Pioneer Woman's The Best Lasagna Ever

Does anyone else love the Pioneer Woman as much as I do? It's one of the few cooking shows my hubby will watch with me. There's something about her life on the ranch that makes me want to pack it all up and raise my daughter in the country. But.... then I remember I don't like to get up early, I don't really care for the outdoors and I really need to have a grocery store within walking distance. I'm much more suited to city life. Last weekend she made lasagna and now that I've made it I must agree it is The Best Lasagna Ever. I've made many lasagnas in my life since it's great to feed a crowd and this one by far has the best flavor. I was a little wary of the cottage cheese but I have to say I prefer it to ricotta.

The.Best.Lasagna.Ever

by Ree Drummond (Pioneer Woman)

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 pound Ground Beef
• 1 pound Hot Breakfast Sausage
• 2 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 2 cans (14.5 Ounce) Whole Tomatoes
• 2 cans (6 Ounce) Tomato Paste
• 2 Tablespoons Dried Parsley
• 2 Tablespoons Dried Basil
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 3 cups Lowfat Cottage Cheese
• 2 whole Beaten Eggs
• 1/2 cup Grated (not Shredded) Parmesan Cheese
• 2 Tablespoons Dried Parsley
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1 pound Sliced Mozzarella Cheese
• 1 package (10 Ounce) Lasagna Noodles
• (add 1/2 Teaspoon Salt And 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil To Pasta Water)

Preparation Instructions

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet or saucepan, combine ground beef, sausage, and garlic. Cook over medium-high heat until browned. Drain half the fat; less if you’re feeling naughty. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, 2 tablespoons parsley, basil and salt. After adding the tomatoes, the sauce mixture should simmer for 45 minutes while you are working on the other steps.

In a medium bowl, mix cottage cheese, beaten eggs, grated Parmesan, 2 more tablespoons parsley, and 1 more teaspoon salt. Stir together well. Set aside. Cook lasagna until “al dente” (not overly cooked).

To assemble:
Arrange 4 cooked lasagna noodles in the bottom of a baking pan, overlapping if necessary. Spoon half the cottage cheese mixture over the noodles. Spread evenly. Cover cottage cheese with a layer of mozzarella cheese. Spoon a little less than half the meat/sauce mixture over the top.

Repeat, ending with meat/sauce mixture. Sprinkle top generously with extra Parmesan.

Either freeze, refrigerate for up to two days, or bake immediately: 350-degree oven for 20 to 30 minutes, or until top is hot and bubbly.

Blackberry Chip Ice Cream

Saturday night, of our 3-day Memorial Day weekend, I broke out my new ice cream maker and declared I was making Blackberry Chip Ice Cream for dessert. I figured we'd eat a little in soft-serve form and then freeze the rest for later. I carefully followed all the steps in the recipe, which by the way- homemade ice cream is definitely a process, poured it all into the ice cream maker and hit the on switch. A few minutes in to the churning I had a "duh!" moment. The ice cream wasn't getting cold, wasn't thickening, basically wasn't doing what ice cream should do. I hadn't read the directions for the machine yet (oops) so I took them out and noticed the first step of FREEZING THE FREEZER TUB. "Duh!" 16 hours of freezing later and we finally had ice cream. Blackberry Chip Ice Cream to be exact.

Blackberry Chip Ice Cream
by Ree Drummond

• 2 pints fresh blackberries
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 1/2 cups half-and-half
• 5 egg yolks
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 4 ounces semisweet chocolate

Combine the blackberries, 1/4 cup of the sugar and the lemon juice in a saucepan. Cook over low heat until the blackberries are broken down and syrupy, about 20 minutes.

Pour the mixture into a bowl through a fine mesh strainer. Using a whisk or spoon, force out as much of the deep purple liquid as you can, and then set it aside to cool. Discard the blackberry pulp and seeds.

Heat the half-and-half and remaining 1 cup sugar in a saucepan over medium heat.

Using a whisk, beat the egg yolks until pale and thick. Temper the eggs by splashing a small amount of the warm cream into the yolks, whisking constantly. Pour the tempered yolks into the saucepan, stirring gently. Cook over medium-low heat until thick, stirring constantly, about 5 minutes.

Pour the heavy cream into the bowl with the berries, and then pour in the custard and stir to combine. If you have time, refrigerate this mixture until cool.

Freeze the mixture according to your ice cream maker's instructions.

When it is frozen, chop the chocolate into chunks and stir into the ice cream.

Transfer the ice cream to a freezer-safe container and allow it to harden for several hours or overnight.

When was your last "duh!" moment?

Knock You Naked Brownies

Knock You Naked Brownies- just the name alone made me want to bake them. It's like the Is It Really Better Than Sex Cake- a conversation starter and a delicious dessert. Especially after your friends have had a couple cocktails and they're extra chatty.
Fudgy German chocolate cake with a caramel, pecan, chocolate chip filling. Be prepared, especially if you're serving to kids, these are a gooey sticky mess...and if you find trails of caramel on your kitchen counters in the morning, you know they were good enough for family members to sneak a midnight snack.

 I left out the pecans since the BBQ they were for had people with nut allergies.

Knock You Naked Brownie- by Ree Drummond

Ingredients

• 1 box (18.5 Ounce) German Chocolate Cake Mix (I Used Duncan Hines)
• 1 cup Finely Chopped Pecans
• 1/3 cup Evaporated Milk
• 1/2 cup Evaporated Milk (additional)
• 1/2 cup Butter, Melted
• 60 whole Caramels, Unwrapped
• 1/3 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
• 1/4 cup Powdered Sugar

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, mix together cake mix, chopped pecans, 1/3 cup evaporated milk, and melted butter. Stir together until totally combined. Mixture will be very thick.
Press half the mixture into a well-greased 9 x 9 inch square baking pan. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Remove pan from oven and set aside.
In a double boiler (or a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of boiling water) melt caramels with additional 1/2 cup evaporated milk. When melted and combined, pour over brownie base. Sprinkle chocolate chips as evenly as you can over the caramel.
Turn out remaining brownie dough on work surface. Use your hands to press it into a large square a little smaller than the pan. Use a spatula to remove it from the surface, then set it on top of the caramel and chocolate chips.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from pan and allow to cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate for several hours. When ready to serve, generously sift powdered sugar over the surface of the brownies. Cut into either nine or twelve helpings, and carefully remove from the pan.
*Adapted from the classic "Knock You Naked Brownies" recipe, based on a dessert at the Salt Creek Steakhouse in Breckenridge. These brownies don't really knock you naked...but almost.

I now have some evaporated milk left that I don't know what to do with. Any ideas?

Sloppy Joes and a Peachy Dessert

I've always considered sloppy joes to be kid food and since I don't have kids, I've never made it. Until now. My hubby gave me Pioneer Woman's latest cookbook for our anniversary and the sloppy joes recipe looked too good not to make right away. It was as good as I hoped it would be. My only regret is I halved the recipe since it's just the two of us and there was only a spoonful of leftovers.

I love love love dill pickles as you can see. Plus who doesn't love a good tater tot?


Sloppy Joes
by Ree Drummond

Ingredients

■2 Tablespoons Butter

■2-1/2 pounds Ground Beef

■1/2 whole Large Onion, Diced

■1 whole Large Green Bell Pepper, Diced

■5 cloves Garlic, Minced

■1-1/2 cup Ketchup

■1 cup Water

■2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar

■2 teaspoons Chili Powder (more To Taste)

■1 teaspoon Dry Mustard

■1/2 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes (more To Taste)

■Worcestershire Sauce, To Taste

■2 Tablespoons Tomato Paste (optional)

■Tabasco Sauce (optional; To Taste)

■Salt To Taste

■Freshly Ground Black Pepper, To Taste

■Kaiser Rolls

■Butter

Preparation Instructions

Add butter to a large skillet or dutch oven over medium high heat. Add ground beef and cook until brown. Drain most of the fat and discard.
Add onions, green pepper, and garlic. Cook for a few minutes, or until vegetables begin to get soft.
Add ketchup, brown sugar, chili pepper, dry mustard, and water. Stir to combine and simmer for 15 minutes, adding salt and pepper to taste. Also add tomato paste, Worcestershire, and Tabasco if desired. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.

And on to dessert, but first a note about the movie we watched while eating all this deliciousness.... Has anyone else seen Drive with Ryan Gosling? What did you think? It definitely wasn't what I was expecting. Way too brutal for me and he didn't take his shirt off once. *sigh*

This is one of the quickest dessert when you're craving something sweet but don't want to take the time to bake. All the ingredients are from Trader Joes- vanilla ice cream, a jar of peaches that I diced and graham crackers. I swear, they make the BEST graham crackers. You must try them.

It's Friday and the start of a 3-day weekend. Do you have any fun plans?

Berry Almond Crisp

Who else loves Ree's show Pioneer Woman on the Foodnetwork? Everything she makes looks so amazing, although that could be because of all the butter. Which is fine because everything is better with butter. She made cherry almond crisp on a recent episode and on a whim while I was at Tader Joes I picked up the ingredients. TJs didn't have frozen cherries so I purchased the berry medley frozen mix. Also, I halved the recipe since it would just be my hubby and me having dessert that night. This keeps well in the fridge for leftovers though. I know since we've had it 3 nights in a row after dinner. Just reheat in the over (not the microwave or the topping will be soggy) at 350 deg.

I served it with vanilla ice cream.

Ingredients


■FOR THE CRUMB MIXTURE:

■1 cup All-purpose Flour

■1/2 cup Sugar

■1/2 cup Packed Brown Sugar

■1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon

■1 dash Nutmeg, Double This Amount If Desired

■1/4 teaspoon Salt

■1-1/2 stick Cold (salted) Butter, Cut Into Pieces

■1/2 cup Slivered Almonds

■FOR THE CHERRIES:

■4 bags (12 Oz. Size) Frozen Tart Cherries

■1/2 cup White Sugar

■1/4 cup Cornstarch

■2 teaspoons Almond Extract

■FOR THE WHIPPED CREAM:

■2 cups Heavy Cream

■2 Tablespoons Sugar

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 F.

For the crumb mixture, in a medium bowl, combine the flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.

Cut the cold butter into pieces. Add the butter to the bowl and use a fork or pastry blender to cut it into the flour mixture until it resembles a coarse crumbs. Add the slivered almonds and stir them in.

Place the still-frozen cherries in a bowl, and add sugar, cornstarch and almond extract. Gently stir the cherries to combine.

Divide the cherry mixture between 8 ramekins (about ½ cup each). Top generously with the crumb mixture, evening out the surface.

Bake at 350 F for 45 minutes, or until the topping is crisp and golden brown. If the topping appears underdone, continue baking in 10 minute increments until it’s done.

Serve the crisps warm or room temperature with a dollop of freshly whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.