pancetta & parmesan and prosciutto & provolone...

Pining for italian yet again...

I decided to play with italian bacon (pancetta) and italian ham (prosciutto).





I decided on the Pioneer Woman's Pasta with Pancetta and Leeks and an easy chicken, prosciutto and provolone panini!


My hero-of-a-hubby asked for another panini! I'll take it that he liked it!



enjoy your time in the kitchen...

Simple homemade caramel sauce...

... that'll make ya wanna slap ya grandma!

And I'm not kidding...

You won't believe how simple this is...

5 ingredients: butter, half and half, kosher salt, brown sugar and vanilla extract.





And a sauce pan, some heat and a whisk!



It's really that simple...



It quickly transforms... yes, this quickly!



See?! (At this point, I've been in the kitchen less than 3 minutes!)



One more thing... some vanilla extract. (It's my personal opinion that if it has vanilla extract in it... I'm going to like it!)



Thank you, once again, Pioneer Woman... you've made my life a little better today! Again!

(Editor's note: no, the whisk in the background is NOT set aside for me to lick every last drop of buttery-sugary goodness off it ... not even later! And if you believe that... )

OK yeah, forget the whisk. I'm going in with a spoon!



(And I may or may have not gone in for another dip of the spoon before I put it in the refrigerator to cool down for several hours.)



And then it was time for dessert.

My hubby has been asking for brownies all week... but he didn't know about the caramel!

(Cha-ching! Extra points for me!)

Wait - can I see that again?!



Yeah, that's what I thought... it's time to go sit down now. I'm going to have to call for the curtain now.



And now for the recipe... on her website you'll see that she serves the caramel sauce over an ice cream pie: Ice Cream Pie with Easy Caramel Sauce

But here's the recipe for just the sauce... mmmmm!!!


PW's Easy Caramel Sauce
Recipe courtesy Pioneer Woman

Ingredients
4 tablespoons Butter
1 cup brown sugar, packed (always packed)
½ cup half-and-half
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon vanilla

Instructions
Mix butter, brown sugar, half & half, and salt in a saucepan over medium low heat. Cook while whisking gently for 5 to 7 minutes, until thicker. Add vanilla and cook another minute to thicken further. Turn off heat and pour sauce into a jar. Refrigerate until cold.

Then I let it set out a little bit before I put it on top of our dessert. Store in the refrigerator in an air-tight container.



enjoy your time in the kitchen...

not just ANY chocolate chip cookie...

This week I read a blog and saw these: Malted Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies

Oh man, that Pioneer Woman! She's a genius! I keep my malted milk powder and my chocolate chips on the same pantry shelf ... and it NEVER dawned on me to combine them into my classic choclate chip cookie!

But as soon as she suggested it, I knew I'd love it! (Confession: every now and then I'll consume a very small tablespoon of malted milk powder ... just for kicks!)

In her blog, Ree notes that these cookies come out 'very thin' - she wasn't kidding. They sure are thin... in fact, when I first laid them out on the cooling rack one of them folded in half and fell through the rack! (Darn, I'll have to clean that up... ahem! Excuse me.)



And like I do with every batch of cookies I bake, I made ice cream sandwiches. It was a warm day... and an ice cream sandwich was a perfect treat!



Put the lid on...



And press down...



I know I don't need to say it, but make sure you consume before the ice cream melts...



So, what are you still doing sitting here? Go make some of these cookies!




enjoy your time in the kitchen...

Monkey muffins with the kids...

Last weekend, I visited an old friend. I take that back, she's not old - she's the same age as me (ahem!)... but we have been friends for over 20 years!

I had some help making one of my favorite breakfast treats: My favorite sous chef. Hadley just loves "ciMM-a-mon-non"!!!

And once they finished baking... we ate them! Look at the wide-eyes and the licking of the fingers...

But first, Declan... I think he had at least 3 of these! Oh ...

And Camden? He wanted so badly to eat the whole thing...



But for the life of me... this is all I could get out of Hayden. (She reminds me a little of me... I really don't like it when the camera is pointing in my direction!)




But Hadley on the other hand... she loves the camera! Just as much as she loves "ciMM-a-mon-non".



Again, Hadley, THANK YOU for being my sous chef... I hope you have many years of fun in the kitchen, I hope you learn a lot, and I hope you don't get sick from eating all of those monkey muffins!





Now, it's my turn...

And for the recipe? Monkey Muffins, thank you (once again) Pioneer Woman!!!


enjoy your time in the kitchen...

My first sous chef!

Started a road trip last week... and had contacted a friend to see if I could sleep on her couch as I drove north through her quaint little city. Of course she said "Of course!"

So then I thought I should do something nice for them (for taking the time to clean off the couch for me). So I made them Monkey Muffins for breakfast. Of course I did!

But first I needed a sous chef... her daughter Hadley offered to be my first sous chef!

Stay tuned for more pics of us enjoying the aforementioned Monkey Muffins... they're coming! I promise, you don't want to miss these!

Thanks Hadley! You're the best sous chef I've ever had!!!

enjoy your time in the kitchen...

Oh my OLIVE!!!

I love afternoons in the kitchen... and being able to make things like this:



What is it you ask? It's this... Olive Cheese Bread.

And it was difficult to find ways to waste the time away... while the bread was in the oven!

Oh wait... it's done already... plate please! Cut into it and watch out... that gooey stuff is sure hot! (and oh so good! in fact, almost a little too rich... what's IN THIS?!)





Well, check out the Pioneer Woman's site for the recipe... I love to share her ideas... but I won't post too many of her recipes here (wouldn't want to look like I'm taking credit for any of her recipes, now)... but I will share the beautiful pictures...

Personal note: And next time I make it, I would cut back on the mayonnaise a little. It was a little too rich... is that even possible?!



enjoy your time in the kitchen...

RECIPE: Monkey Muffins... aka mini-monkeys...

Approximately two weeks, 3 days, 1 hour and 37 minutes ago I found a recipe here: Pioneer Woman's blog. It changed my life... and I'd like to share it with you now.

I remember early mornings in my Gramma's kitchen... we would sit around the kitchen table, cut apart biscuits, drown in them in sugary-goodness and toss them into a bundt pan. Fast forward to 2009 and me sitting at my desk, reading the Pioneer Woman's blog and drooling on the keyboard... I-must-make-these-muffins! I just know it will take me back to Gramma's kitchen table... in a weird 21st century sort of way.

So, let's try out her reccipe... here goes nothing...

First we start with some butter, sugar and cinnamon...



Next we add some dough (you can use prepared dough, leftover dough, etc)... I cut up canned biscuit dough...



And then you just keep going...



Then you add more butter, sugar and cinnamon... too much is not a bad thing at this point of the process...



They bake in a nice warm oven for only 15 minutes... and as soon as you take it out of the oven, you pour some yummy icing on top! Do you hear the sizzle from the hot pan?!



And again, keep going...



Beautiful, eh?! I don't know how it happens, but the sugar and butter and cinnamon creates this crispy crust around the bottom of the muffin... and oh, I'm speechless.



Pour yourself a cup of coffee and enjoy your Saturday morning...




RECIPE: Monkey Muffins
Recipe from The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients
1 – 2 cans of refrigerated/canned biscuit dough, cut into thirds
Butter, softened
Sugar (or you can substitute light brown sugar as well)
Ground Cinnamon
Sweetened condensed milk

Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Add ½ teaspoon butter to muffin tins. Sprinkle in 1 teaspoon sugar and ¼ teaspoon cinnamon.

Roll dough into walnut sized balls (or cut refrigerated biscuit dough into thirds). Place three to four dough balls into each muffin tin. Top with 1/2 teaspoon butter. Sprinkle on more sugar and cinnamon.

Bake for 15 minutes, or until caramelly brown and bubbling. Remove from oven and immediately drizzle with plenty of sweetened condensed milk over the top of each one – about half a can per biscuit tray. Be generous!

Allow muffins to cool slightly – but they are best enjoyed warm…



enjoy your time in the kitchen...