More Cooking!

What to write next? 


Well, I started a blog post about the circus a few days ago, but I have yet to finish it. That involves actually editing and saving photos and posting them on my blog. That just involves work. :) 


Instead, I will just tell you about something else. 


You might or might not have read that I love food. You know, that I was slightly devastated about not eating for a month or so while I waited for my gallbladder to be removed. I might have mentioned how hungry I was then. I mentioned it at least once, I think. :) 


Naturally, as soon as I was well enough, the first thing I wanted to do was eat. Enter my newest obsession - The Pioneer Woman. Seriously, I am obsessed. I honestly check her blog every morning, just like I brush my teeth. I just can't get enough of her recipes. I have never found a cookbook that I actually loved more than a couple of recipes in, but I can't get enough of the recipes she posts. I swear, I think she's my food soul mate, if one exists. I'm seriously on my way to becoming a stalker. :) 


Anyway... before I get any more dramatic about this... I have tried four more recipes (working toward that goal of 10 new recipes each year - I think I'm going to blow that out of the water). They are all fabulous. All three of them. And, they are all from the Pioneer Woman, of course. 


Seriously, try them... you'll see why I'm so obsessed. If anyone who buys Christmas gifts for me is reading, I want her cookbook for Christmas. Mom? Are you reading? :) 


So, here are the links to the three that I most recently tried. 


I have never cooked a whole chicken. I was eating lots of chicken with the whole gallbladder problem. And I was sick of eating it grilled. I decided to search out a recipe for something else and found this amongst the recipes for chicken on PW's website. It's a herb roasted chicken and it is delicious. I used lemon, onion, and garlic in the chicken and added garlic to the rub on the outside. It was so good and my house smelled wonderful for hours. The kids loved it, too, which is even better, since I feel like a short-order cook with them most of the time. 


Another chicken one that I found after my surgery. I was ready to eat, but easing back into things. And, I was not sure about this one... the Crispy Yogurt Chicken. But, I really needed something to try that was different and I was still a little worried about cooking something fried or extremely greasy. I wasn't too worried about the yogurt portion, mainly because I thought I would just pick at the breading and eat the chicken. It was very good. I think it needed a little more garlic, but that is an easy adjustment.


As a side for the crispy yogurt chicken, I prepared Au Gratin Potatoes.The doctor told me to try out some different things and I was wanting cheese. This just made sense for my taste buds. It was good... Mmm... I loved it. But, I didn't get a second opinion from anyone else. The kids refused to try it and Brad didn't eat any of it because he worked late. So, if you don't like it, you can blame me and my starvation for it. :) 


And, last but most certainly not least, my favorite of these four by far, the perfect combination of two of my absolute favorite foods - pasta and shrimp. We had this tonight and I can still smell how good it smelled in the house. It was so delicious that I really felt like I could cook... and cook really well. I was thinking about Eat, Pray, Love the whole time and imagining that I was actually sitting in Italy as opposed to my dining room with three chairs instead of four because we broke one. I'm cooking this one on Monday when friends come over, so I hope they love it as much as I did. I think I could eat this at least once a week.