Trying out some Pioneer Woman Recipes...
I haven't really spent too much time on the Pioneer Woman website
until recently. I found several recipes that sounded good and clipped them to
my Evernote (which is super handy, by the way! It’s free too! ) So when we got
invited to a “let’s- watch-the-college-football-national-championship-game”
get-together, I thought these No Bake
Peanut Butter Bars would be the perfect goodie to take! (Never mind that I had
never made them before! How can you go wrong with peanut butter and chocolate?)
These bars had several things going for them:
1. They were no bake—hence, a quick and easy dessert to whip up after work and before the game.
2. They had peanut butter…and chocolate chips…and more chocolate chips. What's not to love??
3. They kinda (ish) had the Reese’s Cup look—with a layer of peanut butter and a layer of chocolate.
So, while I was somewhat skeptical of them, they actually weren't too bad. Some of the guys declared them to be “killer good” and went back for seconds. (That’s got to be a sure sign they’re good, right?)
But then the game was over and there was still half a pan of bars. Isaac and I were left to finish off the rest at home.
That’s when I decided I wasn’t quite sure I liked them. Why?
Mainly because it tasted like I was eating a chunk of solid butter that had some peanut butter and chocolate mixed in.
Ok, these bars weren’t terrible. In fact, when my husband saw that I was writing this post, he asked me why I didn’t think they were very good...so he obviously doesn't have any issues with them. So maybe I’m just picky. Or maybe it just seemed to taste like a bite-full of butter because I was the one who made them and saw how much butter was in them and how it was all put together. I don’t know. Whatever the case, I think I want to tweak the recipe some if I ever make it again. Like maybe melt the butter or make the crust like a graham cracker style crust...
On another note, my sister-in-law Rachel posted about the Pioneer Woman's Restaurant-style Salsa. While I believe I've eaten it before, I’ve never actually made it. So when I ran out of my big jug of salsa, I decided to give the home-made recipe a try.
When I saw the recipe I had mixed feelings:
1. It used canned tomatoes and Rotel (which is a good thing--I don’t buy fresh tomatoes very often, especially in the middle of winter in South Dakota, so using canned tomatoes is a cheap alternative and easy to keep on hand for a quick batch of salsa.)
2. It also called for cilantro, lime juice, and jalapenos—these are all things I don’t keep on hand on a regular basis (and didn't feel like going to the store just to buy them.)
But…I wanted to try out the salsa anyway…
So here’s what I did to make up for the ingredients I didn’t have:
1. Instead of the lime juice, I added a little vinegar—maybe 1-2 teaspoons. (Figured it’d kinda do the same thing lime does [I don't know if it did or not, but it definitely didn't make it any worse!])
2. Added some chili powder.
When I first tasted it, it kind of just tasted like chopped up tomatoes and rotel, but after it sat in the fridge a day or so, it really did taste very much like the stuff you get in the restaurant along with the endless chips! I was pleasantly surprised, considering some pretty major ingredients had been left out!
In the future, I’ll use the cilantro and lime if I have them on hand, as I'm sure they would make the salsa even more yummy. If I don't have them though, it's nice to know that I can make it without them! (And by the way, the jalapenos will always be left out…a can of Rotel gives plenty of heat already!)
These bars had several things going for them:
1. They were no bake—hence, a quick and easy dessert to whip up after work and before the game.
2. They had peanut butter…and chocolate chips…and more chocolate chips. What's not to love??
3. They kinda (ish) had the Reese’s Cup look—with a layer of peanut butter and a layer of chocolate.
So, while I was somewhat skeptical of them, they actually weren't too bad. Some of the guys declared them to be “killer good” and went back for seconds. (That’s got to be a sure sign they’re good, right?)
But then the game was over and there was still half a pan of bars. Isaac and I were left to finish off the rest at home.
That’s when I decided I wasn’t quite sure I liked them. Why?
Mainly because it tasted like I was eating a chunk of solid butter that had some peanut butter and chocolate mixed in.
Ok, these bars weren’t terrible. In fact, when my husband saw that I was writing this post, he asked me why I didn’t think they were very good...so he obviously doesn't have any issues with them. So maybe I’m just picky. Or maybe it just seemed to taste like a bite-full of butter because I was the one who made them and saw how much butter was in them and how it was all put together. I don’t know. Whatever the case, I think I want to tweak the recipe some if I ever make it again. Like maybe melt the butter or make the crust like a graham cracker style crust...
On another note, my sister-in-law Rachel posted about the Pioneer Woman's Restaurant-style Salsa. While I believe I've eaten it before, I’ve never actually made it. So when I ran out of my big jug of salsa, I decided to give the home-made recipe a try.
When I saw the recipe I had mixed feelings:
1. It used canned tomatoes and Rotel (which is a good thing--I don’t buy fresh tomatoes very often, especially in the middle of winter in South Dakota, so using canned tomatoes is a cheap alternative and easy to keep on hand for a quick batch of salsa.)
2. It also called for cilantro, lime juice, and jalapenos—these are all things I don’t keep on hand on a regular basis (and didn't feel like going to the store just to buy them.)
But…I wanted to try out the salsa anyway…
So here’s what I did to make up for the ingredients I didn’t have:
1. Instead of the lime juice, I added a little vinegar—maybe 1-2 teaspoons. (Figured it’d kinda do the same thing lime does [I don't know if it did or not, but it definitely didn't make it any worse!])
2. Added some chili powder.
When I first tasted it, it kind of just tasted like chopped up tomatoes and rotel, but after it sat in the fridge a day or so, it really did taste very much like the stuff you get in the restaurant along with the endless chips! I was pleasantly surprised, considering some pretty major ingredients had been left out!
In the future, I’ll use the cilantro and lime if I have them on hand, as I'm sure they would make the salsa even more yummy. If I don't have them though, it's nice to know that I can make it without them! (And by the way, the jalapenos will always be left out…a can of Rotel gives plenty of heat already!)
Comments
Post a Comment