Bullet Point Kinda Day

I've had a cold for a week... bullet points are as good as it gets right now.

• I got the Tory Burch Holiday gift guide in the mail and had to have this iphone case for myself.. I've been wanting a more fun case and this one was a must have! No, I couldn't wait until Christmas, I didn't want it to sell out!

• I made these super cute onesies for a baby shower we went to last weekend! Thanks to Toni for giving me the confidence to know I could do it! It was SO easy! You might remember I saw something similar at Mistletoe Market being sold for $30! Mine cost about $6 to make! Score!

•  I attended a baby shower at work - thrown by men. Check out the banner they came up with for the decor!

•  My old pal Marissa was in town a couple weekends ago and she had to have some famous Eischen's Fried Chicken! Dave ate an entire chicken. Don't get me started. 

• Dave won a Kinect at DentFest and it's provided hours of fun! So far our favorite game is the Adventures game it came with and Dance Central 2! Any other good ones we should ask Santa for?

• I made the dogs homemade dog food from this recipe that was super easy btw - I'm waiting on my Mom of the Year trophy to come in the mail...

• I saw this amazing kids gift in Real Simple magazine - but then I was at CVS the other day (getting cold medicine again yay!) and saw that they sell them in the store for only $20! If I was a kid I would have gone nuts for this present! It's called the Discovery Kids Color Me Castle, and I found them online at JCPenney.

•  I'm super excited for Thanksgiving! I made Pioneer Woman's artichoke dip for Dave's family Thanksgiving last night and I'll be making Pioneer Woman's Mac and Cheese as my contribution to my family's Thanksgiving this year! Yummm!

What Would Happen?

What would happen if Barefoot Contessa and Pioneer Woman merged together to create a delicious meal?!
Can you imagine?

I love Barefoot Contessa because I almost always have all the ingredients I need for her meals without having to make a trip to the store. And I love Pioneer Woman because everything she makes is unbelievably delicious.

So I ask you, what would happen if these two collaborated and created a meal together?

I think I may have found the answer the other night... I wanted to make Chicken Parmesan and I remembered seeing a recipe for it in Barefoot Contessa Family Style, but then I remembered seeing one on PW's blog.... They were pretty similar so I merged them together!

To give you a visual, here's what Barefoot Contessa's looked like:

And PW's:

See, they both look too good! I had to try both... well kind of!



I started with Barefoot Contessa's Recipe:
Ingredients:

4 to 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I only had 3)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 extra-large eggs
1 tablespoon water
1 1/4 cups seasoned dry bread crumbs
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra for serving
Unsalted butter
Good olive oil

Directions:

Pound the chicken breasts until they are 1/4-inch thick.
Combine the flour, salt, and pepper on a dinner plate. On a second plate, beat the eggs with 1 tablespoon of water. On a third plate, combine the bread crumbs and 1/2 cup grated Parmesan. Coat the chicken breasts on both sides with the flour mixture, then dip both sides into the egg mixture and dredge both sides in the bread-crumb mixture, pressing lightly. (this produces lots of dirty dishes)

Heat 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large saute pan and cook 2 or 3 chicken breasts on medium-low heat for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, until cooked through. Add more butter and oil and cook the rest of the chicken breasts.

Then I decided to merge PW's sauce into the mix, because it looked so good in the picture!

Pioneer Woman's parmesan chicken sauce:
Ingredients:
1 whole medium onion chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced
3/4 cups red wine
3 cans (14.5 oz) crushed tomatoes
2 tablespoons sugar

Directions:
Without cleaning your skillet, add onions and garlic and gently stir for 2 minutes. Pour in wine and scrape the bottom of the pan, getting all the flavorful bits off the bottom. Allow wine to cook down until reduced by half, about 2 minutes.
Pour in crushed tomatoes and stir to combine. Add sugar and more salt and pepper to taste. Allow to cook for 30 minutes. Toward the end of cooking time, add herbs and give sauce a final stir.

I cooked the sauce separately and just poured it over the chicken and served with Angel hair pasta and herbs. This was deeelish!

Have you ever merged 2 recipes together? I know these 2 will be collaborating more often in my kitchen!

Thank you Pioneer Woman!

I've made a few recipes from Pioneer Woman's cookbook and website lately and thought I'd share with you my faves!

{image via PW's website}

Pioneer Woman's Three Cheese Stuffed Shells w/ Meaty Tomato Sauce

This was SOOO yum! I doubled the meat though b/c what the hell am I going to do with a leftover 1/2 pound of sausage. And I think it needed the whole pound, I also only used half the garlic it called for b/c I thought 5 cloves was crazy. Hubbs gave this one 2 thumbs up. I can't wait to have the leftovers today!

We had Dave's family over for dinner a month or so ago and I made a suprise desert for everyone!

Pioneer Woman's Flat Apple Pie - the recipe is only available in her cookbook BUT I found a video demonstration here.

This was SO easy and SO yummy - here's my proof:

I served it with some BlueBell Homestyle Vanilla and it was perrrrrrrrfect! Also had some caramel on hand for those that like things sweeter than normal!

I told you it was good!

Lastly, I made Pioneer Woman's Grilled Chicken with Lemon Basil Pasta, when my Dad came through town one night. This was Yummmy too! (I know there are other adjectives for yummy, delicious, scrumptious, delectable etc. But yummy is my fave so get over it)

I had Dave grill the chicken that I marinated for 24 hours and I also threw some mushrooms on the grill with a little olive oil and herbs de provence. He cooked the mushrooms in a foil pouch just like the fish tacos.

Dave hates mushrooms, so here's a pic of my plate - the mushrooms were a great addition!

If you haven't visited the Pioneer Woman's website - you are seriously missing out. Her recipes are all super yummy and she has a picture for each step! Great for us novice cooks out there! Thank you Pioneer Woman, I love you! (And so does my husband)