Granola that just takes a few minutes to make…

 
This amazing bread omelette, which has swept the internet in the past two months…

 
And Dalgona Coffee – I tried it, and it lives up to the hype!

The Pioneer Woman: Home Sweet Home airs this Saturday morning on Food Network at 10am/9c and I hope you enjoy!

These were a lot of fun to make with my kids…but even more fun to eat.

 
This breakfast! Oh my word. (That’s a hash brown waffle under there!)

 
Now hear this: This is the wackiest grilled sandwich you’ve ever seen. I won’t even begin to list the things inside…but it’s an impossibly tasty combination.

 
This pasta looks like basic noodles…but it’s actually sweeping the internet (for good reason.)

 
And you are going to want to make these no-bake bars! (Trust me. Please.)

Staying Home: Episode 3 airs on Food Network tomorrow (May 2) at 10 am Eastern/9 central.

Hope you enjoy, and I hope you’re all staying safe!

 
It’s called Tomato Soup 2.0 and basically takes generic condensed tomato soup and turns it into something you’d eat in Paris. And I’m not even sure if they have tomato soup in Paris, but if they do, they’re going to want to serve this recipe from now on!

That made no sense.

 
You can see the step-by-step recipe on the show tomorrow, but here’s all you do:

1. Heat a little olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat.
2. Add a couple of spoonfuls of jarred pesto. Stir it around and cook for a minute.
3. Add 2 large cans condensed tomato soup along with 2 cans of water.
4. Add a regular can of diced tomatoes with their juice. (I used tomatoes with oregano and garlic, but plain is fine.)
5. Stir and bring to a gentle simmer.
6. Add a generous splash of SHERRY! It is transformative. If you don’t have sherry, a little splash of white wine will do. (And I actually used cooking sherry, which is sold in supermarkets next to vinegar! Crazytown.) Stir and continue to heat the soup.
7. Add dried parsley, salt, and freshly ground black pepper. Stir.
8. Add grated parmesan and stir.

 
9. Serve with garlic butter croutons and extra Parmesan on top. And guess what I used for the croutons? Frozen Garlic Texas Toast! I just cut the frozen pieces into cubes, sprinkled with grated Parmesan, and baked them according to the regular instructions on the package. They are amazing on the soup, and so crispy and delightful.

My house is full of people, everyone wants to eat all the time, and I’m into easy food these days. Canned soup and frozen garlic bread for the win!

“Staying Home: Episode 2” airs on Food Network this Saturday morning at 10am/9c…and I hope you enjoy the homemade feel of things. (I also hope you get a kick out of my accidentally setting a wooden spoon on fire…but you’ll have to tune in to see how that went. Ha.)

And I hope you’re all doing okay. Sending lots and lots of love from the ranch.

xoxo,
P-Dub

Start by preheating the oven to 375.

 
Next, add some cumin, salt, paprika, and chili powder in a small bowl…

 
 
Stir to mix it together. (You can have some fun with this spice mixture and spike it with whatever floats your boat. Curry powder, cayenne, the list goes on!)

 
 
Lay out the chicken thighs on a plate or sheet pan…

 
 
Then season both sides with salt and pepper and rub the spice mixture all over it.

 
 
Cut about half a butternut squarsh (I love pronouncing it like that) into chunks (or you can buy it already cut up in some supermarkets!)…

 
 
Then cut a peeled red onion into chunks…

 
 
And separate them a bit.

 
 
Brussels sprouts! I love them! Trim them and cut them in half. (And truth be told, I lop off the bottom and cut them in half first, which makes it easier to pull off the damaged outer leaves.) Or…yes. You can just buy them already trimmed and halved. What is the world coming to?

 
 
For the herbiage (not to be confused with verbiage, which, unlike herbiage, is actually a word), grab some thyme, rosemary, and sage. Simon and Garfunkel would be 75% pleased with these choices!

 
 
Pull the leaves off the thyme and rosemary, and stack it together with the sage leaves…

 
 
Then chop them pretty fine.

 
 
Time to start cookin’! Heat a large cast iron skillet over medium heat, then add a couple to three tablespoons olive oil. Grab the chicken with tongs…

 
 
And place it skin side down in the skillet. Babysit the chicken to make sure the skin doesn’t stick to the skillet, and brown the first side for about 4 minutes.

 
 
Turn the chicken when the skin is nice and golden, then brown the second side for about 2 minutes.

 
 
Remove the chicken to a plate and set it aside…

 
 
And pour off most of the excess grease. (You can always add some back in later if you miss it!)

 
 
Throw a bunch of garlic cloves into the skillet (if the skillet seems too hot/smoky, you can reduce the heat to medium-low.) Stir them and cook them for a couple of minutes, making sure they don’t burn.

 
 
Add the onions and herbs…

 
 
And stir them, cooking them for 2 to 3 minutes, being careful not to burn them.

 
 
Raise the heat to medium-high. Add the butternut squash, Brussels sprouts, and cauliflower (which I didn’t mention above, but here it is!) Sprinkle them with salt and pepper…

 
 
And stir them around for about 3 minutes, allowing them to start to cook and get color around the edges.

 
 
Splash in some red wine (or, if you prefer, chicken broth)…

 
 
Then give the veggies one more stir.

 
 
Nestle the chicken into the veggies (use tongs to make room and move some of the veggies around as needed) and put the skillet into the oven for 25 minutes.

 
 
While the chicken and veggies finish cooking in the oven, toast some good sliced bread in a skillet with lots of butter. Set them aside and tell your family it won’t be long, and that they can stop banking their forks and their heads on the dinner table. (Hypothetically speaking.)

 
 
Pull the skillet out of the oven—yum! I wrestled with whether to do 400 degrees or 375; I think at 400, the veggies might get a little more of that roasted color on the outside…but just follow your heart! Ha.

 
 
Serve up helpings of chicken, veggies, and toast (and a couple extra sage leaves)…

 
 
Then drizzle on balsamic glaze (it’s sold in squeeze bottles in supermarkets now) and sprinkle with pomegranate seeds. The balsamic glaze adds a little sweetness and acidic bite, which really wakes everything up. Delicious! And you can have fun with this: Use sweet potatoes, turnips, and other root vegetables…or you can go rogue and add bell peppers, broccoli, mushrooms, whatever you like.

Enjoy, friends!

 
 
First: About pork rinds! As I write in my cookbook, they have long been relegated to the snack/chip aisle in the grocery store, but when the low carb/Keto revolution happened, people discovered that, when ground up, they make the most magical stand-in for breadcrumbs. (It gets even more fun when you consider that pork rinds now come in lots of different flavors, like regular chips.) Pork rinds as chicken strip breading is definitely one of those “who thinks these things up?!?” scenarios—kind of like the person who decided to try putting Preparation H. under their eyes to reduce swelling. Note that I did not write that comment about Preparation H. in my cookbook. It’s a good thing I still have my wits about me in some areas!

Anyway, I encourage you to give these a try! This pork rind breading can be used to bread pretty much anything you’d normally coat in breadcrumbs: fish sticks, fried mozzarella, the list goes on. Also, it’s just really fun to say “I made pork rind chicken strips” and watch the confused fascination that appears on the listener’s face.

Here’s how to make them!

 
Cut 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts into thin strips. You can also buy a package of chicken tenders if you prefer!

 
 
Place them into a bag or bowl and pour in buttermilk…

 
 
Along with some hot sauce, salt and pepper. Easy!

 
 
Seal the bag and just smush (or stir, if it’s in a bowl) it around until the chicken is all coated. Set it aside.

 
 
Now comes the fun, pork rindy part! In a separate bag or bowl, add some pork rinds…

 
 
Then crunch/crush them until they become little crumbs! Some bigger chunks are fine.

 
 
Pour them into a bowl…

 
 
Then, in a separate bowl, add a couple of beaten eggs. That’s the breading assembly line! (So easy, isn’t it?)

 
 
To “bread” the chicken, lay one of the strips in the pork rinds…

 
 
Turn it over to coat…

 
 
Quickly dunk it in the egg…

 
 
And put it back in the crumbs to coat, pressing to make as many crumbs stick as possible.

 
 
Lay them on a sheet pan as you go. Look at how crispy and fun!

 
 
When they’re all coated, heat 1 inch of vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.

 
 
Working in batches of 2 or 3, lay the strips in the oil and fry for about 2 to 2 1/2 minutes on the first side…

 
 
Then flip them over and fry them for a couple of minutes on the second side, until golden and crisp. You’ll want to babysit these, moving them around with tongs to make sure they don’t burn. You can lower the heat to medium if it looks like the pork rinds are getting too brown!

 
 
Remove to a rack while you fry the rest.

 
 
Now, if you’re a normal consumer of chicken strips, you can serve them right away with ketchup and/or ranch. But I make a really nice creamy avocado sauce that kinda rocked my world: In a food processor, add avocado, mayonnaise, fresh dill, garlic, lime juice, salt, and pepper.

 
 
Whiz it around until it’s a light green masterpiece!

 
 
And there ya go, my friends. Chicken strips coated in pork rinds, what is this world coming to?

 
 
I’m not sure, either, but I’m totally along for the ride.

Enjoy, friends!

Plus, it’s purty. You’ll love it!

(Side note: Hi, friends! *Waving*…)

In a Dutch oven, melt the olive oil and butter over medium heat.

 
 
Add the onions and garlic…

 
 
Then add the oregano…

 
 
And stir, cooking the onions and garlic for about 3 minutes.

 
 
Add a diced russet potato (this is optional; it helps with the texture, but you can leave it out if you’re wanting to cut carbs)…

 
 
And 2 jars of roasted red peppers that have been sliced. Look at those little blackened bits. Flavah!

 
 
Stir and cook the potatoes and red bell peppers for about 3 more minutes.

 
 
Add the tomato paste…

 
 
And stir to combine, letting it cook for a couple of minutes.

 
 
Sprinkle in the salt and pepper and turn up the heat to medium-high.

 
 
Pour in the white wine, then stir and let it start to cook.

 
 
Then pour in some vegetable or chicken stock!

 
 
Bring the mixture to a gentle boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the potatoes are very tender, about 18-20 minutes.

 
 
Now it’s time to puree the soup, which releases all the amazing flavor of the peppers and makes the potatoes just become a part of the mix.

 
 
Keep going until it gets to the texture you like.

 
 
This is the texture I like!

 
 
Now it just needs cream. I add about a half a cup, or up to 5 gallons. Just kidding about the 5 gallon part, but my point is that if you wanna add more cream, you should live the life you were born to live and just add it.

And truth be told, I probably added 3/4 cup of cream.

Okay, a cup.

 
 
Stir it to combine and let the cream warm up for a couple of minutes.

 
 
Finally, add a little red wine vinegar and cook for another minutes. Done!

 
 
Serve with a little grated Parmesan and some fresh oregano leaves.

 
 
A little grilled cheese rollup wouldn’t hurt either! (I’ll post these sometime soon.)

 
 
Enjoy, friends! It’s still cool in some areas, so this soup is just perfect for the weather.

As I said, I just want to get back in bed.

So mini cheesecakes are where I live! They’re simpler, provide more immediate gratification (relatively speaking) and you can freeze them and just pull out what you need when you need it.

And they don’t make me tired. Sold!

 
First, make the chocolate cookie crust. Add chocolate graham crackers to a food processor. (Or you can use Oreos!)

 
 
Add a little sugar…

 
 
Then pulse the crumbs…

 
 
Until they’re really fine.

 
 
Keep pulsing while you drizzle in melted butter.

 
 
This makes the crumbs nice and moist.

Oh, and buttery!

 
 
Line a couple of muffin pans with paper cups, then add crumbs to each one. You need about 2 tablespoons of crumbs in each cup.

 
 
Use your fangers or the bottom of a 1/4 cup measure to pack them tightly in the cups.

 
 
Now just set these aside; no need to bake ’em!

 
 
Next up: Make the cream cheese filling! That’s softened cream cheese…

 
 
Sugar…

 
 
And eggs.

 
 
Oh! And vanilla!

 
 
Beat this until it’s totally smooth…

 
 
Then (this is where things really go off the rails) drizzle in some jarred salted caramel. (If you can’t find salted caramel sauce, you can just use regular caramel sauce with a little salt added.)

 
 
Mix this in, scraping the sides of the bowl and trying really hard not to dive in and eat this with a spoon. Just remember everything your mama taught you about patience being a virtue!

 
 
Divide the batter equally among the muffin cups.

 
 
It should work out to be roughtly 3 tablespoons of batter per cup. Give or take a gallon.

Now put these into a preheated 350 degree oven and bake them for about 15 to 17 minutes, until they’re set.

 
 
Let them cool for a bit, then pop the pans into the fridge to chill completely, about 2 hours or so. (Or you can make these and keep them in the fridge overnight if you have a life to go live!)

 
 
When the cheesecakes are chilled and you’re ready to finish them, make a luscious and easy ganache: Add chopped semisweet chocolate to a bowl…

 
 
Then pour over hot heavy cream…

 
 
And let it sit for a couple of minutes.

 
 
Once the chocolate has started to soften, start whisking it slowly…

 
 
And keep going until the mixture is smooth and perfect. This is a slightly thick ganache; you can add a little more cream if you want it to be a little thinner.

 
 
Add a little ganache to the tops of the chilled cheesecakes and spread it to even it out.

 
 
Lightly press a pecan half in the center…

 
 
Then sprinkle mini chocolate chips all over.

 
 
The straw that broke the camel’s back is a little more salted caramel sauce on top! Don’t try to be neat about it; if it gets on the paper cup, great. Life is beautifully messy.

 
 
You can freeze these in the finished form, then just pull them out and let them thaw. Or you can chill them in the fridge and serve them later in the day.

 
 
Or…

 
 
You can just dive in right now.

As you can see, that’s exactly what I did.

Enjoy these, friends!

 
 
It won’t be out until NEXT October.

 
 
It feels great to start ahead of time! This is a new concept for me.

 
 
I’m a little afraid it will be like the few time I have started Christmas shopping really early: I wind up getting too much because I have way more time than I’m used to.

 
 
Although, that will work out better for the cookbook. If some recipes are good, more recipes are better…and too many recipes are even better!

 
 
Just wanted to give you a little peek at some of the things I’ve been cooking. I’m going to try to save the recipes for the cookbook and not post them here ahead of time…

 
 
But I’ve never been really good at patience.

(P.S. I’ll be shooting over the next couple of months. I’m taking requests!)

Instant Pots are everywhere! They’re a cooking appliance known as a “Multi Cooker” which means it has several different functions, its most notable (and useful, in my experience) being a pressure cooker. I have to say, I was a bit of a latecomer to the Instant Pot world. I am generally resistant to new electronic cooking appliances, because I’m old school and love a dutch oven and an iron skillet. But then my BFF Hyacinth, who is an Instant Pot evangelist, gave me one for my birthday last January. I’ve slowly but surely come to LOVE it, and noticed that I wasn’t ever putting it away in the pantry. So naturally…

I thought it would be amazing to work with Instant Pot to bring PW patterns and colors into the mix! I’m so excited, and I’ll be sharing many Instant Pot adventures in the weeks to come. (Pssst. I’m giving some away over on PW Giveaways—go enter!)

The first Instant Pot recipe I want to share is my Perfect Pot Roast, a Drummond family favorite, which cooks in half the time (sometimes even less!)

Here’s how to make it!

 
 
I want to sear the roast before I cook it, so I hit the “saute” button. This heats the bottom of the insert.

 
 
While it heats up, season a chuck roast with nuttin’ but salt and pepper.

 
 
When the Instant Pot is ready to saute, it will say “Hot!”

 
 
So pour in a little olive oil…

 
 
And throw in the roast!

 
 
It’ll start to suh-MOKE and stu-EAM. It gets hot in there! Not quite as hot as a heated cast iron dutch oven…

 
 
But definitely hot enough to brown the surface of the meat.

 
 
When it’s browned on both sides, remove it to a plate.

 
 
Then throw some large chunks of onion right in. These are going to cook down to almost nothingness, so the bigger the pieces, the better.

 
 
Move the onions around for a couple of minutes and let them start to brown.

Note: I would normally add carrots to my pot roast! But guess what? Some turkey in my house ate all my carrots. So imagine there are large carrot chunks in this beautiful Instant Pot, kay?

 
 
Now’s the time to add in some red wine. A little…or not a little. (Translation: About 1/2 cup.)

 
 
Stir the onions, scraping up the bits from the bottom as much as you can. Let the wine cook for a minute or so…

 
 
Then pour in beef broth.

 
 
I love rosemary and thyme in my pot roast!

 
 
Chuck it right in, no need to chop.

 
 
Finally, the meat—as well as all the juices on the plate.

 
 
Now it’s time to pressure cook! Put the lid on. It locks closed, and you’ll know it’s locked when it emits a lovely little chime.

 
 
This is the pressure valve. You want to make sure it’s in the “Sealing” position.

 
 
Push the “Manual” button.

 
 
Hit the plus sign until it gets to 60 minutes (hard to read in this photo, but it says “60”), then give it a few seconds…and it will start the pressure cooking process! And here’s what happens: After a little time, you will see some steam releasing from the valve in a steady stream. This is normal! The Instant Pot is releasing excess steam as it comes up to temperature. This can take several minutes.

 
 
When this little button pops up, as pictured here, that means the unit is sealed and the pressure cooking has begun. From there, it will cook for 60 minutes.

 
 
Once the 60 minutes is done, the unit will automatically change to “Keep Warm.” During this time, the Instant Pot will remain locked and will begin naturally releasing pressure on its own. It is best not to disturb the process during this time.

 
 
Rather than counting down from 60 as it did when it was pressure cooking, the Instant Pot will now count up the minutes it is taking to release the pressure naturally.

 
 
You have the option to use a spoon handle to manually push the valve to “Venting” to manually release the pressure. However, when I have the time, I try to let the Instant Pot release as much pressure naturally as possible before I release the rest of the pressure manually. I think the food is the better for it.

After about 15 minutes of natural release, I’ll often go ahead and release the rest manually so I can get this show on the road!

 
 
When the steam is no longer coming out…

 
 
The button will pop down, indicating the pressure has been released and it’s safe to open the lid.

 
 
And look at that! It looks like a roast that’s been simmering away for 3-4 hours.

 
 
The first thing I do is skim off as much fat as I can from the top before disturbing everything and mixing the fat in.

 
 
Um…look at this meat! It is absolutely falling apart. It’s a miracle.

 
 
Serve big shreds of the pot roast with a side of mashed potatoes and the cooking liquid spooned over the roast. (Imagine this with big chunks of carrots!)

 
 
I love my dutch oven. But I’m really loving my Instant Pot, too. It’s been fun to dive in and experiment. I”ll be sharing more recipes in the coming weeks!

Oh, and I’m going to see Paige for her birthday today. I think once-a-week visits are a great gameplan! I’m sure Paige would agree with me if she would ever call me back. Ha.

Happy Birthday, Paigie!!!

 
FOOD NETWORK UPDATE

There is a wacky rumor circulating around Facebook that I have decided to quit my Food Network show and devote my life to selling facial cream. The source of the rumor is an unscrupulous company trying to trick people into buying (you guessed it) facial cream. I have nothing to do with this facial cream (please don’t buy it!), and more importantly: I am not quitting my Food Network show! On the contrary: I’m just getting warmed up, man! The past seven years have just been one gigantic dress rehearsal!

You want recipes, cookbooks, pretty plates, pans, and Basset Hound cookie jars? Head my way!

You want facial cream? Head to Walmart, Ulta, Sephora, or a department store. Don’t head to Pioneer Woman. I get my facial cream at Walmart, Ulta, Sephora, and department stores! (Which is to say I rotate a lot. I think it’s healthier for the skin. Hey, maybe I should sell facial cream! Just kidding.)

All this to say, it’s going to be a great fall on my Food Network show, which I ain’t even close to quittin’! From now until the end of the year, you’ll see a brand spanking new episode every Saturday morning at 10 am Eastern/9 am Central. (I think one exception to this is Thanksgiving weekend, but that’s the only break in new episodes.) I’m having so much fun with the new shows these days, and hope you’re loving the recipes!

Recipe: Ranch Pork Chop Sheet Pan Supper

 
Between filming, planning my cookbook (more on this below!), the boys’ football schedule, and a few other things I have going on this fall, that hasn’t left much time for me to post step-by-step recipes here on my blog. I still love food-blogging and once I clear a few things off my plate in the next few weeks, I hope I can climb back in the saddle with my fancy boots on.

So to speak.

Recipe: Teriyaki Shrimp and Pineapple Parcels

 
There’s lots I want to share, including the step-by-step recipe for this gloriously easy cake!

Recipe: 11-Carton Cake

 
 I’m making this on the show tomorrow morning! It’s called “To the Nth” because everything in the show is just beyond ridonkulous.

Sneak Peek Recipe: Grilled French Toast

(Enter at your own risk.)

 
COOKBOOK UPDATE

On the cookbook front, I wanted to thank you SO DARN MUCH for all of your helpful input and suggestions for my next cookbook! As I explained in this post, I really want this next cookbook to go to the next level in terms of being a cookbook you (yes, you!) want to use. And while I already had a sense of a direction or two I wanted to take it, having your specific preferences in mind is really so helpful. Thank you for weighing in.

I love ya!

xoxo,
P-Dub