Beef Stew (Ree Drummond)

(Reviewed by Tammy)

This is my favorite recipe from this book so far.  Who doesn't like stew?  It was so flavorful and satisfying.  Ideal for a cold winter's night.  At the time I'm writing this, I've made this stew twice.  The second time I made 2 changes-I added red pepper flakes because we prefer foods that are spicier and I also omitted the beer-I just didn't like the flavor of it the first time.

This has to simmer for a couple of hours so be sure to allow time for that.

INGREDIENTS

3 Tablespoons olive oil

1 Tablespoon butter

2 pounds beef stew meat

1 medium onion, diced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 can/bottle of beer (I omitted)

4 cups beef broth

1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

2 Tablespoons tomato paste

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

4 new potatoes, quartered

4 carrots, roughly sliced

2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

minced parsley, for garnish (optional)

1.  Start by heating the olive oil and butter in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat.  Throw in the stew meat and quickly brown it on all sides.

2.  Remove the meat to a clean plate and set aside.

3.  Throw the onion into the pot, then reduce the heat to low.

4.  Stir the onion for about 3 minutes or until softened.  Then add the garlic and cook for about a minute.

5.  Pour in the beer, beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, paprika, sugar, salt and pepper.

6.  Finally return the meat to the pot, cover it, and simmer the stew over very low heat for 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until the meat is very tender.  If the liquid level gets too low, add 1 to 2 cups hot water as needed.

7.  Add the potatoes and carrots to the pot.Simmer for 30 minutes or until tender.

8.  To thicken the stew, remove 1 cup of cooking liquid and whisk in the flour.  Pour into the pot and simmer another 10 minutes.  Add the parsley at the end if desired.  

9.  Dish up and enjoy!

(I served mine over rice)

Citrus Butter Cookie (Ree Drummond)

(Reviewed by Tammy)

The flavor of these little cookies is unbelievable!  Butter cookies have always been a favorite of mine.  Adding the citrus just put it over the top.  My didn't turn out nearly as pretty as Ree's.  In fact I get an F in presentation.  I'm not sure what happened.  Mine were kind of flat.  I was super disappointed until I tasted them.  Who cares what they look like when they taste like this!

I omitted the icing instead sprinkling with powdered sugar and lime and lemon zest.

INGREDIENTS

(COOKIES)

2 large eggs

4 sticks of butter (1 pound) salted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 Tablespoons orange, lemon and lime zest (1 Tablespoon each)

4 cups all-purpose flour

2 Tablespoons orange, lemon, and/or lime juice (2 Tablespoons total)

(ICING)

3 cups powdered sugar

2 Tablespoons whole milk

2 Tablespoons combined orange, lemon and lime zest

Juice of 1/2 lime

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Dash of salt

Extra zest for decorating

1.  Preheat the oven to 350.

2.  Separate the eggs.  Set aside one of the egg whites for the icing.

3.  Using a mixer, cream the butter and sugar until combined.

4.  Add the egg yolks and mix until combined.

5.  Add the 3 Tablespoons of citrus zest.

6.  Then add the flour and mix until just combined.

7.  Next, add the 2 Tablespoons of citrus juice and mix the dough until it comes together.

8.  Scoop out heaping teaspoons of dough, then roll them into balls between your hands.  Place on a cookie sheet.  

9.  Bake them for 12-13 minutes or until they're not quite starting to turn brown.  Remove them from the oven but keep them on the cookie sheet for 3-4 minutes.  Use a spatula to move them to a cooling rack.  Cool completely.

10.  To make the icing, combine 1 egg white with the rest of the icing ingredients (except the zest).  Whisk thoroughly until combined, adding either more powdered sugar or more juice until it reaches a pourable but still thick consistency.

11.  Drizzle the icing across the cookies in several lines, then repeat in the other direction.

12.  Sprinkle them with extra zest before icing set.

Curry Chicken Pasta Salad (Ree Drummond)

(Reviewed by Grace)

I made this for lunch yesterday.  Ree uses her favorite chicken salad recipe, and adds a little curry and pasta.  On a scale of one to ten for this recipe's flavor, I'd have to give it a 5.  The chicken salad has celery and the white/light green parts of a green onion.  Personally, we didn't like the crunchiness as much as others. If I had to try this recipe again, I'd take out the celery and use the dark green parts of the green onion.  We also did not include the grapes or almonds in this recipe.

Curry Chicken Pasta Salad

Ingredients:

1 recipe Basic Chicken Salad

2 tablespoons brown sugar

3 tablespoons curry powder, more or less to taste (we did MORE!)

6 ounce's bow tie pasta, cooked and drained

3/4 cup regular or golden raisins (we did not include this)

For the Basic Chicken Salad:

1/2 cup mayonnaise 

1/2 plain yogurt or sour cream (we did yogurt)

1/2 cup half-and-half

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons sugar

Kosher salt to taste 

Freshly ground black pepper to taste 

2 cups shredded or diced grilled chicken

2 or 3 celery stalks, chopped

3 green onions, sliced (white and light green parts only)

2 to 3 cups red and green grapes, halved

1.2 cups silvered almonds (we didn't include this)

A small handful of fresh dill, minced 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1. First stir together the mayo, yogurt, and half-and-half.  This is the base of the salad dressing, and you can change it up by adding whatever spices you like.  (we added a bit of Tony's)

2. Add the lemon juice, sugar, and more salt and pepper.  Stir this together and set aside.

3. Throw the chicken, celery, green onions, and grapes into a bowl.

4.  Pour three-quarters of the dressing over the top, and add the fresh dill.

Note- I didn't read ahead on the Curried Chicken Pasta Salad (ALWAYS READ AHEAD!! (:  ).  You were supposed to substitute the regular sugar for the brown sugar.

 5.  Add the curry and toss to combine. Add the cooked pasta and...

voila!  Curry Chicken Pasta Salad.

Breakfast Pizza (Ree Drummond)

(Reviewed by Tammy)

Man is this good! Heavy, filling and completely satisfying.  There's no way I could eat this often.  After my 1 serving all I wanted to do was go back to bed!  It would make a great dish to serve for brunch.  I made a couple of alterations to suit my family's taste.  First off, I used turkey bacon and secondly I didn't use as many eggs.  Instead I fixed a bowl of scrambled eggs to serve on the side.  They were super yummy mixed with the pizza.  Another thing, this would even be fabulous without the pizza crust.  We had leftovers that we refrigerated.  They were even better the next day!

INGREDIENTS

1 pound thick cut bacon 

3 cups frozen hash browns

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 green bell pepper, sliced

1 yellow bell pepper, sliced

Pizza dough (recipe here)

1/2 cup salsa

12 ounces fresh mozzarella, sliced

8 large eggs

Salt and pepper

1.  Preheat the oven to 475.  Place the rack in the lowest position.

2.  Fry the bacon until chewy, then chop into bite size pieces.

3.  Fry the frozen hash browns in a large skillet over medium-high heat with 1 Tablespoon of the vegetable oil until they're just starting to brown ( I seasoned mine with Tony's).  Remove and set them aside on a plate.

4.In the same skillet, fry the red, green and yellow peppers over medium-high heat in the remaining 1 Tablespoon of vegetable oil for about 5 minutes or until brown.  Set aside.

5.  Roll out the pizza dough on a lightly oiled baking sheet.  Spread the salsa over the surface.

6.  Evenly distribute the sliced mozzarella over the top.

7.  Sprinkle on the hash browns, bell peppers and bacon.

8.  Crack the eggs here and there all over the surface of the pizza.

9.  Bake for 13-15 minutes or until the crust is golden and the eggs are set.  Serve immediately.

Caprese Salad (Ree Drummond)

(Reviewed by Tammy)

I LOVE Caprese Salad!  I could eat it everyday, just about every meal.  It's so refreshing, so healthy and so easy to make.  Plus it looks beautiful!  You've got to try it.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups balsamic vinegar

3 ripe tomatoes

12 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, thickly sliced

Fresh basil leaves

Olive oil, for drizzling

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1.  Measure the balsamic vinegar.

2.  Pour into a saucepan.

3.  Bring it to a gentle boil over low heat.

4.  Cook for about 15 minutes or until it has reduced to a nice, thick (pourable) glaze.  Cool to room temp.

5.  Cut the tomatoes into thick slices.

6.  Arrange on a platter, alternating them with the mozzarella slices.

7.  Tuck whole basil leaves in between.

8.  Drizzle olive oil in a thin stream over the top.

9.  Drizzle on the balsamic reduction.

10.  Finally sprinkle salt and pepper on top.

Perfection!  Now tell me you don't like that!

Our favorite pizza dough

Our pizza dough recipe is a little faster to make than Ree's and in our opinion better (sorry Ree).  Taste is subjective, so try them both and decide for yourself.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup warm water

2 Tablespoons olive oil

2 1/4 teaspoons yeast

1 tsp sugar

 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour*

1 tsp salt

1.Combine the water, yeast and sugar. 

2. Stir in the flour, salt and oil. 

3. Beat until smooth (will be very sticky).  

4.  Let rest for 5 minutes.

5.  Roll out dough and add toppings.

6.  Bake at 450 for 12-15 minutes.

Yields:  1 thick crust 16" pizza or 1 thin 16" and a thin 12".

Make extra crusts, bake 5 minutes, cool then freeze in plastic bags until ready to use.

*We use freshly ground Spelt flour.  

Pizza Dough (Ree Drummond)

(Reviewed by Tammy)

Ree uses this pizza dough in several recipes throughout her cookbook.  It is very simple to make, but honestly not my favorite crust.  I prefer a chewier crust.  I've posted my favorite recipe for pizza dough here.  Try this one for yourself and see what you think.  Heads up-this dough has to rise at least an hour.

INGREDIENTS

1 scant teaspoon active dry yeast

3/4 cup warm water

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

3 Tablespoons olive oil

1.  Combine the yeast and warm water in a small bowl.  Allow it to sit for 10 minutes.

2.  Add the flour to the bowl of an electric mixer. 

 3.  Sprinkle in the salt.

4.  Turn the mixer on low, then slowly pour in the olive oil.

5.  Finally pour in the yeast/water mixture.

6.  Stop mixing when everything comes together.  Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap (or a Charles Viancin silicone lid like I used.  I LOVE these lids!)

7.  Allow the dough to rise 1 hour before using.

Here I've used it in the Carnitas Pizza.