Cooking through the Pioneer Woman's Cookbook - Post 2

So I feel like it's been a good two weeks for me and Ree.  I successfully cooked four recipes and all but one of them turned out fantastically.  So without further adieu here is my recap!

Chocolate Sheet Cake

This cake was worth every calorie that I'm sure it contained.  I was even so in love with it I included it in my Recipe Wednesday so that the recipe would always be on my recipe blog.  The cake was pretty easy to make and then was fantastic for days afterwards.  It also makes a ton of cake so I was able to take a good chunk to some friends whose father died and to my brother and we still had PLENTY left over.  Make this cake today, you won't regret it!

Cheese Grits

I couldn't find the recipe for this on the PW's website, so if you want it send me an email and I'll pass it along.  I loved these cheese grits and I'm not a huge huge fan of grits.  I made them as a side dish and they were great.  However, this is only a HALF recipe of the grits so make sure if you're going to make a whole recipe that you have an army coming to dinner!  If you're looking for a good breakfast recipe that finishes in the oven this is a good one.  I'm going to use it the next time I serve a brunch.

Pico de Gallo

The recipe on Ree's site is a little different than the on in the cookbook.  I wish that I had checked out the website before I started this because it might have helped.  The recipe in the cookbook stressed putting equal amounts of onions and tomatoes in the pico and so I worked hard to do that.  But that made it really onion-y.  If I was going to make this recipe again I would work from the website version as opposed to the cookbook version because it looks more tomato-y which looks better.  Overall, this wasn't something that we absolutely loved and I probably won't try it again.

Macaroni and Cheese

So far this is my favorite non-dessert PW recipe.  This Mac and Cheese is fantastic! I made it a few nights ago to go with my BBQ Pork Chops and it was the perfect side dish.  Cheesy and warm and filling.  I've enjoyed it re-heated for lunch the past few days too and it's been just as good warmed up in the microwave.  Now, if Charlotte is reading this in 7 years she doesn't need to get her hopes up because I won't be making this Mac and Cheese every day -- or even every time she wants Mac and Cheese -- because it was a little time consuming and had a lot of steps but for special occasions this is definitely a keeper!  Yummy!