Menu of the Week #1

Our menu this week features some of our favorite Pioneer Woman recipes. These are pretty solid recipes, tried and true for your menu too.


Dr. Pepper Shredded Pork, Frito Pie, Mandarin Pasta Spinach Salad with Teriyaki Salmon, King Ranch Chicken, Cashew Chicken over White Rice, Shrimp Pasta. 

Saturday - Pork Sammies
I made Pioneer Woman's Spicy Dr. Pepper Shredded Pork for the first time and what I liked about this recipe is that it is a true dump and go recipe. Most "roast" recipes instruct you to sear the roast first and saute the veggies. Yes, searing brings out a lot of flavors, and I'm all about flavor...but sometimes I just want a dump and cook recipe - this is it. And with the short list of ingredients, I would say this recipe can feed a crowd with a low budget. I served the shredded pork on sweet Hawaiian rolls (the full-size hamburger buns, but mini rolls would work too, especially for kiddos.)

Sunday - Frito Pie
Because we had a lot of shredded pork left over, I set aside about 1/2 a cup for Jim to have another sandwich for lunch this week. With the remaining 2 cups of shredded pork, I made my favorite cheater chili.  It's cheater because I use a starter jar and just add additional veggies and two kinds of meat. This Cookwell and Company Two-Step Chili Mix is fantastic, and this is coming from a Texan. I start by sauteeing onion and add a few cloves of chopped garlic, then a lb of ground beef. Once the beef is cooked through I, add the jar of chili mix, and then I like to stir in shredded pork. I get asked for this recipe all the time; it is my perfect cheater chili. My favorite way to eat chili is with Frito corn chips and cheddar cheese.

Monday - Bowtie Pasta with Mandarin Oranges (and lots of other stuff) topped with Salmon
It may be a New Year, but old habits die hard. I made salmon the way I prefer, seasoned only with salt and pepper, baked on a foil-lined sheet in the oven at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. I was delighted that I paired our salmon with this Mandarin Pasta Spinach Salad with Teriyaki Dressing from Creme de la Crumb. The vinaigrette was brushed on the salmon during the last five minutes in the oven. The salad contains bow tie pasta, mandarin oranges, spinach, craisins and toasted pine nuts.

The original recipe calls for teriyaki sauce from a bottle, rice wine vinegar, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, sugar, and oil. It was an easy list of ingredients that you may already have in the pantry. The vinaigrette was a little too sweet for me.  Next time I would like to decrease the amount of teriyaki sauce or take it out altogether and make a similar vinaigrette without the use of a bottled sauce.  There are a lot of DIY teriyaki sauce recipes online like this one.

I searched all my social media feeds for a pic of this one; I just cannot believe I didn't post a picture of this beautiful bowl.

Tuesday - King Ranch Chicken
Would you believe I have never made King Ranch Chicken before? This casserole recipe is nothing new; in fact, you probably had it growing up. I followed a Pioneer Woman recipe which calls for a can of cream of chicken soup, a rotisserie chicken, corn tortillas, and spices. It was just okay, to be honest. This recipe seems like a variation of Pioneer Woman's Chicken Spaghetti recipe which I prefer over this one.

Wednesday - Cashew Chicken
Pioneer Woman's Cashew Chicken is really delicious. The only problem I had was how many ingredients this dish uses. Yes, we could simplify the recipe, but it may not taste as yummy and authentic. I will make this again, but I would schedule this dinner for a weekend, not a weeknight.

Thursday - Shrimp Pasta
Yes, I pulled up another Pioneer Woman recipe this evening also. I have made this Shrimp Penne Pasta once before, and I will make it again. Shrimp, penne, garlic, tomato sauce, heavy cream, basil - all my favorite things. I took an idea from the Tomato Basil Bisque I recently made and added 1/2 cup of Sherry to deglaze the pan before adding the tomato sauce. Truly decadent!