Category Archives: Challenge Recipes

[121] Pioneer Woman’s Mashed Potatoes

Cover of The Pioneer Woman Cooks by Ree Drummond

Wow. So, I had memories of making this recipe once or twice when I went to go do it for Thanksgiving. Thus, I was sure I had already posted it to the blog. You can imagine my surprise when I couldn’t find it in the archives, no matter what tags I searched, no matter how much “did I forget to tag it?” searching I did. Basically, no matter how hard I looked, I couldn’t find it on the blog.

I finally found it in the “upcoming recipes” list to the right…

Now, I’m sure, you can imagine my chagrin.

Anyway, better late than never, I suppose. Of course, this means you’re going to get this recipe as if I made it for the first time for Thanksgiving.… Continue reading →

[120] Corn Chowder

the cover of The Enchanted Broccoli Forest

I accidentally made this one twice for the challenge. This is totally my own fault, because I didn’t post about it the first time. Actions have consequences, you know.

In honesty, I probably would have made this recipe again anyway. I had a ton of corn in the freezer from the summer, and this recipe uses up a lot of it at once. Of course, that’s because it’s making 159,848,327 servings, but that’s just a minor detail. The important part is that it’s delicious and easy. Well, that’s the most important point.

The other important point is that I appear to have forgotten to take pictures the first time around. No idea why.

I like that it calls for potatoes. I love that I live in a world where I can get purple potatoes.… Continue reading →

[119] Pork Shoulder with Chipotle-Orange BBQ Sauce

Cover of Simply Organic by Jesse Ziff Cool

Note: this was made prior to buying the hog. It is NOT from our share of the hog.

We made this one for a party. I’m not sure if I was prompted by a Whole Foods sale on pork shoulder, a cut I am loving more and more and more. My friend Dylan tells me it’s commonly turned into sausage, do to its ratio of fat:meat. I say, “What a waste!” This is good for so many other things!

I have a slightly tilted photo there. No idea why.

Anyway, as you can see, there’s a lot of good stuff going on in that photo. Aside from a nice cut of meat, the oranges, green onions & chipotles!

I recall it being pretty simple to make as well.… Continue reading →

The next few days

I’ve been contemplating that monstrous list to the right. That one that tells you what we’ve cooked so far. Cooked, but haven’t posted. Something must be done there.

So, over the next few days, I’m going to crank out some of that list. It’s not going to be what’s been standard to this point. To be frank, I cannot remember what was hard and what was easy and what was weird and so on of that list. Thus, instead, I’m just going to post a few photos, and give you our basic impression of the recipe’s flavor.

Interspersed with that, I’m planning to update the “About page”:http://metacookbook.com/permalink/about.html and I will include other recipes that are ours, or “misc recipes”:http://metacookbook.com/archives/264-Help-me-out,-please.html or what have you. I may also update “The Rules,”:http://metacookbook.com/permalink/rules.html… Continue reading →

[115 – 118] Let’s talk jam again, shall we?

Wow. It took long enough to find out the last challenge recipe I posted that I am embarrassed. I’ve been cooking (though not as much as this time last year), and not putting the challenges up.

Well, it may change HOW I do it, but that’s changing right now. It’s changing with the last few recipes I’ve made. I will, at the least, document them.

With that out of the way, let’s get to jam.

Today I am making black currant jam. I may also make some sort of blueberry jam. I didn’t buy a lime, so I can’t make blueberry-lime again, I don’t think. I don’t know how much jarred juice (shoosh) to add to make up the amount of juice in one lime, and there’s no replacement for zest.… Continue reading →