The Pioneer Woman's Top 10 Comfort Food Recipes | The Pioneer Woman | Food Network

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okay i just browned a whole bunch of

beef i salted and peppered it sprinkled

it with flour before i fried i'll start

with a bed of big chunks of onions i've

also got big chunks of carrots

some mushrooms these are just brown

mushrooms you can use white i've got

some fresh herbs rosemary and parsley

and i'm just going to throw them in

whole i have some red potatoes and i

scrubbed them really well cut them into

chunks this is where the beef goes in

for the meat i used rump roast but i am

not content just to use beef in my beef

stew i'm going to cut some fried bacon

into chunks

it can't hurt can it

sprinkle that on

now every stew needs a really good

cooking liquid and what better way to

whip up one than to pour in some beer

i've just got a bottle of beer i'll pour

about half of it in

i know just what to do with the rest

that will come later

and then i always add a little bit of

tomato paste to any stew recipe i use

i'm going to add most of the can

some garlic ooh garlic and beer how good

does that look and a dash of

worcestershire sauce

and then i'll whisk this together that

looks great

so this gets poured all over the top

now because of the tomato paste that's

pretty thick so i have some beef broth

and i'll pour in just enough

until it starts to come up the side any

kind of roast that is stuck in your

freezer for a long time needs many many

hours to cook for it to be tender if you

have cooking liquid in there it'll

happen even faster

one last thing to add i just can't help

myself

a whole jalapeno i just sliced it in

half didn't even seed it

that is gonna be one yummy stew

i'll put the lid on set it on low for

six hours

and that is gonna be dinner for the

drummond house i'll melt butter with

olive oil and throw in garlic

parsley and lemon zest

mix it together

then add the fettuccine and toss it

around

then the juice of a lemon

a sprinkling of salt and pepper

a quick toss and it's ready

then the stew

a little parsley

and that's the whole scrumptious package

i'm adding three pounds of ground beef

and two pounds of just regular pork

breakfast sausage to a big pot

and then i'll add about five cloves of

minced garlic

now i'm just gonna cook the meat mixture

until it's totally browned i'm gonna add

two 28 ounce cans of diced tomatoes

and then i'll add two cans

of tomato paste and i'm going to add

some salt and pepper

it's a lot of meat so it needs some

seasoning

i'll add some fresh herbs later

it just needs to simmer uncovered for

about 45 minutes

okay now i'm going to add half of the

herbs to the sauce

and then i'm going to save the rest of

the herbs for the cheese mixture

okay the sauce is pretty much ready so

i'll go ahead and make the cheese

mixture for the lasagna i've got two big

containers of cottage cheese all right

now to the cottage cheese i'll add four

beaten eggs and that helps bind the

lasagna all together

and then a cup of grated parmesan

then i'll add a little bit of salt and

pepper

and mix it all together

the cottage cheese mixture is a little

more mild than the ricotta flavor so you

really really taste the meat and the

sauce

all right that's all stirred together

now i'll just throw in the rest of the

herbs the parsley and the basil

all the elements are ready and i'm gonna

start assembling it i'll lay four

lasagna noodles in the bottom of these

disposable foil pans

all right on top of the layer of noodles

i'm going to spoon a fourth of the

cheese mixture

right over the top

so i'll just spread that all over the

noodles

now on top of the cheese mixture i'm

gonna lay slices of mozzarella

it's just a big old spoonful pretty much

on top of each slice of cheese

all right and spread that out now i'm

going to repeat the layer exactly like

the first one

it needs to bake at 350 for about 45

minutes to an hour

until it's hot and bubbly

i'll leave the foil on so the top won't

get too burned

i start by boiling five pounds of

potatoes then mash them over low heat to

keep them from getting watery and that's

when i get serious

and getting serious means adding a stick

and a half of butter eight ounces of

cream cheese and a cup of heavy cream

then you mash it all in

add some seasoned salt

some regular salt and some black pepper

then i spread the potatoes in a butter

dish and as if that's not decadent

enough

i dot the top of the potatoes with

butter

okay i'm just dicing up the carrots and

celery i diced them pretty fine because

my kids prefer smaller pieces of veggies

but you can make them big if you like it

you can also use root vegetables add

different vegetables that you have in

your fridge

all right

dice the celery

okay got all the veggies chopped so i've

got half an onion and i'll add that to

the pot

and then the carrots and celery go in

all right and then the chicken that i

pulled off the bones

all goes in

okay

about a teaspoon of salt

and then some black pepper

okay and then i'll add a half a teaspoon

of ground thyme

great flavor just about a quarter

teaspoon of turmeric

also known as turmeric i never know how

to pronounce it

all right now this is going to cook for

another 10 minutes and then i'll add the

noodles finish it off and it'll be lunch

time now part of what makes this dish so

easy is i use frozen home style noodles

they're actually the noodles my

grandmother used to use they are so

delicious you wouldn't even know you

didn't make them yourself

all right i'm going to let the noodles

start cooking and i'm going to mix up a

little bit of a flour paste i'll add

about a tablespoon and a half of flour

to a little bit of water

about a half a cup

now i'll just whisk this until it's

really really smooth

and then i'll just pour it right into

the pot and this is going to help the

sauce thicken a little bit and that is

the important difference between chicken

noodle soup and chicken and noodles

i'm just going to splash in a little bit

of half and half

a teaspoon or so of parsley

stir that in

all right now i'm going to let this cook

for another 15 minutes until it's nice

and thick

now i've been grating up a bunch of

cheeses and i'll make the filling for

the pasta shells it starts with a whole

bunch of ricotta cheese

i'm actually making two pans of shells

one to pop in the freezer and one to

take home for dinner tonight this is a

lot of ricotta cheese

now for some sharper cheese i've got

some grated parmesan and grated romano i

also have two eggs and those go right in

i'm just gonna get some basil and

parsley together

this is a really great meatless meal i

love it because you can serve the shells

with a salad and that's a great meal in

itself

and then some salt and pepper this is a

lot of cheese mixture so it really needs

some seasoning

and then i'll just use my mussels to get

this all combined

now part of what makes this so easy is

that you can use jarred marinara sauce

and i'll just put a little bit in the

bottom of the pan

just to have a little foundation of

sauce

and now i boiled a whole bunch of jumbo

pasta shells

i'll hold it open with my hand and get

some of the delicious cheesy filling

and then it goes cheese side down in the

sauce

i'm going to fill up this pan then i'll

do the other one i'll top the whole

thing with more marinara sauce just pour

it right out of the jar

and that is why jarred marinara sauce is

so wonderful you just crack open the jar

and go for it

now cheese again

i have a whole bunch of grated

mozzarella and it melts so beautifully

over the top of these shells

now i have some left over romano and

parms and it goes on

now i'll just cover these with foil and

dream about digging into this tonight so

just 25 minutes in a 350 degree oven and

it'll be nice and hot everyone gets a

big helping of shells i just love the

way the sauce coats the pasta and a

little of the cheesy filling peeps out

yum

this is a really quick and easy corn and

cheese chowder i've had some onions

cooking and some butter

and i threw in some pieces of bacon

now i'll just stir this around and let

it cook

and i've also got some diced bell pepper

i've got red orange and yellow because

they're so pretty together but you can

use whatever you have on hand

okay i'm gonna let the peppers cook

and then i've shaved the kernels off of

five cobs of corn

and i'm just gonna dump the corn in

this is a piece of cake this soup recipe

but you wouldn't know it when you taste

it it is extremely impressive and yummy

now stir the corn around

okay now i'm going to add a quarter cup

of flour

just sprinkle it over the ingredients

and give it a stir

and now i'll just pour in some chicken

broth

as i dribble it across the counter

so i'm gonna grab half and half

you can use milk instead of half and

half but why would you want to do that

so i'm just going to add a little salt

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good amount of pepper

and just give it a stir

and that is it all you need to do is put

the lid on let it simmer for about 15

minutes or so

oh my

oh it looks so good

it's really thickening up

the kitchen smells divine

now i'm just going to finish off the

soup

by adding some cheese

i've got a cup of monterey jack which i

think is great in soups because it's so

creamy and it melts so nicely and then

i'm also going to add a cup of pepper

jack cheese that's gonna add a nice kick

i'll stir it in

oh the cheese really really sends this

soup over the top so good

and then last thing

i've got some sliced green onions about

a third a cup or so

and that is one yummy soup

but i think i should make sure it's one

yummy soup i'm gonna give it a taste

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now i'm just going to get the macaroni

on to boil

i've got a pound box

now while the macaroni cooks i'll get

started on the cheese sauce

just turn the heat on medium

and then into the pot i'll pour a cup of

heavy cream this is definitely a treat

very very rich and decadent

and then to the cream i'll add just a

couple of tablespoons of butter

and then while that starts to melt i'm

going to throw a garlic clove in here

and then as it melts the garlic will

infuse the butter and cream and just add

to the deliciousness of the mac and

cheese

okay while the cream keeps heating up

i'll get started on the cheese now one

of the cheeses i love to put in this

italian mac and cheese is goat cheese

and i'm just using a fork to crumble it

into chunks

and now for the grating cheeses i'm

going to start with fontina i love using

fontina for mac and cheese it's really

really creamy really smooth i'm going to

grate about a half a cup of this and

then i've still got parmesan and romano

to go got the romano grated so all the

cheese is ready and now i can pull this

lusciousness together first thing i want

to do is get the garlic clove out of the

pot

and then all the cheese goes in

the fontina and parmesan

the wonderful sharp romano

the incredibly heavenly goat

cheese okay now before i even stir it

i'm gonna drain the macaroni

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and i'll just put it right into the pot

and it'll help melt the cheese even

quicker

there's a little bit of water on the

macaroni so that'll help the sauce with

the consistency

i love this sauce a lot of times when i

make mac and cheese i start with a white

sauce and then add the cheese

this is so much easier it's basically

just cream and cheese macaroni stir it

all together

okay give it a little stir

now it doesn't need too much salt

because there is so much sharp cheese in

here so i'll just add a little bit

but plenty of black pepper

now i'll just stir it around and let the

hot macaroni do the job

okay it is absolutely perfect now just

to give it a little brightness

i'll mince up some parsley

i can act like it's a vegetable then i

won't feel so guilty about all that

cheese

okay now i'll just stir the parsley in i

mean this is a work of art it should go

in a museum

i've got two and a half pounds of ground

beef that's all brown now normally i

would drain off all the fat after this

but there's hardly any fat to drain so

that's convenient for me now into the

beef i'll add two cans of just regular

tomato sauce

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then i'll add a little salt and pepper

and then just to give it a little kick

i'll add some crushed red pepper not too

much

okay now i'm gonna let the sauce simmer

now i have a pound of just regular old

egg noodles

they should be ready

so i'll just drain them into a bowl

it's a really great layered dish

really simple but still lots of things

going on

okay

now i'll just add some creamy stuff to

the noodles first about two and a half

cups of just regular cottage cheese and

if you think you don't like cottage

cheese don't worry you won't even know

it's in there i promise

and then i'll add a good cup of sour

cream

some salt and pepper

and then part of what makes this so

delicious i add a good amount of green

onions

the green onions just add a really nice

tang a really deep flavor and because

the noodles are hot it sort of melts the

creamy mixture

all right the creamy mixture is totally

coating the noodles so now it's just

about assembling it

i'll start with a quarter of the noodles

i'm doubling the regular recipe so i

have to keep track of the amounts i have

just throw about a quarter in there that

looks good

and i'll smooth them out

and then i'll just ladle a quarter of

the sauce over the noodles

the original sour cream noodle bake

recipe calls for just combining all the

sauce and all the noodles together but i

really like layering it because it keeps

the elements separate and then every

bite you get you get a little bit of

cheese a little bit of creaminess it's

really nice

and then i'll top this layer with some

grated sharp cheddar cheese

and i grated this myself i like the

consistency of cheese you grate yourself

rather than the pre-grated stuff

okay now on to the next layer

now i'll top the final layer with more

cheese

okay now these are all assembled i'm

just going to let them cool and pop them

in the freezer and then they'll be ready

to throw in the oven whenever we want

them

i started by sauteing some veggies all

that's in here are some onions and

poblano peppers i seeded the peppers and

diced them and i've been sauteing them

in a little bit of vegetable oil the

veggies are nice and soft

i've got a whole pile of garlic part of

what makes this filling so scrumptious

i'll give it a stir

and for a little spice some crushed red

pepper flakes

i'm just going to give the garlic a few

seconds to release that beautiful flavor

okay the veggies are ready to come out

of the pan

i'm just going to get them onto a plate

and let them sit

smells so good and you can use all sorts

of peppers you can do jalapenos

and get the ground beef

and plop it into the skillet

and i'm going to season it with some

salt and pepper

and cumin

delicious

and a little bit of chili powder

and then i'll break it up and let the

meat totally brown

the meatball brown

i'm gonna add some tomato paste

and some water

and then we'll turn into a luscious

sauce

okay that's all mixed

and the last thing is put in are the

veggies

all right the fillings done

now i just got to give it time to cool

down while that happens i'll chop some

parsley

and grate some pepper jack cheese

they go into the cool beef mixture

and i'll stir them together

now it's on to the dinner rolls i'll

transform one into a pie crust before

your very eyes it just needs to be

rolled into a four inch circle

then the meat mixture goes in the center

i'll fold the dough to form a half moon

shape

press the edges together

crimp them with a fork

then it's onto the baking sheet

and i'll brush them with egg wash and

get them into the oven at 400 degrees

for 10 to 12 minutes

these ought to be ready to come out of

the oven

they sure smell good

oh

my oh my

look at those beautiful babies

now i need to let these cool before i

pack them up

and then i'll pop them in the freezer

and when i need to heat them up i'll

just put them back in the oven on warm

look at that ah

now i'm cooking some bite-sized chicken

pieces these are boneless skinless

breasts and i cut them into pretty small

pieces because that'll make them cook a

little bit quicker

sprinkle in some salt and pepper

okay now i'll let the chicken start to

cook

and i'll get some of the other

ingredients ready i'm gonna dice up an

onion

okay

now i'll grab a couple of cloves of

garlic garlic always makes anything a

little bit more delicious

okay i got the onions and garlic all

ready now the chicken it looks like is

ready to come out

now i'll turn the heat down just a

little bit

and i'll put the onions right into the

pan with all that wonderful chicken

flavor

i love making sauces like this where the

meat goes into the pan first and then it

just flavors everything you put in there

after that

okay now i'll just stir around the

onions and garlic

okay now it's time to put the pasta into

the water and get it cooking

it's boiling and ready to go

i'm doing penne pasta but of course you

can do rigatoni pretty much any kind of

pasta you have in your pantry i'll move

on with the sauce

the onions and garlic are already

starting to turn brown

now part of what makes this dish so easy

and so quick

i use really good quality marinara sauce

right out of the jar

i use it all the time it's a really

delicious shortcut ingredient

now i do want it to have a little bit

more of a liquidy texture

so

i've got just the thing

i'll reach into my pasta pot

borrow a little of the hot water

and just put it right into the skillet

the pasta will never know it's gone

now to give it a little bit of a kick

i add some crushed red pepper flakes now

i'll just stir that in

the last thing to do is just add the

chicken back into the sauce and it's

gonna simmer

finish cooking

make the sauce even more delicious

it already looks good

okay now to give it a little green i'll

mince up some parsley

okay i'll just mince up the parsley

sprinkle it right in

all right now the sauce just has to

simmer for about seven to eight minutes

now i've got one thing to add to the

sauce and it really elevates this dish

from just a basic chicken marinara pasta

fresh mozzarella now i'm cutting it into

cubes not very big pieces

i'll just cut it into sticks

they're about half an inch square i'll

just sprinkle it right in

this mozzarella is a pretty soft cheese

so it's going to soften really quickly

but i don't want it to totally melt i

still want to stay in pretty nice chunks

it's just going to take two to three

minutes for the cheese to be perfect all

right the pasta is done

i love these pasta pots with the

built-in colander

now put it into a great big bowl i love

these huge pasta bowls

and then i'll drizzle the pasta with a

little bit of olive oil

now i like to put a nice layer of

parmesan shavings on the pasta before i

put the sauce on it just adds a nice

layer of deliciousness i'm just using a

vegetable peeler

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okay i think that's a good amount of

parmesan

now give the sauce a stir oh the

mozzarella is melting it looks perfect

and i'm just going to pour this right

over the pasta

a lot faster than spooning it

wow and the cheese is going to continue

to soften

okay now i want to add some green to the

top and some flavor so i've got some

beautiful basil and i'll just roll them

up

and just slice them pretty thin

and with that dinner is done

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you