The million dollar winner of the Pillsbury Bake-Off has been announced live on the Oprah show.  I had the pleasure of watching 100 finalists compete in Orlando for the million dollar prize and out of those, it was narrowed down to these 4 finalists; (see my previous wrap up of the event)

• Breakfast & Brunches – Tomato-Basil Eggs Alfredo in Bread Baskets by Niki Plourde of Gardner, Mass. (recipe)

Inspired by her love for pesto, Niki Plourde brought together the combination of pesto and basil with the creaminess of eggs and tomato for her winning Tomato-Basil Eggs Alfredo in Bread Baskets. A student majoring in social work, Plourde entered the 44th Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest to pay for her college education.

• Entertaining Appetizers – Salmon Pecan-Crusted Tartlets by Evelyn Henderson of Roseville, Calif. (recipe)

When she learned she was a Bake-Off finalist, Evelyn Henderson “had a smile a mile wide.” Inspired by her love for tuna melts and salmon sandwiches, Henderson paired salmon and pecans to give her dish a gourmet feel.

• Dinner Made Easy – Zesty Lime-Fish Tacos by Kellie White of St. Louis, Mo. (recipe)

Setting out with the intention of creating a meal to satisfy the craving for this popular California dish, Kellie White knew her recipe was a hit when the first batch went so quickly. Although her mother hails from the South and serves as her inspiration in the kitchen, White’s mission was to bring this West coast dish into homes across America.

• Sweet Treats – Mini Ice Cream Cookie Cups by Sue Compton of Delanco, N.J. (recipe)

Known for her baking, Sue Compton finds cooking to be her creative outlet, with her son and his college friends being the lucky beneficiaries of her homemade meals. Referring to her cookie cups as “cute and yummy,” Compton thought she had a good chance in the Bake-Off Contest because people rave about her creations.

Of course, there could only be one Pillsbury Winner for the Pillsbury Bake-Off 2010 and that winner is…………………………………………

And now enjoy the Pillsbury winner’s recipe!

Have you noticed some of the platters I’ve been using in my photos? They are from Southern Living at HOME.  I have to say, I was quite surprised by the beauty and quality of these pieces.  I’ve never had much for entertaining purposes and while these can be used anytime, I enjoy bringing them out for my photos or when company is over.

You’ll be seeing more of this stuff along with other items I think would be great for entertaining with, cooking with, and even giving as a gift.  All are/will be available for purchase so check out the Mercantile often because I’ll also have specials and giveaways of course!

I really do like having nice things to serve my food on because I work hard making those meals for my family and friends.  I take pride in our get-togethers whether it’s a regular ol’ barbecue or dinner with the boss!

Do you care what you serve your food in when you have friends or family over?  What are some brands that you enjoy?

By the way, I could have showed the catalog pictures of the serving pieces but I wanted to keep it real and show you how the average person can even make bread look good:)

Tomorrow’s recipe is Baked Squash so stay tuned for that!

These dinner rolls are one of the easiest and most delicious bread recipes I have.  I first learned how to make dinner rolls from one of our previous employer’s wife, on the Fulton Quien Sabe Ranch.  She was a great cook and made many things from scratch but boy could she make a bread recipe now!  She always had to make double because each cowboy would eat 4 or 5 rolls each.  Yes, they were that good.

I haven’t made dinner rolls with her recipe for a long time and since I had to cook for the ranch today, I thought it’d be a good time.  Two important things about this recipe. Try to follow directions exactly to have the softest rolls ever.  So when it says little flour, use VERY little flour if any.  And when it says to butter them, be generous!  Enjoy y’all!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 envelope Active dry yeast
• 1/4 cup very warm water
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup scalding hot milk
• 1 egg –lightly beaten
• 4 1/2 cups of sifted all purpose flour
• 2 Tablespoons of melted butter for brushing rolls

DIRECTIONS

Sprinkle the yeast over very warm water in a large bowl.  (warm water should feel comfortably warm when dropped on wrist)  Stir until yeast dissolves.

Add sugar, the 1/4cup butter and salt to hot milk and stir until the sugar dissolves and butter is melted.  Cool mixture to 105 to 115 degrees.

Add milk mixture to yeast, then beat in egg.  Beat in 4 cups of flour, one cup at a time to form soft dough.  Use some the remaining 1/2 cup flour to dust a pastry cloth.  Knead the dough lightly for 5 minutes, working in the remaining flour (use if for flouring your cloth and hands).

Place dough in a warm buttered bowl; turn greased side up.  Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1  1/2 hrs.

Punch dough down and knead 4 to 5 minutes on a lightly floured pastry cloth.  Dough will be sticky, but use as little flour as possible for flouring your hands and the pastry cloth, otherwise the rolls will not be as feathery light as they should be.

Pinch off small chunks of dough and shape into round rolls.  Place in neat rows, not quite touching, in a well-buttered 13x9x2 pan. Cover rolls and let rise in warm place until doubled, 30-45min.

Brush tops of rolls generously with melted butter, then bake in a 375′ oven for 18-20minutes or until nicely browned.

Serve warm with plenty of butter.  I pour melted butter on top of the rolls right when the come out of the oven.

Recipe makes about 2 dozen!

I served up my rolls in my brand new, very pretty Tuscan Everyday Baker.  I love that color!

Let me know if you make them!

What a week huh!  I shared three beef recipes with you; Beef Spring Rolls with Carrots and Cilantro, Steaks with Mushrooms, Blue Cheese & Frizzled Shallots, and Asian Beef & Broccoli With Noodles.  All three were fantastic and even though I hit a couple of bumps with ingredients (cause of my very small town), it all turned out good and they really were delicious.  Each one came from the Beef, it’s what’s for dinner website where you can browse, rate, review and educate yourself on healthy cuts of beef.

One of the things I learned this week, was my appreciation for fresh produce.  I live far from town so it’s hard for me to always fresh ingredients on hand but I learned that it’s worth the drive to get them.  It really made a difference and was healthy and my goal for 2009 is live better.

There’s also a wonderful cookbook out called, “The Healthy Beef Cookbook“.  You’ll find everything from healthy stir frys, steaks, to salads but one of my favorite parts is in the back of the book.  It’s a section that educates you on the different cuts of beef and the nutrition values.

Some recipes included are:

• # Spicy Five-Pepper T-Bone Steaks
• # Southwest Burgers with Corn Relish
• # Thai Beef Noodle Salad
• # Tenderloin Sandwich with Balsamic Caramelized Onions
• # Barbecue Beef Stir-Fry with Couscous
• # Chipotle Pot Roast with Cheddar Mashed Potatoes
• # Beef, Arugula, and Spinach Lasagna
• # Cowboy Beef and Black Bean Chili
• # Tomato-Basil Meatball Soup
• # Triple-Ginger Beef Dumplings
• # Garlic and Wine
• # Tenderloin with Cremini Mushroom Risotto

All brought to you by the American Dietetic Association and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.

To encourage you to try some lean beef recipes, I’m giving away a $100 gift card (to hopefully buy some groceries to try one of these recipes) and 3 of these healthy beef cookbooks.  That means there will be 4 winners!

TO ENTER:

Browse around the Beef, it’s what’s for dinner website.  Come back here to this post and tell me something you learned, a recipe you think you’ll try or a feature you liked from the site.

Additional ways to enter….leave each one you do in a separate comment please.

• Subscribe to my blog via reader or email.
• Subscribe to my newsletter.
• Follow me at twitter and tweet this giveaway.
• Blog about it with a link back to this giveaway or this blog.

Giveaway ends on April 13th (10pmCST), which is a little longer than a week due to the Easter holiday.  For details on how my giveaways work, read the official rules.

Remember my Shrimp Stroganoff Casserole? Well, it’s in the April issue of Taste of Home! I found out a while back that it was going to be in there and was so excited! I was told it had been made in several of the Taste of Home testing kitchens and they were giving it thumbs up all around, which made me feel very good.

Casseroles really are making a comeback it seems even though they’ve always been a part of our family’s meal time.  You really can make a lot with very few ingredients which is great for big families and freezes well for smaller families.

I love breakfast casseroles, dessert casseroles, and of course casseroles that serve as a main dish.  I don’t think I could have ever fed 50 cowboys & cowgirls without a casserole!

Thanks for letting me brag a little!

P.S.  They took a good picture of the dish but I think mine is better…..just sayin’

P.P.S.  If you don’t have cream of shrimp, cream of chicken will do!  I get asked that a lot;)

This is mine…..well, maybe their shrimp looks better than mine huh?  lol

My little guy loves to help in the kitchen as I’m sure most toddlers and preschoolers do so when I was introduced to this Learning Tower, I was excited!  Finally a safe way for my little man to help me in the kitchen but in a safe manner.  Normally my little guy is on a chair or sitting on the counter, with me right there of course, which is a risk of him falling and getting hurt.

Familiar?

Yep, I’m sure you’ve done this with your little one but what if there was a safer way?  Wait!  There is!!  The Learning Tower has the perfect, safe product and I am dying to have it!  Check it out…..

Now this comes in a ton of colors and is adjustable as you can see.  I love this idea don’t you?  It is the ONLY safety tool approved for kiddos as young as 18mths, that are capable of standing on their feet of course.  Two kiddos can be on it at a time and once kids are 5 or 6, the can probably graduate to a regular stool but this one can be used to play on, you just gotta be creative.

I really do love items that are geared towards safety, especially a little one’s safety!  And guess what?

WIN IT!

OH YEAH!!  One lucky winner will win one of these cool Learning Towers valued at $189 smackaroonies!

HOW TO ENTER & YOU MUST DO THIS ONE FIRST!!!!!

Visit The Learning Tower, come back here and tell me which color you like.  EASY as pie!

Additional ways to enter.  Leave each thing you do in a separate comment please or it won’t count!

• *Twitter it using @ACowboysWife  and the link to this giveaway in your tweet.
• *Blog it!
• *Subscribe to my feed, either by RSS or by email.
• *Stumble it!
• *Facebook The Learning Tower
• *DAILY ENTRY: Each day you can come here to this post and leave a comment telling me something about The Learning Tower.  The website is full of information!

This giveway ends on Feb. 22nd!  Good luck.

I’ll never forget our wedding.  I didn’t know what they had planned for us back at the ranch so you might say I was extremely surprised to show up with a big ol’ lamb turning over a fire, which was our supper.  Since then, we have eaten goat, beef head, tripas, wild hog, and so much more.  Wait, did I say ‘we’?  Cause I really meant ‘they’.  The only thing I have eaten, is the the beef head and not because I wanted to but because I was deceived!  My MIL put them in the tamales and I didn’t know.

Anyways, my husband kills a lot of wild hogs and every now and then, brings one home to cook.  It was a beautiful Sunday and what better way to spend it than sitting outside with the family, grilling.

Normally my man would have wrapped this in foil to smoke it but, of course, I was out of foil.  So he “smoked” it on the grill for a few hours.  Still turned out good and with it being as big as it was, we had plenty to cube up and freeze.

No recipe here today.  Throw the hog on the grill or wrap in foil and then throw it on and smoke for a few hours.  Season how ya want.

Have you had wild hog?  What other wild game have you eaten?

I love any cookies that have molasses in them and these soft, chew ginger cookies are no exception!  I don’t know why but I have been craving sweets here lately and what I love about cookies, is that you can just one or two to satisfy that craving instead of a huge piece of cake.  Hey, baby steps you know!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon allspice
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons molasses
• 2 tablespoons white sugar (for rolling cookies)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  In a medium mixing bowl, blend flour, baking soda and spices together and set aside.  In another bowl, cream together butter and 1/2 cup of sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg until well mixed. Then add the molasses and mix to combine.  Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture.  Using rounded teaspoonfuls (or not quite full tablespoons), form dough into balls the size of walnuts and roll them in the extra 2 tablespoons of sugar. Place cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet, approximately two inches apart and lightly flatten.  Bake in preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes. Allow to cool on cookie sheet for about 5 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool completely.

Whipped up by Andrea.

Please welcome my guest poster Sarah, a 33-year-old Don’t-Stay-at-Home Mom of 3 beautiful girls, who blogs at Real Life, teaches piano lessons and has found ‘real life’ in Jesus Christ.

My favorite local restaurant serves the most incredible sweet potato fries! Since my husband and I have a hobby of trying to recreate our favorite restaurant meals, we did just that with the sweet potato fries. We sliced them up and threw them in the fryer, and the resulting culinary disaster ended with soggy orange stringy-things in the trash can of our kitchen.
Well, lucky for me I know the owner and head chef! So I commenced to pick his brain regarding the perfect way to make sweet potato fries. Lucky for you, I am going to share it here!

INGREDIENTS:

• • Desired amount of Sweet Potatoes
• • Vegetable Oil in a Deep Fryer
• • Salt to taste

STEPS:

• Step 1: Fill your Deep Fryer with oil, according to the manufacturer’s directions. Preheat the oil to 325 degrees.
• Step 2: Peel your sweet potatoes and cut them in quarter inch strips. Rinse the sweet potato strips thoroughly. This washes off the starch, which can make the fries gummy and soggy.
• Step 3: Spread the strips out on paper towels, and let them dry for at about 30 minutes. It’s important for the potatoes to be dry before they hit the oil.
• Step 4: Carefully lower the strips into the fryer, and cook for 5 minutes on 325. Remove the fries and set out on paper towels. This is the pre-cooking stage. For some reason, unbeknownst to me, this helps make them crispy later. At this point, you can freeze them for later use, or put them in the refrigerator if you plan to use them the next day.
• Step 5: Heat the oil up to 350. When you are almost ready to eat, put the precooked sweet potatoes into the hotter oil for 5-6 minutes, or until desired crispiness. Make sure you watch them to avoid overcooking.
• Step 6: Dust with desired amount of salt, and serve hot! But make sure you set some aside before giving them to your guests. These babies fly off the plate!

There are a variety of ways to “kick it up a notch” when making these sweet potatoes. Mix some cayenne pepper and a pinch of cinnamon with the salt, before you sprinkle it on. Serve with Chipotle Ranch dip, or Bleu Cheese dressing. As for me, the crisp, salty sweet potato goodness stands on its own! I suppose you could save some calories by baking these fries, after spraying them with cooking spray, but…why?

Have you made Sweet Potato Fries? Please share your tips for sure-fire success!

Would go great with some steak yes? 

You can’t make a pork tenderloin much easier than this folks!  If y’all thought I was some gourmet cook, you have now learned the truth!  lol

So obviously this is just bacon, a pork tenderloin, and a little time! In the oven at 325 for a few hours!

Enjoy y’all and don’t forget to visit my gal Amy, who got to test drive a Mercedes for 2 weeks, and maybe one of you will win $50! She really does have some delicious ‘simplified’ recipes.

P.S. I tend to overcook mine because I like WELL DONE and since this was cooked just for me, I was able to cook it any way I wanted. NO, I didn’t eat all by myself but I easily could have….*sigh*