Many thanks to Pioneer Woman!

Oh, Pioneer Woman, you are eternally amazing. You find and/or create the most wonderful recipes and I am forever grateful!

Today I am using the Ryan's Bolgonese Sauce that she raved about. She was oh, so right.

Guest starring in this post is the kitchen of my good friends David and Meredith. Thanks so much, guys!

Mmm just think, these ingredients are going to create amazingness in just a little while!

I improvised and used shallots instead of red onion since the onion I purchased went moldy in 3 days. (Side note: who knew onions got moldy?) I also used butter since I forgot to bring olive oil.

I cheated and purchased a bag of grated carrots because a. it's so easy and b. it's wayyyy less messy!

Browning the ground beef. Delicious, raised by a family friend, locally butchered ground beef!

Post-tomato paste. The carrots looked like unmelted cheese to me at this point.

Adding the red wine. This added an amazing depth of flavor to the sauce. Such a good ingredient.

Letting the flavors meld. Mmm mmm good!

A better picture with less steam.

After adding the garlic and Worcestershire sauce. Oh my gosh, it smelled amazing!

Added some Parmesan cheese which made it even more delicious.

Amazing! God bless you, Pioneer Woman and Pioneer Woman's friend Ryan!

Here's the dirty details:

Ryan's Bolgonese Sauce

1/2 cups olive oil

1 1/2 cups grated carrots

1 whole large red onion, chopped (Like I said, I used shallots. About 3, I think)

2 pounds ground beef

2 Tbsp dried oregano

2 Tbsp dried basil flakes

6 oz tomato paste

5 cloves garlic, minced (Trust me, this is the just-right amount.)

1-2 cups red wine (I used 1 1/2 ish)

2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

28 oz canned whole tomatoes

1 cup milk

salt and pepper, to taste

fresh Parmesan cheese

1. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven or skillet over medium heat. Add carrots and onions and cook for a few minutes. Add the ground beef and cook until brown.

2. Add oregano and basil. After ground beef is mostly browned, add tomato paste and heat through. Add garlic and stir to combine.

3. Add red wine and Worcestershire and stir. Add tomatoes and milk, letting simmer 30 minutes-2 hours. Serve with pasta and Parmesan.

I made it with penne which is kind of weird, but it was what I had on hand. I didn't let it simmer very much longer than 30 minutes, but the longer the better with this, I think. Bon appetit!

Carolina Herrera

I was reading one of my favorite blogs, Sweet As A Peach, the other day. Betsy had done a post about Carolina Herrera's Resort 2011 collection, and I fell in love with a couple of the looks!

How amazing are these???

I love the pulled-together look of this one. The heels are the just right pop of color!

The full skirt of this one is lovely, and seems so cool and breezy, perfect for summer!

Carolina, you have never done anything that I haven't adored, and this collection is no exception!

Modcloth Dresstravaganza!

I've know about Modcloth for quite some time, but had not visited the site in a while. However, a slow night at work led me to the dress page. This, I can tell you now, will stress my budget like nothing else could, but I will look fabulous while I eat EasyMac for dinner every night!

This adorable doll is wonderful! I love the gray. It makes it so light for summer, and a bright spot in the winter with a cute baby pink cardigan. The little details, like the buttons and the belt, are to die for!

Temporary Secretary Dress in Summer

I love the rich aubergine of this dress. I have my eye on this beauty for the weddings I have a feeling I will be attending often in the coming year! This is such a flattering cut as well, with the empire waist and the flirty skirt. (Isn't that such a fun phrase? Flirty skirt!)

Hotel Particulier Dress

Unfortunately, this dress is sold out right now, but the wonderful thing about Modcloth is that you have the option to sign up to be notified if it comes back in! I'm crossing my fingers on this one! The yellow color and the cap sleeves are just too much!

Hepcat Dress in Canary Yellow

This dress is amazing! The color is so vibrant, and the eyelet gives it a little cheeky sweetness that I love. This would be perfect for keeping cool at graduations, parties, weddings and who knows what else!

Frankly, I Don't Give a Dress

This dress is perfect in its simplicity, and begs to be dressed up and customized by each person's own accessories! With a solid canvas like this behind it, the accessories could create a true work of art! This is so fabulously retro. I can almost see some short little gloves with it!

Afternoon Company Dress

And now, the best for last. This one is, alas, also sold out, but you best believe I will be whipping out my debit card when it comes back in stock! (Plug your ears, Mom!) The print is amazing and toile-like, the pink is not too girly, and best of all, it has pockets! Pockets are amazing creatures, and all the best dresses have them. I suspect that my wedding dress someday will have them. But back to this dress... It is fabulous, I love it, and I shall have it anon!

A Little Bit Indie Rock Dress

Now the only thing left to do is to find shoes and bags to go with each of these! ;)

I want these shoes!

Aren't these adorable? Polka dots always get me. The different shades of pink and peach are lovely, and they'd go so well with the rest of my wardrobe! :)

J. Crew patterned classic ballet flats

Welcome back, old friend!

I can't believe it's been more than 2 months since I've written here! In that duration, however, I managed to re-read the wonderful novel, Gone With The Wind, by Margaret Mitchell. It has always been a favorite of mine and never fails to keep me enthralled from the first page to the last!

After finishing the book which I now know so well, I began to wonder about the woman behind the novel. I found a biography on Margaret Mitchell at the library entitled Road to Tara: The Life of Margaret Mitchell, by Anne Edwards.

Although I am not normally a biography fan, this story, which followed Ms. Mitchell's life from her earliest beginnings through the fame of the novel and film and beyond, was incredibly interesting to me. Ms. Mitchell was, despite the vivacious and outgoing character she created in Scarlett O'Hara, a very shy and reclusive woman who seemed to value her privacy above all else. During the 7 year process of writing Gone With The Wind, she did not believe that anyone would ever really want to read it, let alone think that her novel could be published. To think of how many lives her story touched, including my own, is incredible and gives me hope that someone might want to read this blog someday! :)

Sadly, in 1949, Margaret Mitchell was struck by a vehicle and passed away 5 days later, never regaining consciousness or witnessing the long-reaching effects her novel had on the world.

As an avid reader of the novel and fan of the movie, I was very pleased to be able to have this insight into Ms. Mitchell's life and this biography is highly recommended to anyone with similar interests!

Images courtesy images.google.com

Sundried Tomato Risotto

This wonderful recipe came from Pioneer Woman, which means it was, of course, delicious! I just happened to have all the ingredients for this and had a craving for warm, homey food earlier this week. This hit the spot perfectly!

It took me 3 tries, no lie, to get a non-shaky shot of the ingredients! I never realized how hard it could be to get a stable picture of non-moving objects!

I am terrible at chopping onions. I'm very sorry Ree, you have explained over and over how to do this and yet I still fail miserably!

Regardless, onions and garlic combined is God's greatest gift to humanity.

These sundried tomatoes were a beast to cut. I definitely wished I had a food processor!

This pot has been the most amazing purchase my mom has ever made on my behalf!

Mmm onions and garlic in butter! It does get better!

Adding the wine

Arborio rice is beautiful! It's so pearly and tiny!

I made a small boo-boo and added the wine to the onions before the rice, but it turned out alright in the end :)

The tomatoes turned much brighter throughout the cooking process

All mixed together

Adding the broth a little at a time is a long process, but so worth it! It turns out soooo creamy, without any dairy products at all!

Adding Parmesan. Yes, it's the bottled stuff, because I lack the budget for the good stuff. Forgive me, culinary gods, for I have sinned.

I did add some 2% milk rather than heavy cream, because that was what I had on hand, and that's what Pioneer Woman said to do.

Heaven in a bowl. Yum!

Sundried Tomato Risotto

4 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons EVOO

1/2 whole large yellow onion, diced

3 whole cloves garlic, minced

2 cups uncooked Arborio rice

7-9 sundried tomatoes packed in oil, drained and minced

1 cup dry white wine (optional, I opted.)

7 cups low sodium chicken broth

salt and pepper as needed

1 cup Parmesan

1/4 cups heavy whipping cream (or, in my case, 2% milk)

1. Heat broth in a saucepan or in the microwave and set aside

2. Heat butter and EVOO in a pot over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and cook 3-4 minutes.

3. Add dry rice, stirring to coat and cooking for 3 more minutes. Add wine, stir and cook over medium-low heat until most of liquid is absorbed. Add sundried tomatoes and stir.

4. Begin adding broth, one cup at a time, stirring until the liquid is absorbed, then adding the next cup. Repeat until rice is done. Rice should have a slight bite, but not be crunchy. I used about 6 cups of broth total.

5. Remove from heat, then stir in Parmesan and heavy cream. Adjust salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!

5 Ingredient Dessert: It Does Exist!

I made this dessert on Sunday after dinner at our friends David and Meredith's house. I had been wanting to try the recipe for a while, because I had a sneaking suspicion it would be incredibly delicious. I was so, so right. :)

I got this recipe from Noble Pig, and for that, I am eternally grateful!

For some reason (probably because it's pie's off-season) I couldn't find the 15 oz can of pumpkin the recipe calls for. I bought the 29 oz can and measured. C'est la vie!

There is seriously nothing better than boxed cake mix. I don't care what anyone says, it is the best invention ever, and most people either don't notice or don't care. Yum.

The batter was really thick at first, but eventually got some air in it. I did not get a shot of the pumpkin in the bowl pre-mix, because I was too busy dealing with the huge mess I made.

I had to use a round flan pan, but it turned out really well and I didn't have to adjust the baking time at all! Also, it looked really pretty :)

Mmm powdered sugar!

Tried to get some action shots here... that doesn't work so well on a Blackberry, FYI.

I need to get batteries for my real camera.

Mmm glaze! Deliciousness! I did wind up adding a bit more cider to make it extra yummy.

Fresh out of the oven!

The cake was amazingly moist. The pumpkin took care of that aspect perfectly!

Meredith should have been a hand model!

The finished product

This was melt in your mouth, delectable goodness.

This recipe has been Mike (and David, and Meredith) approved!

Here's the how-to:

Pumpkin Cake with Apple Cider Glaze

1 box yellow cake mix

1 15 oz can of pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling)

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

3 tablespoons apple cider

3/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1. Mix cake mix and pumpkin in bowl. Batter will be very thick.

2. Pout batter into greased 7x11 pan and bake at 350 degrees for 28 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

3. Make the glaze while the cake is baking: Mix powdered sugar, cider and pumpkin pie spice. Glaze should also be thick, but pourable. Add more sugar or cider if needed.

4. When cake is done, cool 5-10 minutes, then flip onto plate. Pour glaze on while still warm.

I would highly recommend this for anyone, even non-bakers (like my mother!)