Suz's Treats

I gave my mom her Mother’s Day Pioneer Woman Cooks book Friday night. I’d mentioned earlier last week that we might want to try a few things from it this weekend~ I didn’t tell her that it’d be from her own book though!

Nana had already gotten steaks for Saturday night so we planned appetizer & sides based on that. For Saturday, we made PW‘s Hot Artichoke Dip, Burgundy Mushrooms, and Creamy Rosemary Potatoes. We also had salad and homemade peach ice cream! The ice cream maker’s motor kinda broke, so we had a hand turn it… a lot of work but it didn’t seem to be getting thicker, so we gave up. We ate dinner then Pawpaw & I brought it up thinking we’d be having peach milkshakes… instead we think it was on right because somehow it worked! So yummy!
Ok here’s Sat night’s PW recipes:

Hot Artichoke Dip
Ingredients
2 14 oz cans artichokes hearts, drained
8 oz block cream cheese
1 c mayo
cayenne pepper
2 green onions, chopped (We omitted)
1 c grated Parmesan cheese
dash of salt
black pepper
Directions
Preheat oven to 350. Put cream cheese, mayo & one can of artichokes in a food processor (we used a blender). Puree for just a minute then add the cayenne pepper (& green onions if you want). Pulse the mixture a few times to get the artichokes chopped up and mixed with other ingredients. Add in the cheese and salt and pepper. We put in 9 or 10″ pie plate. Chop the other can of artichokes roughly then add into the dip. Bake for 15-20 minutes. We served with baked Ritz pieces, Wheat Thins & randomly buffalo chips. I liked it best with the Ritz crisps.

Burgundy Mushrooms (we halved this recipe but the mushrooms cook down a lot)
Ingredients
4 pounds white button mushrooms
2 sticks butter
1.5 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1liter Burgundy wine (other dry red wine will work)
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 c boiling water
4 chicken bouillon cubes
4 beef bouillon cubes (we omitted)
1 t dill seed
1 t garlic powder
2 t salt
Directions
Wash mushrooms and put in large stock pot. Add all remaining ingredients except the salt. Bring to boil over medium-high heat then reduce heat to low and let simmer. PW recommends simmering covered for 6 hours then uncovered for another 3. We put our mushrooms on around 6 and ate around 8. I think we had more sauce remaining, but we just poured over steaks. Add salt to taste at the end. The mushrooms turned dark and had the best flavor!

Creamy Rosemary Potatoes (this recipes kinda labor intensive but worth it!)
Ingredients
4 tablespoons butter
1 c half and half
1 c heavy cream
5-6 medium potatoes (we used 5 large ones)
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped (we used garlic powder to taste)
1 medium onion, finely diced
8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
.5-1 t salt to taste
black pepper to taste
2 T minced rosemary leaves
3 green onions (we omitted)
1 c grated parmesan cheese
3 T minced chives (we omitted)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350. Grease bottom of 9×13 dish. Combine half & half and cream in large measuring cup. Thinly slice the potatoes. Place the potatoes in a large bowl and drizzle with half the cream mixture. In large skillet over medium low heat, melt butter, garlic and onion. Cook until clear stirring occasionally (about 4 minutes). Cut bar of cream cheese in half and add to the skillet. Keep stirring until smooth & cream (about 3 minutes). Add other half of the cream mixture and keep stirring. Add salt & pepper ~ we tasted a few times and added a little more. Add rosemary (yay for Nana’s rosemary plant!) (and green onions if we chose to). Last, add 1/2 c of the parm and stir until mixed. Pour the potatoes into the 9×13 then top with the skillet mixture. Sprinkle the other 1/2 c of parm. Bake for about an hour. PW says until golden brown & bubbly. Ours cooked a little quicker than we were ready so we covered with foil. Delicious that night & made great lunch leftovers!!!