Pioneer Woman to the Rescue

Yesterday was one of those days. It started when I somehow dropped my lipstick into the toilet. Next, I left the store without one of my bags of groceries. (Thankfully, a nice grocery store boy flagged me down as I was leaving the parking lot.) Later, I dropped my favorite mug, shattering it (and my warm and cozy coffee memories) forever.

So it was with a bit of trepidation that I decided to try a new recipe for dinner. Everyone knows I'm fairly inept in the kitchen -- even on a GOOD day! But last night, Pioneer Woman came to my rescue. Dinner was a success in my estimation: Nothing burned beyond recognition, no ingredient forgotten. In fact, it tasted like REAL FOOD!

If you're not a fan of Pioneer Woman, you should be. I started visiting her blog for her witty writing and beautiful photography, then I stumbled upon her fantastic recipes with step by step photos, surely designed with me in mind. Every recipe I've tried has been great.

Last night, we tried Pasta with Pancetta and Leeks with salad and garlic bread on the side. It was pretty close to fabulous, in my book.

I had to substitute capocollo for pancetta, since I couldn't find the latter at the grocery store. Capocollo is fully cooked, so I suppose it doesn't generate quite as much fat as pancetta, but it worked fine for this recipe.

The recipe also called for three leeks. Two would have been just fine, since the leeks I bought were ginormous. Leeks are actually kind of beautiful when cut, don't you think? I would also make just a tad bit more sauce next time. The pasta wasn't dry, but the sauce was so good that I would have liked a bit more of it.

It's rare when I find a recipe that I can make successfully and that the people in this house will actually EAT. This one's a keeper.

Thanks to Pioneer Woman, the day ended pretty well!