Notes about Recipes in this book

• Sausage and pepper breakfast casserole

  • Lsblackburn1 on December 04, 2022

    Yum! Used 12oz breakfast sausage and roast green Chili’s instead of jalapeños. Baked in 8x 12 Pyrex, which was perfect. Awesome World Cup brunch dish!

  • averythingcooks on April 30, 2026

    I used a mix of breakfast sausage + chopped ham & was a bit short on bread so I added some cooked cubed potato. With diced rst'd jalapenos (should have used more!) & several shakes of hot sauce in place of grd cayenne, this was a great eggs for dinner option. We ate it with a zippy cherry tomato chipotle relish & it will be made again for sure. Note that this needs to be refrigerated at least 2 hours (& up to 8) prior to baking.

• Potato-chorizo breakfast tacos

  • averythingcooks on December 09, 2025

    Over 1/2 ingredients listed here are those needed to make her Mole Chorizo. The tacos themselves need chorizo (I used the full amt of a favourite butcher's version for a 1/2 recipe), potatoes, eggs, cheese, tortillas + whatever toppings you like. I made her Buttermilk-Bacon Fat Flour Tortillas (pg 26 - lovely!) and we topped our tacos with a corn salsa, pickled onions & hot pickled peppers. A simple & fun little dinner.

• Buttermilk bacon-fat flour tortillas

  • averythingcooks on December 09, 2025

    I made these lovely, soft tortillas for her potato-chorizo breakfast tacos & will make them again for sure for any meal needing tortillas. Sooooooo much better than anything I can buy here.

• Angel biscuits

  • averythingcooks on July 11, 2024

    I'm positive my final product is not what was intended as I gave the dough at least 2'ce her rise time & although not nearly doubled, I was out of time. I also only got 8 biscuits with my 3" cutter (as opposed to the predicted 12). They have a nice flavour but some outside reading gave me recipes that proof the yeast in a small amout of warm water, use a mix of shortening & butter and require an overnight fridge rise. This is one I intend to get right.

• Bacon-cheddar-chipotle biscuits

  • Lsblackburn1 on February 10, 2019

    These were delicious! Easy to make and roll out.

• Sausage kolaches (Klobasnek)

  • chawkins on October 19, 2020

    These were pretty good, the rolls were soft and buttery. The cheese and jalapeño complemented the sausage well, did not overwhelm, still let the sausage be the star of the show. The dough was very easy to work with. The only issue was that the dough was not sticky, so sealing the seams of the rolls were not very effective, but fortunately, leakage was not a problem.

• Oatmeal bread

  • averythingcooks on January 20, 2026

    This does have a time investment (2 hours to soak the oats in hot milk followed by the 1 hour rise) but no matter, we think it has a lovely taste. It did not slice as well last night (eaten warm with butter beside dinner) but this morning, it was perfect for toasting.

• Spinach, bacon, and artichoke dip

  • Lsblackburn1 on February 10, 2026

    Made this without the bacon because I forgot to put it in the refrigerator when I got home. Still delicious!

• Jalapeño pimento cheese

  • averythingcooks on February 15, 2024

    This is a great version of pimento cheese. She calls for whole pickled jalapenos (red & green) but as I was using pickled jalapeno & Fresno rings, some eyeballing for the equivalent amt/tasting for preference was involved. I accidently grated extra onion so about double went in (no harm done) & we also liked the addition of the mustard. We spread this on toasted English muffins, ran them under the broiler til the cheese was lightly browned & bubbling (delicious!) and ate them beside our dinner soup. I've made several versions from my books and we agree that this is the best so far.

• Pigs in jalapeño-cheddar blankets with a jalapeño dipping sauce

  • Lsblackburn1 on February 03, 2019

    Yum! I mixed the dough by hand and it was easy to roll out and baked up flakey and delicious. The sauce was the perfect amount of heat and a great contrast to the richness of the sausage. perfect game day party food!

  • chawkins on September 29, 2020

    The dough was delicious and easy to work with. I used less than half of the cayenne called for and it was spicy enough for us. I did not make the dipping sauce because with all the fat in the blanket and the pig, I don't need to add more calories and or fat.

  • averythingcooks on March 03, 2026

    I just made the sauce to eat with quesadillas, using a 50:50 mix of mayo & plain yogurt which we liked. The yellow mustard works really well here & it is easy to increase the jalapenos (or as I did, include minced serrano) to match the heat to your palate. As always I changed up the herb (no cilantro in this house) and a mix of Thai basil & chives certainly tasted good. Easy idea to repeat.

• Crazy nachos

  • chawkins on September 24, 2018

    Crazy good. We skipped the sour cream just because we don’t care for it.

• Chipotle-blue cheese wedge salad

  • averythingcooks on February 05, 2023

    This is a very tasty dressing to use over an iceberg wedge. We both loved the double hit of chipotle & smoked paprika against a good amount (ie I added extra to our taste) of funky blue cheese. I like iceberg for its crunch & freshness but I do believe it calls for a pretty "big" dressing like this one as it seems to have a diluting affect...much more pronounced than other greens.

• German potato and green bean salad

  • Lsblackburn1 on May 17, 2020

    Nice and tangy; great foil for the sweet ribs!

• Chipotle-cheddar scalloped potatoes

  • Lsblackburn1 on February 09, 2019

    Is it possible these were too rich using all cream and bacon!?... maybe... the chipotle was nice but next time I’d compare this to other recipes to see how to bring the fat down ( a little, at least!)

• Bacon and chipotle corn pudding

  • averythingcooks on July 18, 2023

    I’ve made a few corn puddings from my books and this one is by far the best and will be repeated. I cut it in 1/2 and rather than measure out 1.5 large eggs, I used 1 XL egg (yes, I do keep both sizes in the fridge) and it seemed to work perfectly.

• Creamy macaroni and cheese

  • averythingcooks on March 01, 2026

    With heavy cream to use up, I deviated from my usual roux based mac & cheese recipes to make 1/3 of this recipe to serve 2. I replaced the bacon with chopped ham (our preference) & stole an idea from her other book, adding chopped roasted poblanos. It was a bit loose for our liking, so I transferred it to a little baking dish, added a buttery breadcrumb topping & put it in the oven to thicken /crisp the top. Verdict = delicious! AND questions re: why I didn't make more :)

• Cowboy beans

  • chawkins on October 15, 2020

    I made a quarter of the recipe. I scaled all the ingredients but I did not follow the cooking instructions at all, I used the instant pot for this. I quick soaked the beans, used Pacific Gold jerky from Costco, instant coffee granules, Dijon mustard, put everything in the IP with 2 cups of water and high pressured for 10 minutes, natural released after 5 minutes. The beans were perfectly cooked, however, it was too soupy and the flavor was good even though diluted. Next time I used 1 cup of water instead.

  • senzler on August 29, 2022

    Very good but 1st time I made it a bit soupy. Second time dry. Looking for the happy medium

  • averythingcooks on February 06, 2023

    I cut this in 1/2 & it will easily serve 2 of us as a side over 2 nights. With no beef jerky here, I used some crispy chopped bacon instead. Warned by member "soupy" comments, I went lighter on the 2nd amt of water & was prepared to add more (which I did but used beef broth) during the bake. The result is a thick, flavourful pot of beans and I will make these guys again.

• Ranch-style beans

  • Lsblackburn1 on February 03, 2026

    These had a delicious smokey, deep flavor. I used Moro beans from RG and served them with tortillas and cheese.

• Spanish rice

  • MidwesternerTT on September 20, 2017

    Great as a side for Mexican Stuffed Peppers. Mildly spicy. Unique technique starts from cooked / steamed white rice. Cookbook version uses same technique as the online recipe at her website but has much less cumin and tomato paste.

• Black-eyed pea and Mexican chorizo soup

  • Lsblackburn1 on December 08, 2018

    Very tasty! Spice level was perfect (but I’m a spice wimp). Served over avocado and extra chips.

• Pork chili verde

  • averythingcooks on August 17, 2023

    We both loved this pretty classic take on a tomatillo/poblano style pork stew. I scaled this back to 1/3 of the sauce + 1 lb of pork topped up with cooked white beans from the freezer & cauliflower florets. I used Thai basil in place of the cilantro and as I find that some of my garden tomatillos are far more tart than others, I always taste to see if a shot of honey is needed. We topped our bowls with a sour cream/lime crema spiked with pickled jalapeno brine and some chopped red onions. This was a great dinner bowl.

• Buttermilk potato soup with bacon and jalapeño

  • rglo820 on January 23, 2018

    This unseated The Pioneer Woman's Perfect Potato Soup as my go-to potato soup recipe - the roasted jalapenos give it a subtle heat and the buttermilk adds a nice tang, but you still get the richness of cream, cheese, and bacon.

• Mexican lime soup (Sopa de lima)

  • texannewyorker on September 13, 2015

    This soup is not only delicious, but it will seriously shorten a cold. Good stuff!

  • DKennedy on February 08, 2017

    The quick version is very flavorful. I made this last night using the bones from two Costco rotisserie chickens. Just the addition of the roasted onion and garlic made such a difference to the flavor of the broth. I will be adding this to all my chicken stock from now on. Note that Blue Eggs and Yellow Tomatoes also has a variation of this recipe.

  • chawkins on February 13, 2017

    Perfect soup for the chicken broth made from the carcass of a Peruvian roast chicken which was marinated with cumin, oregano and vinegar among other things. Have to agree that the roasted garlic and onion puree added a lot of flavor to the soup.

• Michelada flank steak tortas with poblano-buttermilk dressing

  • averythingcooks on March 31, 2023

    This is a good marinade (I used Modelo) which does not use any oil but I think I would prefer to BBQ the meat. I did go past the 24 hour max marinating time by an hour or so but I don't think that really mattered. We ate these on toasted cheese buns with cheese, a mix of sauteed sweet peppers & onions and the poblano dressing. I did up the heat in the dressing with a handful of pickled jalapenos plus some brine & we also used it on our salads. This was a pretty good sandwich + salad dinner.

• Shredded beef enchiladas with three-chile sauce

  • TrishaCP on May 09, 2017

    These are quite a project to make (I recommend spreading it out over two days if you can), but they are delicious. The three chile sauce was the best part- I really liked the pasilla chiles here- but to meet our heat preferences I only used one chipotle pepper. The meat was a bit dry and bland on its own, so it's a good idea to season it generously and to add a bit more of the sauce than called for in the recipe.

  • chawkins on January 11, 2019

    Very good and saucy, the way we like them. I did not make the beef part of the recipe as I had some leftover roasted lime-cilantro eye of round, so that was what I used. I used a can of beef broth to substitute for the beef cooking liquid, cut up an onion and couple of cloves of garlic, saute them for a while then cooked in a bit of water till soft and add to the broth and continued with the recipe by adding only one chipotle with the other chiles. Since my leftover beef was a bit on the dry side, I tossed them with about 3/4C of the sauce.

• Sunday brisket

  • Lsblackburn1 on February 09, 2019

    Loved the low and slow cook on this - perfect for our snowy day! Result was delicious tender meat with a bit of a kick from the rub after 5 hours.

• Crispy tacos

  • senzler on August 29, 2022

    A good, quick taco if you are tired of the dry, package mix.

• Coffee-chipotle pork chops

  • rrdesimone on January 02, 2017

    I substituted puréed chipotle peppers in adobo for chipotle powder, and next time I will half the salt.

  • TrishaCP on May 30, 2018

    This is a wonderful rub for pork chops, although we grilled to our liking rather than baking.

  • chawkins on August 26, 2018

    These chops were great, however, I’ll cut down on the salt next time since I’m salt sensitive. I only used about half of the rub made on the chops and it was plenty. I substituted half of the paprika with smoked paprika to add smokiness.

• Chicken spaghetti

  • Lsblackburn1 on January 22, 2021

    We enjoyed this a lot. It tastes like a cross between enchiladas and mac n cheese. I used a whole pound of spaghetti, which was fine - I feel like using only the 1/2 pound listed in the recipe would have made for way too much cheese sauce.

  • hbakke on April 02, 2021

    Despite overcooking the cheese sauce which resulted in a bit of grittiness, this turned out well. It does have a lot of cheese, so not healthy in the slightest, but tasty nonetheless.

• Turkey enchiladas with sweet potato-chipotle sauce

  • texannewyorker on September 13, 2015

    These are very tasty and a great idea, but the ratios are way off.

  • shelbstirr on February 18, 2025

    I made these with some leftover turkey and they were delicious! Loved the sweet potato chipotle sauce.

• Chicken fajitas

  • senzler on August 29, 2022

    A great, easy chicken fajita

• Pollo asado

  • swegener on February 17, 2015

    This was a fantastic marinade--and I loved the flavor.

• Fried oysters with chipotle-lime dipping sauce

  • Maefleur on December 10, 2022

    These were delicious and the chipotle-lime dipping sauce is a nice change from tartar sauce. It complimented nicely and didn’t overwhelm the oysters.

• Ancho chile shrimp quesadilla

  • jenniebakes on October 05, 2018

    The marinade and the shrimp are amazing. I loved these. The buttermilk bacon-fat flour tortillas were not a huge success for me but that's due to a learning curve.

• Sausage and shrimp jambalaya

  • Lsblackburn1 on January 24, 2021

    This was easy to make and really delicious. I only used one jalapeño and no cayenne and there was just the right amount of kick for me.

• Caballero cookies

  • averythingcooks on February 07, 2023

    These cookies, with their mix of semisweet chips & chopped white chocolate plus toasted pecans & large flake oats, are a big hit in this house. I made them exactly as instructed and making 28'ish g balls of dough resulted in the predicted yield of 24. I thought I used a pretty good pinch of cayenne....but we are not sure if we are actually "detecting" it or maybe we would just miss it if it was not there.

• Plum cobbler

  • ellencooks on August 14, 2017

    I made this with pluots and nectarines. We loved it!

  • senzler on June 12, 2023

    Made with plums. Folks loved it. I the bought nutmeg overpowering.

• Peach ice cream

  • shelbstirr on July 25, 2025

    Easy to follow directions. Is very rich, I may experiment with other ice cream bases.

• Tomatillo-chipotle salsa

  • ellencooks on August 21, 2017

    I halved the recipe EXCEPT for the chipotle. Whoops! Still fantastic. Hot but with flavor.

• Creamy green salsa

  • averythingcooks on January 31, 2023

    I started with 3 serranos & then added the 4th for more heat. For the roasted peppers, I used a mix of jalapenos & anaheims from the freezer and had to estimate a bit as they are cut into strips (rather than whole peppers) - I guess I came up short because the end result seemed very oily to me. I started adding more peppers and then some fresh herbs (basil & parsley) and acid in the form of lime juice & rice vinegar. A final shot of mayo got us something we will enjoy with tonight's quesadillas but as written, I'm a bit disappointed as I thought we would love this.

• Corn-black bean salsa

  • averythingcooks on February 28, 2024

    I used this as a side dish for some green chile chicken and I followed my instinct by using an idea from another recipe we like and pan roasted the corn in olive oil + a little brown sugar. Everything else went in raw as instructed (skipping the cilantro) including some diced Fresno in addition to the jalapeno called for. I would make this again either as a side dish, a salsa for chips or a taco topper.

• Plum jam

  • hbakke on September 23, 2020

    This turned out well. I liked the tartness of the finished jam and the addition of cinnamon. I used a variety of yellow and red plums and cooked for 45 minutes to get to the gel point. I would make this again.

• Texas Monthly

  Q & A with author Lisa Fain

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