Confession and an apology: I know that a few posts back I took out some frustration on the Pioneer Woman. It wasn’t intentional, honestly. I just had one of those “How in the world do people live on a ranch, homeschool their kids, make meals from scratch, and tend to their herb garden?” moments. I can’t blame myself, really. I was in the midst of a mealtime meltdown, I’m sure (meaning, when I finally found the time to make something from scratch, my kid decides to throw every single bit of it over the side of his highchair with the hopes of it landing on my 16-year-old dog’s back.) Or maybe it was because I managed to remember to thaw the frozen fish only to never get around to actually preparing it and having to throw it away. Right. So, forgive me in advance Pioneer Woman, but your ranch-style living and amazing photography seemed to just push me right over the sanity edge a few posts back. And I don’t even want to homeschool my kid because getting him to say “please” and teaching him his shapes is hard enough. I can’t imagine adding math to that scenario.
But why don’t we let bygones be bygones? In fact, I made a point to pull out the Pioneer Woman’s cookbook this weekend to find a soup recipe. I settled on her Homemade Chicken and Noodles. Since I followed her recipe verbatim, I will just link to it here and post my photos below Just look for the tweaks/notes under the photos.
You got lucky with this post because I refused to share the “boiling chicken in a pot” shot. However, just a quick note about that part of the recipe: Add more water than you think you should. She says to “cover” the chicken, but I needed to add more once I boiled the chicken.
I cheated and added in sweet peas. Just because I had some left over.
I have never heard of frozen homemade egg noodles until now and what a fantastic find! I briefly thought about making my own with my handy pasta maker (I used to do this, you know), but thought better of it and went frozen. And I’ll go frozen again.
I added extra salt to get the seasoning right towards the end. I may also add a little boxed chicken broth next time. Overall, we were happy with the results! And my kid actually ate it last night, so you know, that’s monumental (are you following the theme of my life these days?). Happy Day, y’all.
Tagged: Mamas, Pioneer Woman, recipes, Soup
foodrevival 
ME’s mamma – the one thing you MUST remember. The Pioneer Woman does not do it alone. She has multiple people in her kitchen helping her, her older daughter helps with the homeschooling and she has someone to help clean. You’re doing a terrific job on your own!
Plus, her herb garden is fertilized with her doing nothing – the cows just walk up and leave a cow pattie for her……..
By the way, did you know that Michelle L and I went to her booksigning when she was here last year? Maybe she’ll come again. Miss ya!
I’ve had the same un-nice thoughts about the Pioneer Woman too because she seems to make it all seem sooooo easy. I’ll add to the above comment, PW’s children are older! Trust me, once they get to five life is easier. But you are not there yet. Enjoy the now (I know, I know much easier said than done!) for what it is — messy and chaotic and tiring and laughing and new ways of looking at things and first steps, first runs, first bikes — your dog certainly is : )