“A cooking blog with the two of us! With video and photos and more!”
“You’ll never do it.” Jeff said.
“Yes we will!” Jennie exclaimed (knowing this was probably not true.)
“Maybe start small…” Corelyn said, “…just writing, and photos, to start.”
Jeff said, “You show me that you’ll blog, and I’ll build you a website.”

And so, Garlic, My Soul was born. Today, we’re happy to announce that we’re ready to make the move to our own website, with room to breathe as we move forward to new projects, new recipes, and new homes.

garlicmysoul.com

Egg-in-the-hole

Sseriously, just take our word for it. This recipe was so easy, we made it on a Sunday morning after the farmer’s market and gobbled it up before any photos could be taken!

Breakfast Potatoes

Verdict: Fantastic. We’ll definitely make again.

Macaroni and Cheese

Verdict: Pretty darn good.

Pioneer Woman’s Guacamole

Our verdict: Perfectly adequate and a breeze to make, but I still prefer my own recipe adapted from Poppy Coates…

Pinto Beans

See them there at the back of the frame? Behind the bacon? We made them the same night as enchiladas, and they were yummy, but somewhat eclipsed by the delicious enchilada dish!

Creamy Mashed Potatoes

Verdict: Sinfully good. Probably so good that we won’t ever prepare them this way again, because we can’t keep putting on butter weight!

Comfort Meatballs

(Green bowl, bottom right corner)

These were prepared for my birthday way back before we even started the Pioneer Woman Challenge! Verdict: They disappeared FAST that night. They were a big hit and we can’t wait to make them again!

Yum.

Let’s talk about some seriously delicious scones.

But shh…let’s NOT talk about how much butter they contain.

Pioneer Woman writes “Do not knead or press too much; you want o leave that gluten alone!”

Pay no attention to that scone with a bite taken out of it…

Start with some meat.

Sear it a little.

Mix up some herbs, some oil and some bacon grease to rub on the meat.

Comme ca.

Cook for a bit. Do not overcook!

Perfect.

Now, the cheese bread…

Grate some cheese.

Chop up some olives. I find this disgusting, but Jennie likes them. And I try my best. Eating the occasional olive is one of those things I do because I really really like Jennie. Just like she occasionally allows me to use cilantro. Life is all about compromise.

Toss in some other ingredients, possibly including mayonnaise…

and bake for a bit!

We were also supposed to make PW’s burgundy mushrooms, but when we realized they took NINE HOURS, we opted instead for my father’s much simpler 1 hour recipe. Because I really wanted mushrooms, one way or another.

Delicious!

This is my plate. Notice the tiniest piece of olive cheese bread ever. Sorry, PW, but not even you can make me like olives.

First you have to clean the shrimp, which to me was grosser than stuffing a turkey and killing a chicken combined. But I persevered.

All nice and clean!

Then, obviously, you put them in some butter…

Tomatoes, onion, butter,what could be better?

Oh yea, cream! That is what could be better. Cream shaped like a turkey!

We think that PW got a little frazzled by this recipe, because no where does it say to cut the shrimp up. But we inferred, by her pictures…and stalked her website and found this.

And in they go!

Add some fresh basil, some fresh parsley.

Now add some Al Dente pasta (we used wheat pasta!)

Realize your pan is too small. Transfer to a sauce pot.

Devour.

One of these recipes will be the Angel Sugar Cookies. Please listen to what Jennie just read to me aloud from the book.

“Smear a dab of butter on the bottom of a glass and dip it in granulated sugar”

That’s what you use as a cookie cutter.

The Pioneer Woman even coats her cookie cutters in butter and sugar.

I just needed to share.

Step one. Meat. Lots of meat. I am not normally a meat lasagna eater, but alas, here we were. And we were too far in to make moderations now. So we went on, meat in hand. Or, in skillet.

Now, I don’t usually use fresh basil either, so this addition to the recipe was superb.

Someone is excited about lasagna…

Delicious! This baby was gone in no-time flat! Surprisingly, I loved it, meat and all! It made a filling meal, and reheated well, too! So, if I am to make a meat lasagna, I’ll choose this one again. And I think Cor would agree!

This is the beginning of some very delicious artichoke dip.

Meanwhile, make some bacon for your potato skins. After the twice baked potato fiasco of 2010, we were wary of potato skins, but it ended OK.

Also, cut up 18 jalapenos for jalapeno poppers. Please use caution when cutting them! When we made them, there was so much jalapeno oil in the air we had to take a break. Twice.

M helped us for this challenge, and we made all three gluten free!

Now put some delicious mixture into each of the jalapenos.

These took FOREVER and they were gone in less than five minutes. But, everyone agreed they were worth it.

Now you have to wrap your jalapeno poppers in bacon. We made some veggie ones, but they just weren’t as good. Sad, really.

Now you’re going to coat them with some BBQ sauce. Delicious.

Look how sad the vegetarian jalapeno poppers look! So sad.

Now, the finished products:

We invited some ladies over for apps and a salad night. We laughed a LOT. We did not take very many photos. But I took some of the morning after: