Some of my readers and I are cooking our way through Ree Drummond’s book, The Pioneer Woman Cooks.  Feel free to join in with us at any time.  The next cooking assignment is at the end of this post.

Pico and guac…oh my!  These two foods make life all the more worth living.  Yummy in the highest!

I have a little confession about these recipes though:  Big D had made them once before.  But I didn’t cheat and just ride on his experience.  I bought what I needed.  I chopped.  I mixed.  I ate.  Oh, I ate.

Now, I need to tell you, guacamole is my favorite food on earth.  So, I already knew going into this, that I would like it.  I also already knew that if I didn’t love her recipe that I could tweak it and play with it until it was something I could enjoy.

First, I made the pico.  I am not a huge fan of raw onions, so I didn’t follow her exact formula for equal amounts of onion, tomato, and cilantro.  I used a whole small onion, and I chopped it pretty finely.  The smaller the better for me.  I also used a sweet onion, which to me, is less offensive as far as onions go.  And then I had a lot more tomato in my ratios.  And I loved it!  Then I used three avocados and added a generous portion of the pico to it.  I really thought I might add some garlic, because I use it in my old stand-by recipe, but it didn’t really need it.  It was yummy just the way it was.

I made a simple version of nachos for dinner (pictured above).  Just tortilla chips, melted cheese, taco-seasoned ground beef, pico, guac, and sour cream.  It was soooooooo good.  We’ve had it one other time since then, with chicken instead of the beef.  Just as good.

Trust me….if you like this type of food, you will like these recipes.  Go ahead and try them.  You know you want to.

Did you make these condiments?  How did it go for you?  Let’s dish (pun intended) in the comment section!

For our next assignment, we’re back to the breakfast section.  Alright…let’s get it over with.  Let’s try the Cinnamon Rolls, pp. 36-39.  I’ve been both dreading and looking forward to this recipe.  Dreading because they look difficult and time-consuming and messy.  Anticipating because I want one.

I’ve got a busy, busy, busy few weeks coming up, so I’m going to give you until Tuesday, May 18 to make these.  So go ahead and start looking for your rolling pin.

(Oh, and these are on her website here, so you can make them even if you don’t have the book.  No excuses.  Make the cinnamon rolls.)