Mission Complete! “Dinnertime” is Served

It is my distinct pleasure to announce that after nearly a year, roughly 30 pounds of butter, more bell peppers than I care to think about, and some truly outstanding meals… the Dinnertime cookbook is now FINISHED!!  This achievement comes a full four years ahead of schedule based on how long it took me to plow through Alton Brown’s Good Eats: The Early Years, probably because I didn’t have to construct any of my own appliances from sheet metal, hot plates and tin cans.  It’s amazing how much using a regular old oven and stovetop speeds this process along!  Thanks for that, Ree.

So here it is…  The one that brought it all home.  The 137th recipe from my current muse and culinary mentor, Ree Drummond.  It looks pretty good, if I do say so myself, and I don’t even like stir-fry.  (Side note: I’m a little late to the Fiesta Ware party, which has been around for 82 years, but after seeing a feature on these brightly colored, multi-hued dishes in Ree’s magazine last month, I now have to plate all her recipes on my shiny new tableware!  I almost feel like I should go back and make everything again just to display it on my new colored dishes.  Almost…)  As Asian recipes go, I found this one super simple and pretty tasty, despite consisting entirely of (ugh) vegetables.

I cheated as usual and skimped on the peppers, but the ingredients were very straightforward and I had everything I needed on-hand without having to buy anything weird.  Except baby corn, because seriously, who has that in their pantries at all times?  Or any time, really.  I also made a substitution for serving this over rice noodles by just making a package of Top Ramen including the seasoning pack, then drained all the broth out.  Oh, and I picked up Chinese at lunch time from a local place so I could have someone else do all the labor on sesame chicken and crab wontons!  Work smarter, not harder.  True to my promise to always try at least one bite of every recipe regardless of my preconceived notions, I did sample a couple pieces of the finished product.  My issue with stir-fry is that I don’t care for crunchy yet cooked vegetables.  Give ’em to me raw or give ’em to me cooked, but none of this halfway in-between business…  This recipe did not disappoint, and the veggies were just the right balance of al dente vs. mush.  Sweet success!

We’ve been through a lot this year, Ree and me.  She taught me to laugh and to love.  She taught me to cry…  Ok, maybe it wasn’t THAT deep, but I have studied her, followed her blog, ordered her magazine, recorded her shows, purchased her products, and recently read her autobiographical book, Black Heels to Tractor Wheels: A Love Story, about how she met and fell in love with her husband.  Twice.  I SWEAR I’M NOT A STALKER!!  I was just committed to my project…  That being said, I really did learn so much through this process, and I found her to be a patient and forgiving teacher.  I never felt pressured to get everything “just right”, and knew that if I made slight changes to her ideas that it was probably going to be just fine.  She gave me plenty of heavy cream, cheese and sugar to work with, and only imposed tofu on me ONCE in 381 pages.  If that doesn’t make us besties, I don’t know what does!

To reward myself for completing this challenge, I’m going to make a pilgrimage to Pawhuska, OK to tour The Lodge, where PW films her television show and visit The Boarding House and The Mercantile, Ree Drummond’s hotel and 25,000 square foot store/bakery/restaurant.  I’m going to go nuts in there, trust that!  I’m even going to bring along my food-stained copy of Dinnertime on the off chance that Ree herself makes an appearance at one of her haunts and wants to slap an autograph on it.  I mean after all, what are best friends for??