An Open Letter to Pioneer Woman

Dear PW,
I know we've never met, and you have no idea who I am, but you've already affected me in more ways than I can count.

First there was the innocent Rosemary Rolls. Never had I used so much melted butter in a recipe. But boy, were they worth it.
Confident that you knew what you were doing, I then tried my hand at a couple of your noodle recipes.

and then your chocolate cake. Oh. My. Goodness.
My trust in your recipes went up after making this, as well as my shock at how quickly I was going through butter.

My awesome husband, realizing he was on the receiving end of a wonderful new pastime, gave me your fabulous cookbook for Christmas.

First thing I made, on Christmas day, was egg-in-a-hole. While seemingly innocent (and very easy), I did something I never dared I'd do.
I included the called-for pepper.
And I liked it.

High on life, or maybe the pepper, I tried the migas recipe next. You should have seen the look on my husband's face when he saw me putting the two peppers, one red and one green, in the fridge. Previously, those ingredients were things I quickly walked past in the produce department. Picked out of my food if the restaurant put them into my food.
And I bought them??
I quickly made that recipe, before I lost my nerve.

And I liked it. (full disclosure: I decided to go back to the "cheating" version from another cookbook because their ingredients list are more pantry-stable, but I actually liked it.)

What's next, PW? What else will you get me to do? Start trying recipes with the word "spicy" in the title?? Marinating mushrooms in burgundy??

Where will the madness end? How long will it be before Josh doesn't even recognize me??

Signed,
Concerned and Excited