Well the votes have been casted, tallied and the Cookbook Club is ready to shift gears. It was time to move on from the Barefoot Contessa and The Pioneer Woman won by a landslide!I’m not sure if you have heard all the raving reviews for Ree Drummond (or the Pioneer Woman, PW, as she calls herself), but I’m going to be taking my cooking from prissy to pioneer. The PW considers herself to be an “accidental country girl.” She lives on a ranch with her beloved husband (whom she calls “Marlboro Man” because of his looks) and 4 children. She does not consider herself to be a chef, but instead she is a mother who cooks for her family, takes pictures of the food and writes instructions for food preparation. The PW is inspiring with great love and devotion for providing for her family, the family business on the ranch, and most importantly God. On her blog, Confessions of a Pioneer Woman, she posts recipes, pictures, homeschooling ideas, and home and garden tips. She really is hilarious and I recommend checking out her site: http://thepioneerwoman.com/
Special note to our family blog readers back home in good ‘ole Nebraska- I really think that you all would love the PW! Every time I read one of her posts or see one of her pictures, I think about being back in Nebraska; you all might want to check this lady out and let me know if she is the real deal or not ;-)
After just flipping through her cookbook and reading about her online, the recipes from the PW are more realistic; I don’t have to be hosting a fancy formal dinner party to serve these dishes. She uses fewer ingredients, and ingredients that I have actually heard of; so in addition to being more realistic, I think it will be more hubby-friendly. “Marlboro Man,” the PW’s husband, is a rugged-rancher who claims to be a “steak and potatoes man,” and since this is also what Phil considers himself to be (with the exception of the rancher part of course) I think I’m going to have a much more enthusiastic taste-tester this semester. In fact, some of the recipes in this book are the exact same recipes that are some of our staple meals that I cook all the time, so I’m excited to find new ways to spruce up my old recipes. I already went through the cookbook to tag the recipes I wanted to start with first, and I think I tagged every page…hahaha!
With the last cookbook I needed to get tart pans (which I actually never purchased and I never attempted those recipes), but this time I think I’m going to break down and get the recommended cast iron skillet. I remember my mom having one when I was younger and always wanting one when I first got married. The PW uses hers a lot in her recipes, and since those skillets practically last forever, I should probably invest in one.
Some of the women in my smallgroup from church have already started cooking from the book and consider themselves to be “obsessed”. I have tasted some of their culinary masterpieces and I can’t wait to join the PW ranks!
