REVIEW: The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food From My Frontier by Ree Drummond

This is the second cookbook from Ree Drummond, also popularly known as "The Pioneer Woman." If you're not familiar with Ree and her gorgeous Pioneer Woman website
http://thepioneerwoman.com,
I'll give you the quick rundown. Ree was a city girl living the fast paced life when on her way from L.A. to Chicago, made a pit stop in her hometown in Oklahoma where she met a cowboy, fell in love with him, moved to his ranch, had his babies and now lives happily ever after on a cattle ranch in Oklahoma! No really! That's what happened. You can read all about her story in her memoir titled The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels--a Love Story or just visit her website and read all about it there. Anyway, while living on an fairly isolated ranch in the middle of Oklahoma, busy raising four children, tending their home, cooking for the ranch hands, etc.. Ree started a blog in 2006 where she posts photographs of and anecdotes about ranch life, her family,  homeschooling, gardening, photography and of course, cooking. Her popularity grew exponentially and she's now practically a household name. Okay, maybe that's a slight exaggeration, but A LOT of people all over the country know who she is. And that's the dish on Ree Drummond, "The Pioneer Woman."

I own Ree Drummond's first cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl, which I enjoy reading even though haven't actually made any of the recipes in it. Most of the recipes are too decadent for me--a lot of rich dairy products, meat and some fried foods, too. When I saw Ree's latest cookbook at my library recently, I checked it out and spent an hour or so reading through the recipes and admiring her wonderful photography.

Ree has a wonderfully friendly way about her that shines through on both her website and in her cookbooks. It's a comfortable friendliness that makes you feel as though you're sharing recipes and daily anecdotes about your families with a close friend. She has a fun sense of humor and an appreciation for hard work, good food and the love of family and friends. And it shows in her cookbooks and on her website.

As for the recipes, The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes From My Frontier focuses a lot more on the food--including step by step photos for each recipe, and a bit less on Ree's family and life on the ranch compared to her first cookbook. If you already read her website and or have read her first cookbook, you probably already feel as though you know Ree and you'll enjoy getting right into the kitchen and cooking up some of her mouthwatering recipes. It IS a cookbook, after all. If you're not familiar with Ree, that don't worry. You're still going to love Ree's recipes and end up wishing YOU lived on a cattle ranch. Or maybe not that last part..

Initially I bookmarked only one recipe to make from this cookbook, but after flipping through it again, I found a few more. Like Ree's first cookbook, there are a lot of recipes in this one that I won't likely prepare because the foods are fried or contain a lot of cheese and cream. Unless you're burning tons of calories wrestling cattle every day, these recipes are too high in calories for every day meals. Perhaps I'd make an exception for some of the desserts such as Billie's Italian Cream Cake, the Coffee Cream Cake or even the Knock You Naked Brownies. Mmmm.. The one recipe that I definitely want to try is the Peach-Basil Ice Cream Topping. A bit unusual, I know, but it sounds ultra refreshing, summery and delicious. Other recipes that I've bookmarked are Restaurant-Style Salsa, Steakhouse Pizza, Thai Chicken Pizza, Fig-Prosciutto Pizza and Carnitas Pizza. Can you tell I like pizza?

Vegetarians beware. Ree lives on a cattle ranch, so the recipes call for a lot of meat, eggs and dairy products and may not appeal to vegetarians, vegans or others with allergies and or a gluten-intolerance.

The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food From My Frontier is a must for fans of The Pioneer Woman and anyone else who loves tempting, home-cooked, comfort foods.

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