The Pioneer Woman Cooks (Hardcover) by Drummond, Ree

Click here to see a video of Ree Drummond, the author.

My name is Ree. I’m a desperate housewife. I live in the country. I channel Lucille Ball, Scarlett O’Hara, and Ethel Merman. Welcome to my frontier!

Paula Deen meets Erma Bombeck in this spirited, homespun cookbook, which colorfully traces one woman’s transition from city life to ranch wife through recipes, photos, and pithy commentary based on the author’s popular, award-winning blog.

The Pioneer Woman Cooks takes readers on a voyeuristic journey through the life of a girl who once believed a Grande Latte from Starbucks was the key to all happiness but who ultimately finds her bliss in the arms of a cattle rancher.

Breaking free from a dead-end relationship, Ree Drummond left Los Angeles and made a pit stop at home in Oklahoma on the way to a new life in Chicago. It was there she met “Marlboro Man,” a fourth-generation cattle rancher with steely blue eyes and a muscular work-honed body. Drummond fell hard and fast, and suddenly she was married, living on his ranch in the middle of nowhere, and managing a brood of four young children (also known as “ranch hands”).

In her folksy, wonderfully engaging voice, Drummond shares how she learned to cope with the isolation and peculiarities of ranch life, from chasing beavers out of the pond and saddling horses, to cooking for a man who believes the sun rises and sets in a steak and baked potato. Using only simple and widely available ingredients, Drummond shares many of her satisfying and delicious recipes--both for cowboys and cowgirls--including Cowboy Calzones, Pioneer Woman’s Ribeye Steaks, Cheese Grits, fresh Blackberry Cobbler, Pico de Gallo, and Iny’s Prune Cake.

Bursting with the colors and flavors of country life and peppered with her wonderful homespun stories, The Pioneer Woman Cooks encourages even the most harried urban cook to slow down, relish the joys of family, nature, and great food, and keep it real.