I have always loved watching The Food Network, and I really love catching episodes of The Pioneer Woman lately. Her name is Ree Drummond, but she is really known as Pioneer Woman, which started from her wildly popular blog.
Ree is a mother, and she lives on a working ranch “In the middle of nowhere.” Her cooking reflects her tastes, as well as those of her children, and her husband — a true cowboy.
What I love about her show, and the blog, is that its accessible. None of the ingredients are anything fancy, it’s simple, but it’s homemade, and often hearty.
I also love that the show is really filmed in her Oklahoma Ranch home — which is beautiful — but the kitchen is huge, and it’s cool to think she actually lives there and isn’t just cooking on a set.
Her blog gets more than 20 million viewers each month, and it was named Blog of the Year in 2009, 2010, and 2011. These numbers overflowed into book sales, as her cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl is a #1 Bestseller.
She has another book (a memoir), Black Heels to Tractor Wheels, which debuted at #2 on The New York Times Best Sellers list for nonfiction hardcover. She also has a popular children’s book series, based on the adventures of her dog, Charlie.
According to her website, she went to college in California, and worked in the corporate world for years. During a visit to her hometown, she fell in love with a cowboy, and now spends her days as the pioneer woman!
If you haven’t seen her show, definitely check it out — new episodes are on every Saturday morning at 10/9 central, on The Food Network.
The Bitter Lemon 