SIL Sarah has on her Christmas List a cookbook by Ree Drummond, known in the blogosphere as The Pioneer Woman. I checked out her website after seeing the book in the store and now I'm totally mad that people have kept her a secret from me all these years. She is my soul mate. She grew up affluent middle class on the 7th green of a golf course. She fled to LA for college and had made up her mind that her future would consist of city dwelling, little black dresses and Thai food. Instead, she met and fell in love with a rugged cowboy with a ranch an hour and a half from her hometown. She now lives on this isolated ranch, where they homeschool their four children, and manages this fantastic blog, now website. OK, her background isn't anything like mine, but I like her writing style and her cooking style is not too far from mine... very meat and potatoes.
Expect a few Pioneer Woman-related posts coming up. Just this week, Bobby Flay of The Food Network had a "throwdown" with her in which they each prepared an entire Thanksgiving dinner, which was judged and one of them was declared the winner.
This weekend, I will prepare her Favorite Turkey Brine as I find myself preparing an entire Thanksgiving dinner on my own. It turns out I don't have any family dinners until Saturday, leaving Thursday wide open and available for culinary experimentation. I'll have Dad over and maybe another odd family member (insinuation intended) or two.
But maybe I can get someone else to bring the mashed potatoes. I just don't like that job.
I love making and eating mashed potatoes, especially by hand so they're all lumpy with the skins on! I'll have to check out Pioneer Woman.
ReplyDeleteMy mom often made them that way, too!
ReplyDeleteok, you really had me going there! I know enough about you via Reb to think, what the heck?! I'll have to go look up the Pioneer Woman. Or you can just introduce me.
ReplyDeletewe're skipping the mashed potatoes in favor of sweets. and baked corn. and filling. think we'll have enough starches??