Lowdown on the Pioneer Woman

[Buckalew11]

Yum! And I just took her blackberry cobbler out of the oven.

Mmm...that is good and so simple! Actually, I had a client give me that same exact recipe which was something she learned to make from her mom So, the thing is, the PW cookbooks have a lot of great, old fashioned comfort food in them that many of us have had all through our lives. It is just that my Nana measured nothing and she mixed it until it "looked right" and "cooked it until it was done" in a "hot oven." So, now, I feel like I have a lot of old fashioned comfort foods all in one place (both cookbooks and the blog)

I do not care where the recipes come from, who photographs the steps, etc. I just like it.

The Pioneer Woman's blog is very user friendly, it takes you step by step on each recipe, and the food is awesome comfort food like Mama/Grandma used to make. She got this popular for a reason. Now that she is there, the haters surface. I think it's probably unavoidable, no matter who you are. Once you hit a certain level, you get hammered.

Food snobs absolutely hate people like Ree and Paula Deen. If you gained popularity, or fame, by making simple, comfort foods the masses enjoy they will look down their noses and sneer.

I totally agree. Hey, people hated on Jesus too. Whatcha gonna do?!

 

[disykat]

It's impossible to "source" those kinds of recipes - we all make the same thing with very slight variations.

I can see it now. The "no, I invented mashed potatoes" debate!

 

[dakcp2001]

For those who make the pot roast , can you roast it I. A regular oven? What kind of red wine do you use? I want to try it!

 

[Kimberle]

For those who make the pot roast , can you roast it I. A regular oven? What kind of red wine do you use? I want to try it!

In a regular oven. No wine. Only onions, beef stock, fresh rosemary, tyme, and a little olive oil to sear the meat. She uses carrots, I don't.

I'm doing this from memory, so it may be a little different from her.

Sear onion(s) in a hot pan with olive oil. (Quarter chop) Remove from pan.
Sear the meat with a little olive oil in a hot pan. (Season the meat with salt and pepper.)
Add one carton of beef stock and onions, fresh tyme and rosemary (I like a lot).
Bake at 275 (though sometimes I use 300), for at least 3-4 hours depending on the size of the meat. The pan should be covered.
When the meat is very tender, it's done. Very easy! And Yummy!

 

[nugov2]

Yes, a lot of her recipes are high calorie but like everything else they should be used in moderation. The only thing I've tried from her cookbook that I didn't like was the mac and cheese but that's because I have a love/hate relationship with mac and cheese.

My husband and son BEG for Marlboro Man Sandwiches. They are spectacular!!! Yep, I use nearly an entire square of butter but they are soooo worth it.

I also only use her Pot Roast recipe now too. So good and so easy.

That is popular here too I know her cookbook claims her recipes are unhealthy over and over. I don't think you can live off her meals alone. I do think she makes you feel like an underachiever, where RR makes you feel like you are equals. Just the sense I get, but I still like her recipes.

 

[castleview]

I don't know, but her Perfect Pot Roast recipe is fanfreakingtastic and a staple at our house.

Will have to try it!

The rosemary rolls she makes are amazing!!! My family is lucky I don't eat the entire pan before they make it to the table.

And those. I like rosemary but it hijacks most dishes, so this should be cool given that it's center stage.

From what I've heard, she is disliked because
1) she has this "country girl", simple and unfussy personna on her blog, but she actually comes from a wealthy family (her father is a doctor, and she has tales of going to the country club), and her husband's family are very wealthy as well. THere is of course nothing wrong with that ! But it's tough to buy the "keeping it real " because her financial situation (even before the cookbooks) is very different from other farming or ranching families.
2) she rarely quotes the source of her recipes, which may lead people to believe she invented them. A lot of the recipes she uses have been around for decades, yet she does not mention that . She sometimes mentions using her grandmother's recipes, or her friend's , but she does not have a source for most of her recipes.
3) Most of her recipes are very VERY high in fat, low in fiber, and use very little vegetables.
I don't have an opinion personally, I like some of her recipes, I dislike some of them. I've never watched her show. I used to follow her , but I've stopped reading her blog after the sour cream enchiladas recipes because her recipes are simply too caloric for my family.

Makes a lot of sense

Pawhuska is a VERY small town. 3,500 people. I think some of them are irritated by the whole deal. Some think she doesn't support the town enough. She filmed the Christmas parade for her show, but allegedly doesn't offer to support it in a monetary way.

A lot of her recipes are from old church cookbooks...people feel she is stealing them.

It's impossible to "source" those kinds of recipes - we all make the same thing with very slight variations.

I can see it now. The "no, I invented mashed potatoes" debate!

It's not that hard to say, "I used or tweaked this recipe from an old church cookbook.

I'm a food blogger, and there are a lot of strong feelings about her on the interwebs for one, recipe citation is a HUGE deal - and she doesn't cite her recipes. Even if they were her grandmother's recipe, it should be cited as so. All other food bloggers do so.

And, it's supposedly well known that there is a lot of hired help running The Pioneer Woman operation. It may have started with just her but it's a giant empire now and that means there is no way she's homeschooling, running a ranch, creating cooking and photographing food, filming a TV show, maintaining an active Pinterest account, maintaining an active Facebook account, parenting, cooking for her family, writing a book, and maintaining her blog/website. It's simply not possible. So for some, the fact that she's not transparent in that is irritating. There ARE other big food bloggers who readily admit to having a team behind the brand now and I don't think it hurts their image - if nothing else, it shows us that it's really not all possible and they aren't super woman.

Thanks!

Off topic, but some things I find interesting about Ina:
She is a former White House nuclear policy analyst. Her father was a surgeon. Her culinary career began with her gourmet food store, Barefoot Contessa.

And about Jeffrey:
He is the Juan Trippe Professor in the Practice of International Trade, Finance and Business at the Yale School of Management and the Chairman of Garten Rothkopf, a global consulting firm.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ina_Garten


Just like the Pioneer Woman's family and her husband's family - they already had loads of money!

Jeffrey worked as a White House finance guy too. Like others have said, Ina isn't downplaying her wealth. She really does live that way. Having money and no children make it possible to do what she does.

That is popular here too I do think she makes you feel like an underachiever, where RR makes you feel like you are equals. Just the sense I get, but I still like her recipes.

Bingo. That says it all. So it's nice knowing it's not real.

Thanks for the education everyone!!

 

[design_mom]

Jeffrey worked as a White House finance guy too. Like others have said, Ina isn't downplaying her wealth. She really does live that way. Having money and no children make it possible to do what she does.

I'm the one who originally brought up Ina, but it wasn't about her money (or Ree Drummond's). My complaint was the contrived 'occasions' that their shows are based around. I'm sure it is the Food Network's suggestion, but I don't like those shows.

 

[castleview]

I'm the one who originally brought up Ina, but it wasn't about her money (or Ree Drummond's). My complaint was the contrived 'occasions' that their shows are based around. I'm sure it is the Food Network's suggestion, but I don't like those shows.

Actually, East Hampton kind of does work that way.

 

[dakcp2001]

Well my strawberry bars came out more like a cobbler! It tastes delicious, but I made the bottom layer too thin.

My perfect pot roast is in the oven and smells divine! BUT I made a huge mess.

Hoping its a winner!

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

I never heard of her. I googled her best lasagna ever recipe.
If I were to make that, it would be the worst lasagna I ever served.

 

[dzneelvr]

I've watched her show a couple of times and find it very entertaining! Her FIL looks like he's about to salivate when he sits down to one of her mealsand her food prep and choices mesh very well with a hard-working, calorie burning farm/ranch operation. Those guys work up a healthy appetite and are not going to be satisfied with some greens and diced chicken on their plateI say good for her! At least her recipes don't contain 21 different ingredients like some of the kitchen divas now on TV

 

[Tooblessed]

Every recipe of hers is a huge hit in our house. Her Peach Whiskey Chicken is beyond words yummy and I loved how she said in the recipe that she ran out of whiskey so she had to go grab her Jack Daniels out of her nightstand.

My daughter and I went to see her when she was in town and I like her in person a lot more than on her tv show. Her sister, Ladd and the boys were there and they were all friendly, talking with everyone and the boys even autographed our cookbook too. They were very cute.

I have followed her blog for years and now follow her website but we don't watch her show very often.

 

[castleview]

I never heard of her. I googled her best lasagna ever recipe.
If I were to make that, it would be the worst lasagna I ever served.

I understand. As a northeastern Italian girl, the thought of prairie lasagna sounds frightening to me.

 

[jen0610]

I understand. As a northeastern Italian girl, the thought of prairie lasagna sounds frightening to me.

Most true Italians would shudder at the thought of putting cottage cheese in lasagna, but when the stores around where you are don't carry Ricotta or if they do it cost an arm and a leg to get it, you use what you can get your hands on. Growing up, mom never once used Ricotta, she always used cottage cheese. Used it in manacotti's as well. It's what I know. Even into adulthood, if I ordered either one, it always tasted funny to me with the ricotta. DH greup with his mom strickly using ricotta, so I now do a combo of the two. The more cottage cheese I use, the better he likes it from his comments, but he has ZERO clue that do use both, as he states that he won't eat it if it's got cottage cheese in it. What he doesn't know, doesn't hurt him.

 

[lucas]

I never heard of her. I googled her best lasagna ever recipe.
If I were to make that, it would be the worst lasagna I ever served.

I would not like cottage cheese in lasagna either. But, she does have a lot of great recipes. And, photos showing every step of the recipe. Check out her blog if you want: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/

Her blog has won lots of awards:

Awards

Seventh Annual Weblog Awards - The 2007 Bloggies
2007 Best Kept Secret Weblog Confessions of a Pioneer Woman (won)

Eighth Annual Weblog Awards - The 2008 Bloggies
2008 Best Food Weblog The Pioneer Woman Cooks (won)
2008 Best Writing of a Weblog Confessions of a Pioneer Woman (won)

Ninth Annual Weblog Awards - The 2009 Bloggies
2009 Weblog of the Year Confessions of a Pioneer Woman (won)
2009 Best Designed Weblog Confessions of a Pioneer Woman (won)
2009 Best Photography of a Weblog Pioneer Woman Photography (won)
2009 Best Food Weblog The Pioneer Woman Cooks (nominated)
2009 Most Humorous Weblog Confessions of a Pioneer Woman (nominated)
2009 Best Writing of a Weblog Confessions of a Pioneer Woman (nominated)

Tenth Annual Weblog Awards - The 2010 Bloggies
2010 Weblog of the Year The Pioneer Woman (won)
2010 Best Writing of a Weblog The Pioneer Woman (won)
2010 Best Designed Weblog The Pioneer Woman (won)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ree_Drummond

 

[hops&dreams]

I never heard of her. I googled her best lasagna ever recipe.
If I were to make that, it would be the worst lasagna I ever served.

When I make that recipe, I only follow her directions for the sauce. My BIL is from Calabria and taught me how to make lasagna, but pioneer woman's sauce with the hot breakfast sausage... Here in Indiana, it's the best I'm gonna get for everyday cooking. Visiting family in Chicago, I'd never use that recipe, but ingredients from the real Italian delis.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[CaliBear]

I love the Pioneer Woman. Every dish I have tried of hers has turned out a winner. I can see why her tv show might be grating if that was someone's only experience with her, but her blog is fantastic. She's obviously a very savvy businesswoman. I think her detractors might be a tad jealous.

 

[nuke]

I like her show and blog. I never thought she was anything but rich. Who has a house and lodge and a huge ranch if they aren't rich? Plus she does say she's an accidental country girl at the beginning of every show. I would have dropped what I was doing for Ladd too.

I could care less where her recipes came from. She made patty melts today. Would that have to be cited? It's on almost every casual restaurant menu I've ever seen. She just shows how it's done. I guess haters are gonna hate.

 

[buffettgirl]

I like her recipes, some better than others
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/09/cajun-chicken-pasta/
is one of my favorites. Others have just been so so.

My complaints about her are pretty well summed up in this blog: http://www.pienearwoman.com/about/

Hysterical read if you have time.

 

[SpecialK]

I never heard of her. I googled her best lasagna ever recipe.
If I were to make that, it would be the worst lasagna I ever served.

I tried it once because a friend raved about it. It was easily the worst lasagna I ever made, though I do like her spaghetti and meatballs.

I don't understand the hoopla over the pot roast. It's a pretty basic method.