The Pioneer Woman....I Ain't!!!

One of the first blogs - and still one of my most favorite - I discovered was Ree Drummond's, "The Pioneer Woman".  Don't you just love her?!?!?  Many aspire to have as huge an impact and as large a following as the original blog-pioneering woman, but few will ever equal her - in Blogworld or in the kitchen.

I did a post some time ago about some of my favorite cookbooks.  Eddie had recently given me a signed copy of "The Pioneer Woman Cooks".  What a fabulous cookbook!  I have spent many hours, thumbing through the pages and dreaming of creating such yummalicious meals as she does. 

And now she has a terrific new show on The Food Network!  Have you caught it on Saturday mornings yet?

A few weeks back, she made macaroni & cheese for her son's birthday celebration.  Oh, my Lord...it looked so tasty!!!  I pulled out the cookbook, found the recipe and decided to give it a try.

Now, I could tell from the ingredient list that this recipe was going to make roughly a ton of mac & cheese (you need four cups of raw macaroni elbows - that's a lot for us empty-nesters).  But, that was okay....

We love mac & cheese.

We will enjoy this for days!!!

So, I proceeded to put together all the ingredients and give it a whirl.

Right away, I encountered a problem.  The recipe calls for plain ol' flour - all I had was some whole wheat flour.  But, I figured since I use it a lot in cooking, this shouldn't be a big deal. 

WRONG!!!  

As I started simmering and stirring the rue, I realized that both the color and texture of whole wheat flour were going to change the appearance of the dish drastically.  Maybe I'm just so accustomed to seeing that neon-glow-in-the-dark-orange tint that you get with the box of Kraft mac & cheese.  In comparison, this just looked so.....

Unappetizing!

The cooking progressed and I grew more and more dismayed that my mac & cheese wasn't going to look like her's.  I got so upset about it that I completely forgot to stir all the seasonings into the rue before I started adding cheese.  In fact, I forgot all about them until I spotted the small bowl of pre-measured seasonings sitting there by the stove when I shut the oven door to start baking the prepared dish!!!! 

I immediately grabbed the large skillet filled with about 20 pounds of yucky, tan-toned mac & cheese out of the oven and stirred in the seasonings.  At this point, I was just about in tears....which, for some reason, seemed to annoy Eddie Dale immensely.  So, I slammed the dish back into the oven, shut the door and began to clean  up the mess in the kitchen.  (I might insert here that I was already a little PMS'y this day...)

Let me point out that my selection of the oversized oven-proof skillet in which to bake the dish was not optimal, either!  After the required cooking time, I pulled out the finished product and started serving it up.  Unfortunately, the crust was truly a "crust" - thick, dark brown and overcooked, downright crunchy.  So, I realized we would just have to scoop out the inside and avoid the vast burnt expanse of the edges.  Ugh...

All I can say is that it was an "experience".  Not a pleasant one, necessarily....nor a tasty one.  The use of the whole wheat flour definitely changed the dish - and not for the better! After we suffered through the meal, Eddie carefully avoiding making any eye contact with me, I carried the skillet of leftovers straight to the trash can and unceremoniously dumped it!

The silver lining to this debacle - we had prepared her "comfort meatballs" as the main dish and I can say that they turned out to be awesome!  Thank goodness!!!  Because my version of the mac & cheese was a total disappointment.

And now you know why I love to collect cookbooks and gaze longingly at them.....because my experiences in actually preparing dishes according to the recipes are sometimes quite disastrous!

Keeping it real in the kitchen, y'all....

Jane

Some of My Favorite Things...

I have always loved cookbooks. From the time I was a little girl flipping through the pages of my mother's binder-style "Better Homes & Gardens" cookbook, I loved to look at the photos of the finished dishes and scan for dishes that appeared particularly appetizing. I READ cookbooks like some people read fiction!!!

I was so enamored with my mother's cookbook that she bought me my very first cookbook of my own - and I still have it!


I am particularly fond of this one, which I received as a wedding gift some 28 years ago. The author, Jane Justin, was the wife of the founder of Justin Boots, and it was from this cookbook I learned to make meatloaf.


Eddie Dale has definitely fostered my love of cookbooks. Now this is the cookbook I gave him our first Christmas together, so now it's kinda mine by association. Tom Perini is special to the two of us because my husband proposed to me at Tom's steakhouse in Buffalo Gap, in front of a roaring fireplace in the back room! A cowboy and a steak...how romantic!


I am a huge fan of Jan Karon's Mitford series, having read every single one of her books and salivated over the many sumptuous dishes described in tasty detail. My dad and I share a love for her wonderful storytelling and he gave me this beautiful book. I love this cookbook because it intersperses bits of the stories in with the recipes. I still don't have the courage to attempt Esther Bolick's Orange Marmelade Cake!


Junior Leagues across the South put out some of the best cookbooks anywhere on a regular basis. I found this one published by the LaGrange, Georgia Junior League in a shop in Fredericksburg a few years ago and, although it has no photographs, it has some of the best Southern recipes - particularly desserts.


I absolutely adore Paula Deen - her cooking, her style and sense of humor, her spirit and spunk. My sister gave me this book a couple of years ago for Christmas and it is chocked full of great food and Paula's amusing and touching anecdotes. I just love it!


The most recent addition to my collection is one of the most fantastic cookbooks to have ever been published, in my opinion at least. She may not be Julia Child, but Ree Drummond, aka The Pioneer Woman, put this baby together all by herself and it's a masterpiece. From the photography to the tasty and practical recipes, it is an absolute gem and I can sit and look at it for hours!


Something else that makes it special is that is autographed to me! I don't live anywhere near where a book-signing was held by this amazing woman, but Eddie Dale mailed it to her and she signed it and mailed it back in time for me to get it for Christmas!


As I am packing these books away, I realize that they are among some of my most precious possessions. They have taught me not only to cook and provided the inspiration for tasty food for my family, but they have brought me endless hours of enjoyment.

Do you have some favorites in your cookbook collection that you would like to share? I'd love to hear about them!

Bon Appetit!!!

Jane