(It’s a sunny Saturday morning here at the ranch and Ree’s signature sweet rolls will here in about fifteen minutes! More on our time here next week. In the meantime Arden, Elaine, and Christen are our winners! Congratulations!)
It was only two years ago when Maggy and Sharon said, “Mom, it’s time. You’ve got to start a food blog.” They were right.
As I was contemplating my identity as a food blogger, both girls were insistent: check out The Pioneer Woman. Once again, the girls were right. The woman who had charmed them was about to dramatically broaden my world
Maggy had discovered The Pioneer Woman as a young bride living outside London. At that point her cooking repertoire was limited to burgers, and Bolognese. She grew up around cooking, of course, and when she was in high school I tried to coax her, but hanging out at the mall was more interesting than learning to make meatloaf with me.
I dutifully sent her off to college with a set of my books that promptly got lost in all her moves. But then Maggy found Ree, the person she could check in with every few days and find a new recipe her man would love.
Sharon had always been drawn to the kitchen and didn’t need as much recipe inspiration. A hopeless romantic, she was drawn to Ree’s prose. During her two-year stint as Fine Cooking’s assistant web editor, she admits spending office hours reading Black Heels to Tractor Wheels. It was, after all, her job!
And then I started paying frequent visits to The Pioneer Woman site. Like my daughters I was attracted to Ree’s classy, warm, bumptious virtual ranch. I was thrilled that the daughter I thought would never take to the kitchen was calling home to say she had just made Olive-Cheese Bread, Ranch Dressing, or Marlborough Man-approved Crash Hot Potatoes.
I wanted to find a way to thank this woman who had entertained one daughter with heart-throbbing romance and lured the other into the kitchen with crowd-pleasing recipes. I did the only thing I knew to do. I sent her a couple of cookbooks and a note thanking her for all she’d done. When it comes to raising kids, it’s true: It takes a village.
And now I thank Ree for helping Three Many Cooks find our way into the food blogging community. We hope to show the same kindness to our friends and colleagues just starting out.
In anticipation of Maggy’s and my visit at the Ranch this weekend we’re giving away three sets of Ree’s three books: The Pioneer Woman Cooks, Black Heels to Tractor Wheels, and Charlie The Ranch Dog. Deadline is 6:00 PM Friday, June 24 Central Time when the party starts. In the spirit of the weekend’s theme, tell us your go-to recipe for when you’re just havin’ people over.
P.S. Sharon, we know come July you’ll be mightily relieved to have your intensive Hebrew course behind you, but know that Three Many Cooks feels a little incomplete without you at the Ranch.
Here’s Ree’s Blackberry Cobbler to add to the fun!
- 1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter
- 1 ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup self-rising flour
- 1 cup milk
- 2 cups blackberries (fresh or frozen), rinsed and pat dry
- Heat your oven to 350 degrees and butter a baking dish.
- Melt butter in a microwavable dish. Pour 1 cup of the sugar and flour into a mixing bowl and whisk in the milk. Mix well. Pour in melted butter and whisk it all together.
- Pour the batter into the buttered baking dish. Sprinkle blackberries over the top of the batter; distributing evenly. Sprinkle the remaining ¼ cup sugar over the top.
- Bake until golden and bubbly, about an hour. If you’d like, sprinkle an additional teaspoon of sugar over the cobbler 10 minutes before it’s done.
My go to recipe is spinach and bacon ravioli!
I turn to dishes I’m 100% confident with. Warm roasted veggie salad with a mustard seed / lemon dressing. Grilled salmon or pesto chicken. mmm.
My best hope for company is that come during the fall or the winter. Now, I consider myself to be a really good cook, but every good cook has their favorite things to cook. Mine happens to be soups and stews. I did not grow up clutching my mother’s apron, watching her cook. She was not that kind of mother. But she descended from a long line of Southern farm women that definitely know their way around the kitchen. Mother passed to daughter all the secrets passed down through the family….until my mother. I watched what she did, but was left to pick up cooking mostly o my own. Thanks to Grandmother’s church cookbook, I had access to a wealth of family recipes. The rest……I picked up as I went. But unlike those women in my family that came before me….I acquired a talent for creating pots of soups that leave my family and friends with HUGE smiles and swollen tummies. SOOOO, I would have to say that my favorite go to recipe for company is…Pasta Fagioli. But my version. Everyone loves it! And it is a flexible soup that excepts changes gracefully. A pot of this soup and a good bread is all you need. And it is a dish fit for royalty!!!!!
Ree is absolutely WONDERFUL, and I hope that your trip is everything you’re dreaming it will be!
My go-to dish for company almost always involves a dairy product or two… or three (after all, I DO live in the Dairyland state!)
My favorites usually include creamy hot dips like crab n cheese or buffalo chicken dip… with LOTS of kick!
NOT entering since I have all the books….I thank REE for you ladies also! I love your site! Keep up the good work and HAVE a ball on the Ranch!
I have to have a fabulous dessert…like chocolate raspberry pavlova.
Mine in the summer is a three cheese pasta with fresh tomatoes.
I have a recipe for beef bourguignon that’s my go-to recipe for company.
I alway have some type of seafood dip on hand for company.
Go to recipe side dish Caprese! I’d eat it as the main course. Love it.
First of all, I looked forward to TMC’s weekly recipe in the Sunday newspaper. Having your blog feed directly into my Facebook page is even better!
In terms of a “go to” recipe for company, it usually involves chicken and rice, with a garden salad. If I know the folks like seafood, the recipe can morph into paella (without chorizo).
Enjoyed the story about Ree. Have fun at the ranch.
My boys love meat – so spice-rubbed grilled flank steak with lots of veggie sides always goes down well.
My go to for casual get together in the winter is roasted chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy. Its hearty and warm and makes everyone happy because it feels so homey. I top off the homey with fresh from the oven chocolate chip cookies and Chai tea (love Big Train Chai!). In the summer I make this spinach and mandarin orange salad and I grill fish and steak and serve it all with a naan bread appetizer and homemade lemonade. Summer dessert: strawberries on biscuits with homemade whipped cream… yummo!
LOVE your blog… an Ree’s! I’m just getting started on the blog thing and am hopeful to finally have a place to put my voice!
Pam, my new go-to dish for company is your Coq Au Bin Blanc!
🙂
Chicken Kiev or PW’s chicken parm.
MY go to meal for company is Chicken Fried Steaks with mashed potatoes, gravy and peas, or a tossed salad. Of course I got the recipe from Pioneer Woman’s blog. I’m not lucky enough to have one of her books (yet???)
I can always depend on a good roasted chicken with whatever seasonal vegetables happen to be around. My new favorite for cooler weather, however, has become your Cassoulet recipe! I now keep an interesting variety of sausages in the freezer and can’t tell you how many times I have made this… always to rave reviews! I love it so much, and I love that I can put it in the oven and just let it do it’s thing! Let’s me enjoy my time with company. Love it and love you guys!
I would call my mom and ask her what recipe to make. Now I have her boxes of recipes to go through, enjoy and pass on.
I have alot of appetizers that I use, so instead of everyone sitting down to a big meal we can just eat and move around and talk
Actually, I my favorite at the moment is Pam’s doable paella…I love that cookbook and am working my way through it.
My go-to recipe for having people over is stromboli with a side of insalata caprese. The stromboli and salad are both so no-fuss, I can prep them and leave them while I get ready (and do the death-defying 10-minute whirlwind apartment cleanup).
Baked Ziti is my go to recipe. Die hard meat eaters love it and are amazed when they find out there’s no meat in it.
I’ve been a fan of Pam’s for years, and learned about Ree when the ‘Pioneer Woman’ cookbook was published. — My go-to recipe currently is slow-cooker pulled pork.
I make something that looks fancy but is really easy, like salmon cooked in parchment.
My go to recipe is grilled pizza topped with tomatoes and basil. Simple and delicious.
I’m jealous I’m not going to Ree’s ranch….you are going to have so much fun! I found your blog through Pioneer Woman and love it. I predict a lot of success for 3MC too 🙂 My go to dish for guests is bruschetta. I start by making homemade garlic parmesan toasts with fresh bread. I throw fresh tomatoes, basil, garlic, olive oil and balsamic vinegar together and spoon it on the toasts. Simple but it’s always a hit!
I honestly don’t have one. Whenever I know people are coming over I usually try something new. I know your not really suppose to do that but otherwise I feel like I don’t ever get to try anything new.
My go-to thing for entertaining would have to be Ree’s Restaurant Style salsa! My friends and family BEG me to make it for them all the time, and I happily oblige! It’s so easy (and delicious).
Chocolate Chip Hazelnut Cookies. Can’t go wrong with cookies!
My “go to” recipe when I’m having people over is usually pot roast with potatoes, carrots and some form of garlic cheesy french bread! 🙂 Have a FANTASTIC time at the Ranch!!
I’m a dessert girl so my go to recipe for summer is a berry trifle. I love the freshness of the berries and the lightness of the trifle. It’s a great entertaining treat.
My family doesn’t eat gluten, so my perfect go-to recipe is kabobs. (Actually, I love the recipe in Perfect Recipes for having people over! The orange glaze is my fave.) Nobody ever suspects I chose that dish to get around our pesky dietary issues! And all that freshly grilled food spread out on a platter makes a phenomenal presentation.
My go-to recipe isn’t sophisticated or daring, but it is *always* a crowd pleaser–and when I’m having a crowd over, I guess I should give them what they want, right? My friends and family demand brownies by the batch whenever we’re hosting or attending an event, and they don’t care that it’s just a box mix with a little improvising–they use that as an excuse for it being even easier for me to whip them up on call! 🙂
I have read Ree’s blog for a couple years now…would love to have her books too! My favorite summer meal would be chicken with garlic and butter on the grill, veggies, and deviled eggs!
My go to recipe is called “Better than anything chocolate cake”.
It is a 13 x 9 chocolate cake – baked. Once out of oven
Poke holes in cake, drizzle can of sweetened condensed milk,
Jar of caramel sauce. Let it cool in the refrig. When ready to
Serve, top with cool-whip and 4 crushed Heath bars! Enjoy with coffee
Or milk! Everyone licks their plates clean! Enjoy!
I’m guilty of experimenting on guests– I always seem to try something I’ve never made before when people are coming over. Sometimes it works out.
I just love to cook for people and I don’t have just one go to recipe, except for breakfast. I always make baked oatmeal with fruit for breakfast when we have company (and we make it a lot when we don’t have people over too!) The recipe I use came from a cousin and I don’t think it is online but tasty kitchen has some really great baked oatmeal recipes I have tried too.
I recently bought TPWC because her Red Velvet Cake looked like the best recipe I’ve seen. Less cocoa for a real “red” cake. It was fantastic! I can’t wait to try some of her other recipes.
Pam, I look forward to hearing about your visit to the Ranch.
if it’s in the summer, it’s simply meat and vegetables thrown on the grill served typically with a fruit dessert. if it’s in the fall or winter, a braised roast or a well-developed soup or stew with fresh bread, a salad, and a baked dessert. i love pw!
i would love to read all of Ree’s books, she is a huge inspiration and endearingly positive. I always had a dessert on hand.
I hope you have a great time at The Ranch! I look forward to receiving my weekly mail from my parents because they send me a copy if your newest recipes. It doesn’t hurt that I get the recipe on FB. I absolutely adore your Lemon Bar recipe. My two go to recipes are spaghetti or Spicy Dr Pepper shredded pork tacos!
If I win, can you autograph my cookbook and maybe Ree!
Have a great weekend!
Lol
What a great giveaway. I would love to win. 🙂 My go to recipe is my Chicken Spaghetti. It’s easy and tasty.
My go to dinner recipe is Spaghetti Carbonara. My default dessert is a delicious pudding/whipped cream/cream cheese concoction we call Chocolate Supreme. Have fun at the ranch!
In the snack category, it’s actually Ree’s Restaurant Style salsa http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/appetizers-and-snacks/restaurant-style-salsa/
I’m a big fan of lasagna for dinner parties, it’s fast…easy…make-ahead…and leftovers are not hard to get rid of.
Ree’s chocolate sheet cake is a go-to-dessert, because even the people in my life who “don’t like chocolate” eat it!
If there is any in the freezer all our friends LOVE my husbands smoked pulled pork. Scalloped potatoes, corn round it out.
I’d love to win those books! 🙂 When I’m not out to impress, my go-to recipe when having company is Enchiladas. I serve it with some black beans and homeade Gaucamole w/chips. Mexican is always easy and tasty! Everyone loves it and it’s also a stress free meal to make.
Have fun at the ranch!!
My go to recipe would probably be poppy seed chicken. Very simple and easy to make.
I make grilled skirt steak and asparagus, and mustard roasted potatoes. P.S. I really wished I was joining you all on the ranch! Have fun!
I usually serve a Barefoot Contessa (Ina Garten) main dish.
I found you through The Pioneer Woman and I love the Pam Anderson Cookbooks.
My go to meal, probably my spaghetti. It’s a coveted recipe- if there’s a family gathering I’m instructed to make a batch to bring…a batch starts with a trip to Costco…and a minimum of 9lbs of meat. And I rarely have any left to bring home! My go to dessert- King Arthur’s Brownies.