Major Guilt Trip

Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond, released her second cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks Food From My Frontier, a while ago.  I received a copy to review and life got in the way and I never blogged about it.  I feel terribly guilty about that. I rarely accept books because of how my life goes but I couldn't resist this one of course and then I dropped the ball.   I'm going to tell you about it anyway and hopefully I will learn to love myself again.  It's not too late to pick up a copy.  It's never too late! That's the one good thing about cookbooks is that you'll never see the movie before you read the book.

I don't think you should mess with a winning formula when you have one so I was happy to see that Ree's second book was similar to the first. I find with popular cookbook authors that sometimes the cookbooks become a little less authentic as they crank them out but this one is still just what you would expect from The Pioneer Woman. I pulled both books out and put them side by side.

This book has the same gorgeous photography with step-by-step pictures of each recipe. You won't ever find yourself wondering if Ree tested all of these recipes because the proof is there right in front of you. If you read the Pioneer Woman blog, you know what to expect. These are recipes that are mostly directly from the blog. If you don't read her blog, why the heck aren't you reading her blog???

I think a lot of what I said when I reviewed the first Pioneer Woman cookbook could be said again. I think she has a nice mix of recipes - some that are nothing new, some with a twist but you do not necessarily buy Ree's books for the recipes. They are fantastic recipes but she freely gives those on her blog. In her books she gives you a gorgeous photographs, stories and humor to go along with the recipes. Wait, she gives you those on the blog too.  If you don't understand the benefit of feeling a book in your hands, I feel sorry for you.  Okay, maybe not that sorry. You probably have more living space than I do.

Anyway, if you like cookbooks full of solid recipes, beautiful and abundant color-photography, humor and heart, both Pioneer Woman cookbooks are a must-have.

I made the Restaurant-Style Salsa and I may never buy salsa again.  So easy!  So good!  So pound-adding since I know there are a million ways to eat salsa but none compare to eating it with fried tortilla chips.

And when I had the first cookbook out, I made her Chocolate Sheetcake. I didn't get a picture but that was a HUGE hit as well. I left out the nuts.  It was incredibly moist. 

Okay, I feel better now.