I spent most of the last two days up at the Lodge for a cooking and foodblogging event. All day Monday, I tested and photographed four new recipes for Land O’ Lakes, then Tuesday, some of my foodblogging friends came to the ranch for a Land O’ Lakes event. This is one of the recipes I made on Monday. Scrumptious!
This is another one. Whoa!
This is another one. Sinful!
And this is another one. Ridonkulous!
All these recipes will be shared throughout the next few months, but it was really fun to do them all together in one day, testing and refining as I went.
(And eating as I went.)
(Of course.)
The next day, my foodblogging friends showed up: Joanne, Jenny, Maria, Bridget, Sommer, Jessica, Julie, and Brenda.
I love these girls and have been friends with a few of them for much of the time I’ve been blogging. (In other news, sweet Maria has a bun in the oven: Boy #2! Awwwww.)
(And Jessica’s also expecting…twins!)
(I had to keep my baby fever in check all day. I think I was successful.)
We had a really fun day. One of the main events of the day was a “Chopped”-style cooking competition wherein the girls broke into teams of two, drew two ingredients out of my husband’s sweaty cowboy hat, and prepared an on-the-spot dish that included those two ingredients.
In addition to the ingredients, they also had a pantry full of miscellaneous ingredients they could use, as well as a fridge full of different proteins: chicken, beef, shrimp, etc.
The teams were Sommer and Julie…
Bridget and Jessica…
Brenda and Jenny…
And Maria and Joanne.
The competition was crazy!
And I got to be one of the judges. Here, I am apparently looking toward the heavens while considering the global, spiritual, and existential ramifications of the bite I just took. I did this with each dish, of course. And while my fellow two judges just limited themselves to one or two bites of each dish, as food judges are supposed to do, I licked my plate clean each time.
Here were the four dishes, created on the spot! They were amazing, and Bridget and Jessica’s dish, the steak/kale/bacon creation in the bottom right, took home first place.
It was a squeaker!
Oh, and I snapped this photo somewhere along the way because I have issues.
Oh, and I snapped this one, too. For the same reason.
And speaking of issues: Later in the day, I took all the girls on a tour around the ranch, and at a certain point I thought it would be appropriate for me to get out of the car and sit down on the crunchy grass in front of some cows. I just wanted to show my visitors how docile cattle are, and, evidently, how unstable I am.
(Thank you, Brenda, for capturing this moment! Ha.)
After that, I took the girls to The Building and showed them around a bit.
Then we came back to the Lodge for a big dinner that included some of the girls’ recipes (as did lunch, as did breakfast!)
It was an absolutely amazing dinner: skirt steak with chimichurri butter, delicious cheesy biscuits, roasted cauliflower, hasslebeck potatoes, salad…
And then, just after we finished our dinner, the power went out in our part of the county and would be out for the next two hours until Indian Electric could fix the problem at the substation!
Ha.
It was a perfectly authentic glimpse into life on the ranch.
We sat around the table, talked about Real Housewives of wherever, and played a food trivia game by candlelight. It was so much fun.
The girls are all headed home today, so this morning my boys, Charlie, and I went up to bid them farewell…
And, in my boys’ case, raid and pilfer the pantry and fridge.
They love it when people come to visit!
(And, as you can see, so does Charlie.)
_________________
(Note: While Land O’ Lakes sponsored the fun and food-filled blogging event at the Lodge, this post is all mine. Just wanted to share with you what I’ve been up to the last couple o’ days! Love, P-Dub)
Ree Drummond is the founder of The Pioneer Woman and a lover of butter, basset hounds and life on the ranch! Ree started her blog in 2006, and now millions visit ThePioneerWoman.com every month for her trusted recipes and fun family stories. Here’s what she has been up to since it all began:
New York Times Bestselling Author
Ree has written two memoirs (Black Heels to Tractor Wheels, and Frontier Follies) plus nine bestselling cookbooks:
The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl (2009)
The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food from My Frontier (2012)
The Pioneer Woman Cooks: A Year of Holidays (2013)
The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Dinnertime (2015)
The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Come and Get It! (2017)
The Pioneer Woman Cooks: The New Frontier (2019)
The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Super Easy (2021)
The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Dinner’s Ready! (2023)
The Pioneer Woman Cooks: The Essential Recipes (2025)
Food Network Host
Since 2011, Ree has been sharing simple, family-friendly recipes—and the occasional kitchen prank!—on her award-winning show The Pioneer Woman, filmed right on Drummond Ranch. Ree is also a regular judge on Food Network competitions, including Christmas Cookie Challenge.
Founder, The Pioneer Woman Collection
Ree has been creating and selling kitchen and home products at Walmart since 2015 and she’s involved in designing every piece and pattern. The line now includes best-selling appliances (you have to see the floral blender!), plus hundreds of pieces of cookware, tableware, and more. Ree doesn’t like to play favorites but the Agatha print has a special place in her heart.
Restaurant and Hotel Owner
Together with her husband Ladd, Ree has opened several bustling businesses in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, including The Pioneer Woman Mercantile—a bakery, restaurant, and general store that draws visitors from across the country (many come for the biscuits alone!), P-Town Pizza, Charlie’s Ice Cream Shop, and The Boarding House, a charming hotel with eight different rooms decorated by Ree and Ladd.
Media Personality
Ree appears regularly on national TV shows like Today, Good Morning America and more—all while managing to keep flour off her shirt.
Wife, Mom and…Grandma!
Ree’s kids (daughters Alex and Paige and sons Bryce and Todd) are all grown up, and as of December 2024, Ree is the proud grandma of the cutest baby ever, Sofia Scott, born to Alex and her husband Mauricio. Ree still cooks for Ladd (and the kids when they’re home), and she also looks after a few mischievous ranch dogs.
