The Pioneer Woman Cooks up a Book!

Bless Ree Drummond's little country heart, her alter ego and mega-blogger extraordinaire The Pioneer Woman is publishing a cookbook.

Now a lot of her recipes contain more butter and cream than my local superstore's dairy case, and that's just....well...that's just...oh for crying out loud, if I'm being honest, that's pretty awesome actually. What's wrong with a bit o' butter and cream?

AB-so-lute-ly noth-ing.

That's where taste comes from, people! Do I make her chocolate sheet cake everyday? No. Do I want to? Never mind. The point is, that chocolate sheet cake is perfect for special occasions, like days that end in 'y'.

Some of The Pioneer Woman's recipes have become family favourites. Take Penne a la Betsy. (If you can - you have to move fast in this house because it disappears quicker than teenagers when it's time to do the dirty dishes.) The only recipe I haven't like so far is the Asian Noodle Salad - far too salty and garlicky for my tastes, but I just made a few adjustments like cutting back on the soya sauce and garlic and voila - crunchy, healthy awesomeness. And you can have chocolate cake for dessert, guilt free.

The Bacon-Wrapped Jalapeno Thingies is the next recipe I'm going to taste-drive. We have a cottage party coming up, and they look like the perfect appetizer to serve with cold beer on a hot summer's night by the lake. I'll let you know how they turn out.