anneofcleves

Hi everyone. It feels like forever since I’ve been here. Life’s been busy between work and the usual stuff. Hope all are well! I do still have my fascination with Ree and her quest to take over the prairie, if not the entire world. And there is always her food (yark). I’m watching a Ree-peat now and thought of y’all. p.s. I had no idea she has added packaged foods to her empire. Learned something new already!

I can’t believe Ladd married her. She adds cream to linguini with clam sauce. One of the most perfectly simple pasta dishes, and she, predictably, adds cream. I’m surprised she didn’t add bacon.

The episode was Big Game, Big Food. More like Big Game, Absurd Portion. It’s like she’s cooking for people with eating disorders, which is not at all a joking matter. So the spaghetti and meatballs uses three pounds of meat to make three, one pound meatballs. To serve 6-8 people, according to the recipe. OK, that’s dumb, but so is she. And while we are on dumb, isn’t Texas toast just more thickly sliced commercial white bread that costs more than regularly sliced commercial white bread? Why not save your fans some money and tell them to buy regular old cheap white bread? Her gigantic pizza slice comes out looking like a misshapen, poorly cut piece of pizza, that she then carves up into random polygon type shapes to serve. Dumb. The worst was the stupid mile high burger that was just a hot mess of everything your cardiologist doesn’t want you to eat, vertically stacked with a wood skewer. If someone served me that and expected me to disassemble that prior to eating I’d want to stab them with the skewer. I couldn’t bring myself to watch her make dessert. I may be close to giving up on watching her. She’s clearly given up, so why should I contribute to her ratings? It’s not even snark worthy, it’s just laziness.

We will expect a full, online fashion show, fully accessorized, with you and your friend in Pioneer Woman fashions! Do it before you eat!

You guys, it’s halla-pee-nuh. Rhymes with tuh-may-tuh. And puh-tay-tuh. Emphasis is always on the “uh.” :-p

I had the same thought. I’m lazy and don’t peel potatoes much, only when I make mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving, and would rarely have enough of them for a batch of roasted skins. Just like with her chicken skin idea. If I buy chicken with skin on it, I cook it on the chicken and eat it. It’s always a good idea to use food in ways to reduce waste, and I think she offered some good basic tips. This does seem like a departure for Food Network, who historically has had so many shows where hosts are wasting a lot of food during prep.

Wow, that’s pretty close, isn’t it? Ree added her usual glob of cream cheese, but other than that it looks like Alton’s. I guess it was leftover week on FN, because all the shows seemed focused on using things up. I can’t imagine doing what she did with pie crust to make those cheddar crackers -they would be so greasy, especially if served with that cheese dip. I like cheese like you wouldn’t believe, but that’s overkill.

I always picture Ree driving through Pawhuska like a presidential motorcade - a line of black SUVs traveling very close and at a high rate of speed. As the vehicles slow to park, the camera crews hastily pile out of the vehicles and scramble to get in position to film Ree delivering cookies to the homeless shelter or elderly shut in. Now, thanks to hearing of all of their traffic tickets*, I’m envisioning a few dead bodies along the way as she mows them down in the parking lot of wherever they’re shooting. * The cynic in me is not surprised to hear of all the unpaid parking tickets. I think that with that level of income, fame, and local celebrity a massive sense of entitlement, and downright cheapness about how they spend THEIR precious money, emerges in some people. A lot of stuff gets published about her that, I’m sure isn’t true, but for whatever reason I can totally picture this one.

How (why?) do I keep watching? I love educational programming and like watching cooking shows, and when I sit down to watch tv I pretty much default to news and how-to shows. I have no expectations that I will learn a thing from Ree or be inspired to make anything she demonstrates, and it’s a mindless bit of downtime to watch just because it’s there or just for snark. In other words, I have no good reason for why I watch her other than to waste a little time. It shouldn’t bring you down, though, and if it does you should take a break from it, Lura. I say this to myself every time I watch the news but can’t seem to tear myself away from American politics.

That’s a perfect description of the rye bread pizzas. My mind went to cat food on cocktail rye. The ground beef buying at the grocery store is totally ridiculous. She’s mentioned before how they have sides of beef processed and frozen, which makes perfect sense given what they do and how far out of town they live. She made a big deal out of this during one episode that focused on using the lesser, tougher cuts of beef for stews or slow cooking or something. Did anyone notice how fancy the store was when she was shopping? Did Pawhuska Hometown Foods get a facelift?

Bolognese sauce has whole milk in it traditionally, tabloidlover. She got that part right.

Another ode to hamburger. Sigh... Yeah, that polenta lasagna might be one of the heaviest things she’s ever made. I love both Bolognese and polenta, too, but combining them in a lasagna is really dense. How about a nice little slab or dollop of polenta, a spoonful of Bolognese, and a few shavings of parm? That way all the great sauce is not lost in all the cheese of a lasagna. She made a meat sauce that looked fine. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a classic Bolognese. I know there are many, many variations but most that I’ve seen use pancetta, use less tomato (because it’s not really a red sauce), use white wine (again, because it’s not really a red sauce), and do not have all the additional herbs she threw in. Of all the things she doesn’t add pancetta (or bacon) to, she chose this recipe. She does trick us sometimes. Her hair no longer looks human. It’s like long, stringy clown hair.

I think the Drummond boys resemble their dad quite a bit.

Bwahahahaaa. Now there’s a testimonial.

Doesn’t it? ?

No, Lura. I meant circus peanuts. They’re an old time candy.

I totally agree with the thought that Ree doesn’t understand flavor and texture balance, but I’m not so sure she totally made the citrus and radish thing up. I did a little googling, as we know Ree does now that she’s wiped out all reserves of ladies auxiliary and church cookbooks, and I saw a New York Times recipe that called for radishes, citrus, and pistachios. Saveur had one, as well. She’s not that creative, so I would bet she found it through the google or had it on some spa vacation. I am surprised she didn’t put candied pecans or circus peanuts on it.

I’m sorry, I’m still stuck on that hot greasy pile of gore that she made with tater tots. Did she actually suggest that the tater tots break down and you won’t know they’re in it? Then why use them? Why not use plain old hash brown potatoes, or heck, use O’Brien potatoes and she’d have the peppers and onions already in the mix and she wouldn’t have to be bothered chopping them up? Instead, she uses tater tots, places them on the BOTTOM where they will break down and lose the crispness that most people like about tater tots. Even Michelle Duggar knows you put the tots on top of the casserole if you’re going to use them. :-D More imporatantly, I suppose, is why do I care?

The juxtaposition of this episode against Ina’s earlier brunch episode was almost comic. Ina did this great waffle bar with a mix of sweet or savory toppings (I love her for including savory toppings like smoked salmon). Ina also made a potato-based frittata that looked very simple and good. Then comes Ree and her “ladies brunch,” with her revolting tater tot and pork sausage casserole. Aside from sounding gross with tater tots, what puzzled me most is how she makes sure to finely dice all of the peppers, carefully mixing them with shredded cheese into the egg mixture, only to then (stay with me here) pour the entire thing over the sausage/tater tot mixture while carefully redistributing all of the pepper/cheese mixture that she just poured in. Huh? Just layer the ingredients individually, dummy. For as much money as she rakes in, she’s actually pretty stupid isn’t she? The whole episode was weird. Citrus salad with radishes? No thanks. And please leave the roasted shrimp off my Bloody Mary, especially if it’s being followed with a giant slab of that greasy processed food-laden casserole.

Wow, Ree should sue! That recipe has Pioneer Woman stamped all over it. It’s for cowboys!

Mmm, creamy beans and corn. That looks right up her alley. I think it needs some tumatuhs, though, and maybe a cuppa cream cheese to make it extra glorious.

Yes, gris gris, that shirt with that hair is probably the worst color combo she could have come up with. Not a good look. The shirt was actually very reminiscent of the top of a maternity dress I wore to work when I was very, very pregnant with my son. I always felt like a whale in it. Lol. The pop looked like Coke to me, but the recipe says Dr. Pepper. I think that’s her standard old pulled pork recipe from several years ago, right (of course)? And I was only half paying attention to the cookies, but yeah. I just don’t think I’d give a bunch of men who are eating outside on the job a messy dipped chocolate cookie, but whatever. It’s all staged. The fruit salad looked very good to me and something I’d try. The lime jalapeño syrup sounds pretty good. I think I’d wait for warmer months to try it, though.

Stabbing, definitely works with the crime scene theme. To present the cake, I recommend Ree put on her prettiest pink dress that she would have worn to Homecoming.

Can you imagine the taste and consistency of that Jello, corn syrup, and white chocolate concoction? Makes my teeth hurt just thinking about it.

I found another recipe to “inspire” Ree! It’s just the thing to make when you want your Christmas dessert to resemble a crime scene. https://ispot.tv/a/wjEY