Test Kitchen

[Lisin]

Anyone ever tried a recipe? She's super fun to snark on but sometimes her recipes are really good! The chocolate sheet cake (which is more commonly called Texas sheet cake) is a winner, as is the best frosting ever, when you combine them it makes people happy.

[ShellSeeker]

I watched an episode with my older daughter one day, and Ree made ice-cream pops, which I then had to try. It's vanilla ice cream, Oreos, M&M's, and peanut butter cups. You let the ice cream soften a little, and then mix it all together with the cookies and candy. How can that not be good? Then you spoon the mixture into small paper cups, put a popsicle stick in them, and then let them firm up in the freezer. Yummy! Certainly not rocket science, but what I liked about it is that it made exactly as much as the recipe said it would -- 15 ice cream pops, all the same size. 

I watched an episode with my husband once where she made some sort of pie with ice cream and Snickers. He said, "This is what passes for a cooking show on the Food Network? It's like bachelor cooking!"

Edited March 31, 2014 by Queasy-bo

[Tahitigirl]

I've made only one recipe of hers: Chicken Florentine Pasta. This was on one of her 16-minute meal shows. It took a lot longer than 16 minutes but I didn't use pre-washed spinach and that added quite a bit of time. Overall, we really like it and have made it several times. ETA: we usually add mushrooms when we make it.

Nothing else has appealed, or I already have a similar recipe to what's she's made. We're not into opening boxes and cans at our house and prefer to use fresh ingredients and lots of veggies...something that's sorely lacking on her show.

Edited April 5, 2014 by Tahitigirl

[Lisin]

I moved some posts here to the General Discussion topic to keep this topic open for posts on recipes people have tried.

[Veruca Assault]

Off the top of my head, I know I made her pot roast, which was very good. I know I've done other things that I liked, but can't remember them at the moment.

[Fostersmom]

She's given credit to her MIL for the chocolate sheet cake, who didn't create the recipe either. Something about Ree needing it to keep Ladd happy. My mom's recipe for banana bread is different from most others (it's a full size crusty-ier loaf, no little half sized loaves that are kind of sticky), and I call it hers, but honestly, it's not. She got the recipe from her home ec class in high school. Am I gonna call it the recipe from some random home ec teacher in 1975 who probably got it from a cook book or someone else? Nope, it's my mom's. 

I always say I'm going to make the little lemon blueberry pancakes I saw, but who am I kidding? I don't even make regular pancakes. Most of her recipes are geared towards her family of 5 or more, not so much just me. And since I'm not really a fan of leftovers, I tend to cook on a much smaller basis. She's got more recipes for smaller portions on her blog, salads and lunches, but I haven't tried any of them. 

[Viqutorious]

I made this recipe verbatum. It tasted ok. Corn casserole:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/fresh-corn-casserole-with-red-bell-peppers-and-jalapenos-recipe.html

The issue I had was that it curdled and separated, it looked like there was cottage cheese mixed in. Gag.

I wonder if i should have waited and got the cream to room temp? I never cook with heavy cream so I am a newbie regarding that.

Edited April 13, 2014 by CheeseBurgh

[Lisin]

I don't think room temp. would have made a difference. This is a strange recipe. I've never tried it but it seems similar to something my grandmother made that she called corn pudding but that had eggs in it. I think that may be a problem with the recipe, I don't see how it would cook up to look like it does in the picture without something to bind it. Strange recipe. Sorry it didn't turn out well because it looks delish in the photo!

This isn't a recipe I've tried but a tip I guess? On one episode Ree delivered something, probably drinks but who the hell knows, to the rest of the family who were painting gates. In the episode they all had these mits on that looked like those mitts you use to wax cars. Sort of like this:

They were just dunking them in a bucket of paint and then wrapping their hands around the gates and painting with them. Anyway my family owns a farm and we've spent 20 years painting gates with brushes and it is a gigantic pain in the butt. It takes FOREVER and it's super annoying. We were due for painting yesterday so I went to autozone and bought a couple of the car wash mitts, they're not waterproof on the inside so we wore latex gloves in them but MAN, we painted 20 gates in under 3 hours which is a FEAT let me tell you. It also used less paint. The mitts are only like $3 each so we just threw them away afterwards but this is a revelation. I swear, if I never cook anything else from her show this alone was worth watching every episode. I'm thinking it would work just as well inside too, like if you needed to paint the banister in your house, because it's just so easy to move around round objects to get good coverage. I will never stop being excited about this discovery. I had to share.

[roughing it]

I made Ree's Sour Cream Noodle Bake (well not really Ree's, since this recipe has been in every church and elementary school fundraiser cookbook across the U.S.)  It calls for cottage cheese, which I detest, but used it anyway.  The casserole turned out good, and I have to admit the cottage cheese wasn't too heinous.  However, if I were to make it again I would probably use ricotta instead.

[Lisin]

@Roughing it, I forgot! I made that too for a friend who had recently had a baby and needed easy freezer meals that her super picky husband and 3 year old would eat. I made the noodle bake, and my own recipe for cheese enchiladas, they were both a big hit. I would probably use ricotta again if I did it too, though I don't have any problem with cottage cheese. I never make casseroles at home because my husband hates them so I knew that PW would definitely have some recipes that would work for picky eaters since apparently her house is full of them. 

[Viqutorious]

I used fresh corn on the cob. I scraped all the corn off the husks. I live in IL and we get really good sweet corn. I bought it at a farmers market! I followed the recipe.

It was labor intensive, (for me) and really looked repulsive when I pulled it out of the oven. Just a heads up. I would avoid that recipe.

Edited April 19, 2014 by CheeseBurgh

[MMLEsq]

I watched an episode with my older daughter one day, and Ree made ice-cream pops, which I then had to try. It's vanilla ice cream, Oreos, M&M's, and peanut butter cups. You let the ice cream soften a little, and then mix it all together with the cookies and candy. How can that not be good? Then you spoon the mixture into small paper cups, put a popsicle stick in them, and then let them firm up in the freezer. Yummy! Certainly not rocket science, but what I liked about it is that it made exactly as much as the recipe said it would -- 15 ice cream pops, all the same size. 

I watched an episode with my husband once where she made some sort of pie with ice cream and Snickers. He said, "This is what passes for a cooking show on the Food Network? It's like bachelor cooking!"

I've made both of those recipes.  I made the ice cream pops for my daughter's annual back-to-school pool party and they were a huge hit. 

 

This past weekend I made an ice cream pie from her recipe.  It called for peanut butter cups and some other hard chocolate/PB candy (like Butterfingers)... I substituted Hershey's miniatures for the Butterfingers.  I also used a store-bought Oreo crust, just to save time, rather than making my own crust with graham crackers and butter.  Again, it was a huge hit at our house.

 

Her strawberry shortcake cake, which I made for a birthday party over Easter weekend, was not received as well.  It was okay, but if I made it again, I would increase the amount of frosting and would not macerate the strawberries.  I'd just use fresh strawberry slices and serve it fairly soon thereafter.

[colz85]

A couple of her recipes are favorites.  Her meatballs are delicious....they needs more sauce than the recipe calls for, but otherwise...yum.  I've made them for friends before and gotten raves.  Also love her chicken tortilla soup and olive cheese bread.  The latter is not for regular consumption, as it is a heart attack on french bread....

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

I made the Crash Hot Potatoes once. Once.

They are the ones where you boil Yukon Golds, then put them on a cookie sheet drizzled with olive oil, then smash each potato with a fork, and bake them until they're brown and crispy.

 

They got brown, but they never got crispy. We ate them, but they were pretty  much just squished potatoes.

[tabloidlover]

My family loves these.  However, they only crisp up if you put them under the broiler for a minute or two after they finish in the oven.  Just my own little tip for you.

[Viqutorious]

Here is the real recipe for those potatoes, Jacques Pepins recipe.

http://www.food.com/recipe/jacques-pepins-potatoes-fondantes-274197

[Lisin]

I make the PW crash hot potatoes sometimes. I like to infuse the oil with garlic before brushing them with it, and I tend to get the little fingerling potatoes and cook them in a steam bag in the microwave rather than boiling and sometimes I add bacon and cheese after I've broiled the crushed potatoes (because @tabloidlover is right about that part!) and I guess the more I type the more I realize I just got the idea from the PW and then changed it a bunch.

[sandyskyblue]

I admit I read all the snark on the 'Marlboro Woman' blog and occasionally post over there....I also will (grudgingly!!) admit that I adore this recipe of hers, it is a genius idea and it makes me wonder where she stole it from!!  You can frost and fill this pre-made angel food cake in any way you like, I have done this a number of times with regular chocolate frosting in between the 2 layers with chocolate ganache poured over the top, and everyone I have served it to has ohhhed and ahhhed over it!!   I have cut the angel food cake twice to make 'squares' of cake, with no excess leftover, but I think cutting them into rounds just looks better!!  These are delicious, easy, quick to make and look amazing!!  

Here's the link: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2012/10/itty-bitty-nutella-cakes/

[LuckyBitch]

sandyskyblue, that recipe looked good until I got to the Cool Whip part. I flove Nutella but can't stand Cool Whip. I might try them with fresh whipped cream. Or, even some canned  frosting would be better to me than Cool Whip.

Edited June 8, 2014 by LuckyBitch

[sandyskyblue]

sandyskyblue, that recipe looked good until I got to the Cool Whip part. I flove Nutella but can't stand Cool Whip. I might try them with fresh whipped cream. Or, even some canned  frosting would be better to me than Cool Whip.

Agree, LuckyBitch, I thought of adding that I never use Cool Whip anymore to that post, so much better to use fresh whipped cream, but didn't do it...again, use whatever you like best, that is what is so nice about this recipe, you can vary it any way you like!

Edited June 8, 2014 by sandyskyblue

[LuckyBitch]

Yes, sandyskyblue, I liked your idea of pouring chocolate ganache over the top. You're right, I can think of all different variations on this. Thanks for linking it! It looks like it will be an easy and quick summer dessert.

Edited June 9, 2014 by LuckyBitch

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

Yesterday (rerun? don't know) Ree made a Caesar salad dressing with raw egg, and pot de creme with raw egg for a special dinner for her dad. Yikes. I have gotten sick from raw egg a couple of times before and it is so, so bad.

Are those pasteurized eggs any good? Can you use them instead? The ones in the shell, or are the ones in the little milk carton OK?

[sigmaforce86]

I made her olive cheese bread which is fantastic BUT.....she says in the recipe notes that you won't know the half a cup of Mayo is in there -- You definitely know! All we could taste was the mayo. Tried it again cutting that in half and it worked fine. Between the butter and cheese and the salty olives we don't make it often but it's great as an occasional calorie splurge

[doglover]

I've made several recipes.  Wasted a lot of money on ingredients.  Here is the secret:  If a recipe uses boxes, jars, and cans, it probably came off one of them and has been tested.  If it uses fresh ingredients, don't bother, she hasn't tested it.  She's not a cook, that's for sure.

[Bajovane]

Yesterday (rerun? don't know) Ree made a Caesar salad dressing with raw egg, and pot de creme with raw egg for a special dinner for her dad. Yikes. I have gotten sick from raw egg a couple of times before and it is so, so bad.

Are those pasteurized eggs any good? Can you use them instead? The ones in the shell, or are the ones in the little milk carton OK?

Yes, the pasteurized eggs can be used raw.

[Babyfoot]

I made the bacon wrapped club crackers, which weren't bad. I have a recipe for bacon wrapped grissini breadsticks that my family likes better, but the club crackers were okay. If I remember correctly, I had to adjust the heat and the ridiculous length of time from what Ree said to cook them at.

Edited October 23, 2014 by Babyfoot

[HyeChaps]

I tried the chicken with pasta, spinach and tomatoes---that's exactly what it was.  Tasted fine.

[Iboatedhere]

I made her pumpkin cinnamon rolls after I saw them on today's show.

 

I had to go online to get the recipe and oh my god that woman loves to take photos. I appreciate a few at key moments in the process but it felt like I was scrolling forever to get to what I needed. 

 

I subbed almond milk for whole milk and needed a lot of additional flour once it was done rising. I think she called for a half a cup but I easily used 3. Probably more. I worked with it for a long time on the cutting board to get it to the point where it didn't stick to anything. If you're a non-Drummond human being I think a half a stick of butter would be enough for the filling. I had quite a bit left over so I used it to butter the pan (I always, always, always, use cooking spray so I guess Ree won by default this time). If anything I would have doubled the cinnamon sugar mix.

 

I cooked it for 45 minutes instead of the 15-20. I did bake it in a 9x13 pan instead of 3 separate pie tins so that probably had something to do with it.

 

They taste fine. Not the best cinnamon rolls I've ever eaten or made but I'd make them again. Even with the extra baking time they came together a lot quicker than other recipes I've used before. I'd make them again but with my own adjustments. 

[anneofcleves]

Thanks for the review, iboatedhere.  So you kneaded in 3 extra cups of flour to the recipe?  That seems so high.  Were they a little tough?

 

I'm such a fan of Alton Brown's overnight cinnamon rolls that I never think to try anything else.  They're perfect.

[Iboatedhere]

Anneofcleves- a little. But I had to add it. No amount of flour sprinkled on the dough, board, or rolling pin was going to make them roll out and then roll up.

The bottoms were chewy because I had to bake them for so long.

I've never tried Altons but I'll have to. My current favorite recipe is one I found in Pinterest that has pudding in the batter. They're so thick and yummy and *Homer Simpson drool*

[MelineB13]

I live and die by her mashed potatoes.  Any time I make them, people rave!

[mwell345]

I've made this/;

 

Chicken and Noodles

 

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/chicken-and-noodles-recipe.html

 

We liked it alot and it freezes well.  We do thicken the sauce a little. 

[lookeyloo]

I've made her crash potatoes and they are wonderful.

[anneofcleves]

I made her stir fried cauliflower a few weeks ago and found it to be really salty, oily, and not really worth the fuss. You could more easily, and with less oil and mess, make something similar by roasting it and tossing with lime, sriracha, and a bit of lower sodium Tamari or sesame seeds.

[Wishing Well]

I made her pasta with leeks and pancetta...

Zero flavor. So I ended up gritting my teeth and shoving a hunk of Brie in it. And then we had flavor overload. And now my butt is overloading out of my jeans :(

[Qoass]

Buy a bunch of loose, flow-y tunics and nobody will notice your butt.  I'm sure Ree has some shopping suggestions for you.

[anneofcleves]

I made her pasta with leeks and pancetta...

Zero flavor. So I ended up gritting my teeth and shoving a hunk of Brie in it. And then we had flavor overload. And now my butt is overloading out of my jeans :(

Oh, right.  You must have missed the addition of chopped jalapenos and a drizzle of ranch dressing.  That's how cowboys like it.

[BBDi]

This is the best recipe of hers I've tried (from her website, not from Food Network website).

 

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/03/ginger-steak-salad/

 

I use my grill pan and thus can make it year-round. The fresh ginger really makes it special. It's also very adaptable - you can add grape/cherry tomatoes, or throw the vegetable of your choice (eg, asparagus) on the grill along with the steak. I think I might have tweaked it a bit to cut down on the added sugar - can't recall.

 

Anyway, I can get that bitch on the table in <30 minutes, and it looks and tastes good.

[ariel]

It doesn't say much for her recipes that a lot of people have reported that they have to  "tweak" them because they contain too much sugar/salt/fat to make them edible,  but then again,  that's how "cowboys" like it.

Edited January 30, 2015 by ariel

[grisgris]

Too much scrolling through photographs to bother with. Glad you enjoyed it though! :)

[txvoodoo]

It doesn't say much for her recipes that a lot of people have reported that they have to  "tweak" them because they contain too much sugar/salt/fat to make them edible,  but then again,  that's how "cowboys" like it.

I read that recipe - sugar AND brown sugar. For a steak salad. Two tablespoons of white sugar in the dressing - gawd, that's why I make my own - who needs their dressing that sweet??

[BBDi]

I read that recipe - sugar AND brown sugar. For a steak salad. Two tablespoons of white sugar in the dressing - gawd, that's why I make my own - who needs their dressing that sweet??

 

Yeah. I definitely cut it down in the dressing...I might even have used Splenda, I can't recall. I didn't worry about the marinade so much, given that most the marinade is discarded. Still a very handy recipe to have.

 

I do wonder why anyone in this day and age would put that much unnecessary sugar in recipes. Makes no sense to me.

[anneofcleves]

I think she adds lots of unnecessary sugar and fat to recipes because she's not skilled at designing recipes.  She doesn't know anything about flavor balance.  That, or her taste buds are all f'd up.

 

Case in point, her chocolate pie from yesterday.  She has to crap it up with a whole bunch of chocolate sauce, caramel sauce, whipped cream, and candy, as opposed to appreciating the perfect balance between the sweet, creamy pie filling and the crisp, salty pie crust.  That's the beauty of good pie.

[Iboatedhere]

We've been snowed in almost every weekend in the Northeast so I've been looking for recipes to make (because who cares how much you eat/weigh when it's 10 below and snowing) and last weekend I made her cinnamon bread. I don't know if she's ever made it on her show (because it doesn't have a ton of butter, sugar, heavy cream or jalapeno's so it's probably not cowboy approved) but it's delicious. Takes a little time because it has to rise twice but it's worth it. I also added raisins.

 

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/08/homemade-cinnamon-bread/

[Aquarius]

I think she adds lots of unnecessary sugar and fat to recipes because she's not skilled at designing recipes.  She doesn't know anything about flavor balance.  That, or her taste buds are all f'd up.

 

Case in point, her chocolate pie from yesterday.  She has to crap it up with a whole bunch of chocolate sauce, caramel sauce, whipped cream, and candy, as opposed to appreciating the perfect balance between the sweet, creamy pie filling and the crisp, salty pie crust.  That's the beauty of good pie.

 

I don't know.  I got the distinct sense that Ree crapped up that slice of pie solely for the "his and her" effect.  Because that's the way they roll around there. 

[Hildegard802]

Ree loves her some stereotypes. Still with the cowboys eat this; cowgirls eat that. It's sickening.

[mousie]

 

Ree loves her some stereotypes. Still with the cowboys eat this; cowgirls eat that. It's sickening.

I know and how many times did she repeat that in this episode.

[Aquarius]

Yes, she certainly loves her cowboy/cowgirl paradigm.

 

I loved how Ladd likes chocolate pie.  Just plain old chocolate pie.  Don't be giving him any chocolate silk pie, or chocolate chiffon pie, because it won't fly.  My question is, how would Ladd know the difference, exactly, if he wasn't told?  Either he's a culinary neanderthal, or he's not.  I would imagine to a "Cowboy", a choc'lt pie is a choc'lt pie, thank you, ma'am.

[BBDi]

I've also made this one from her PW website a couple of times and it was excellent.

 

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/07/farfalle-with-zucchini-a-yummy-summer-meal/

 

Yes, it has cream in it and probably doesn't qualify as health food but it was good and tasted fresh. I think you can find some good recipes in the archives of her non-FN website. Just to give credit where credit is due.

[grisgris]

I can't stand how you have to scroll through a gazillion pictures to get to the actual recipe.