This Is The Pioneer Woman's Go-To Dish For Thanksgiving
Have you heard of The Pioneer Woman? If you're a fan of Food Network programming, then you've likely stumbled across her cooking series of the same name, which debuted a decade ago (via IMDb). Also known by her actual name, Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman is a former city dweller. She attended college in Los Angeles, California but fell in love with a cattle rancher and moved with him to a working ranch in her home state of Oklahoma (via KJRH News). After starting a wildly popular blog about cooking and life on the couple's 433,000-acre ranch, Drummond built a culinary empire that expanded to include cookbooks, a memoir, and her ongoing Food Network show (via Food Network).
Known for family-friendly, down-home recipes such as twice-baked "crashed" potatoes and egg-in-the-hole, Drummond has unsurprisingly shared many recipe ideas for the ultimate family holiday, Thanksgiving. Last year, in her very own magazine's winter issue, The Pioneer Woman let readers in on her go-to Thanksgiving dish.
It's stuffing, of course!
We don't know about you, but for some folks, Thanksgiving Day side dishes can be even more exciting than the turkey. One of those people happens to be Ree Drummond. In the winter issue of The Pioneer Woman Magazine, Drummond told her readers that each year, good ol' stuffing tops her list of Thanksgiving go-to's. And who could blame her? Whether it's cornbread stuffing or the classic bagged stuffing mix from Pepperidge Farm, this fluffy, carb-heavy, absorber of gravy is something we just can't resist.
Different members of the Drummond family have different preferences when it comes to the classic side dish (via Showbiz CheatSheet). "My father-in-law and I are the only ones who like it cooked in the bird; everyone else likes it baked in a pan," she wrote. That's what's so great about stuffing, Drummond noted: its versatility. "I love stuffing because you can change it up with ingredients like dried fruit or roasted veggies. I usually make a traditional stuffing and then a separate batch that's a little bit different."
Want to whip up a batch of Pioneer Woman-style stuffing for the big day on Thursday? Check out her recipe for apple-cranberry stuffing on The Pioneer Woman blog or her blog post about how to make cornbread dressing with sausage and apples. We're willing to bet they'll end up occupying premium real estate on your dinner plate.