Cooking like the Pioneer Woman

I'm not sure who pays attention to my blogroll there at the side, but on that list, you'll find one of my favorite home and foodie bloggers, The Pioneer Woman. Haven't heard of her? Where have you been? This is a romance novel come to life, one she's written herself, even.

However, I mention her today because I got another of her books this week. Her second cookbook. This particular cookbook:

I already own the first, but as soon as this came out, I went straight to Barnes & Noble and got it.

Why? Not because it's healthy diet food, that's for sure. The Pioneer Woman feeds growing kids and ranchers, and is married to a man for whom most vegetables are too weird to eat. She cooks hearty, homestyle food most of the time, with the occasional urban dish thrown in to satisfy her roots.

But I got this one for two reasons. First, some of the recipes in the first book are now family favorites. I made her olive bread at Christmas and just about had an orgasm from how good it was. My kids are always whining for me to make something from it, and I have to put them off a good part of the time because eating that way when you're not a rancher would have you breaking your scales before too long. But they're easy to cook and easy to follow, with gorgeous pictures to help along the way. I have to indulge every once in a while

I love her cookbooks for how homey they are, too. They are chock full of photos of her life, her kids, her husband, her animals. This is a woman who has laid herself bare for her readers. If you follow her blog, you will soon know this family as well as you know your own.

So buying her cookbook? Is a little like coming home.