Review of Pioneer Woman Cookbook

1 cookbook

16 weeks

9 recipes

5 (then 4) bloggers

lots of opinions.

Here’s the recap of it all.

Let’s start with the good.

For as much as I thought many of the recipes didn’t necessarily work well as written (and I’m using the term “work” liberally, from technically not working all the way to just not being my cup of tea), there were still 4 that I’d call good.

I would make all but 1 of these again and that’s not because the (white chicken enchiladas) were bad, but because they were just too time consuming and more of a mess than I’m willing to make in my kitchen for a recurring meal.

These were the ones where I thought the flavor of the dish was good, the ingredients solid (or at least easy tweaks could be made) and I would be happy eating again.

I don’t know what the hell has happened to me in that I’m posting the only 2 desserts as “the bad”.

That’s so not my style. Give me sweet over salty/savory any day.

But the reality is, both of these recipes needed serious alterations to work for me. Ingredients were beyond excessive (my favorite word of this series) and while the orange sweet rolls did taste delicious in the end, there were large modifications made on my part to get them that way.

And then there was Billie’s Italian cream cake. Poor guy really didn’t have much going for him. He was a looker though at least.

A word I never use in real life, but for some reason it works when written…Meh.

Perfect description for the mushroom sliders and chicken fried tacos. They were good while eating them but then lined up with the other 9 recipes they fall right smack in the middle of the spectrum.

Nothing spectacular, nothing horrendous. I’d eat them and all their fried glory again if someone else cooked them for me (and cleaned up the stove).

Now, drum roll please….

Carnitas pizza.

I dream of that word, that experience and those leftovers that turned into these carnitas pineapple paninis.

This recipe changed me. I’m pretty sure I will look back 20 years from now and still remember the taste of that delicious pineapple soaked shredded meat.

This is the only recipe of the series that I’ve since bought more ingredients to make it again.

There’s a can of Goya pineapple juice in my pantry and a 4lb. chuck roast chillin’ in the freezer right now. It hasn’t yet been made only because I fear that I’ll eat 3.5 pounds of it myself if I make it when it’s just the 2 of us. Anyone want to come over for some meat? Is that a weird party invite?

Seriously, I’d marry this meat if that didn’t mean some hefty divorce repercussions first. Single ladies, take note.

And with that, PW Wednesday comes to a real close. Thanks for following along on the adventure. Now go make some carnitas.

As always, to see how the other girls rated the recipes check out their recaps below. I’m pretty sure I’m the only one having a love affair with meat pizza.

Julie

Megan

Rachel

And we may or may not be up to something again this October. Stay tuned…

Gina Matsoukas

Founder and Writer at Running to the Kitchen | About

Gina Matsoukas is an AP syndicated writer. She is the founder, photographer and recipe developer of Running to the Kitchen — a food website focused on providing healthy, wholesome recipes using fresh and seasonal ingredients. Her work has been featured in numerous media outlets both digital and print, including MSN, Huffington post, Buzzfeed, Women’s Health and Food Network.