In 2010, I bought one of my very first cookbooks—The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl. It was the book that made me brave enough to move beyond boxed dinners and start cooking real food in my own kitchen. The meatloaf recipe looked like something my family would love, and I remember how much I appreciated that Ree included photos for every single step, something she still does beautifully in all of her cookbooks today.

But let’s just say my first attempt didn’t go quite as planned. I noticed she used a broiler pan to let the fat drip off, which I thought was genius. Somewhere in my new-cook brain, I mixed that detail up with broiling itself. Instead of baking the meatloaf, I broiled it—proudly watching as the top turned a gorgeous brown—before realizing the inside was still raw. After rereading the recipe, I removed the bacon and top layer of meat, adjusted the temperature, and cooked it through. By the time it was done, the potatoes were lukewarm, the corn was soft, and my confidence had melted right along with the butter in the pan. But that night I learned one of the most valuable kitchen lessons I still carry with me today: read and understand the recipe before you start cooking.

A while later, I gave it another try and wouldn’t you know—it’s now our favorite meatloaf recipe.

Ree’s updated version appears again in The Pioneer Woman Cooks: The Essential Recipes, this time with a smart upgrade: she places it on a wire rack set inside a sheet pan. Brilliant.

This new collection feels like a reunion with an old friend—the one who first taught me to find joy in cooking. Ree Drummond revisits 120 of her most beloved dishes, refining each one with the wisdom that only comes from years at the stove. Her voice is still as inviting as ever, and the photos continue to make every recipe feel possible, even for new cooks who might just make a few funny mistakes along the way.

The Pioneer Woman Cooks: The Essential Recipes is pure comfort—equal parts nostalgia and fresh inspiration. Whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been cooking for decades, this cookbook feels like a warm welcome back to the table.

Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for the advance copy. All opinions are my own. I’ll be heading to Houston soon to see Ree Drummond on her book tour, and I’m so looking forward to meeting her and adding a signed copy of The Pioneer Woman Cooks: The Essential Recipes to my collection—a full-circle moment for this once nervous home cook who learned her first kitchen lesson from Ree’s meatloaf.

Gracefully yours,

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