‘The Pioneer Woman’ Ree Drummond Admits She ‘Had No Idea’ What She Was Doing When She Wrote Her First Cookbook

The Pioneer Woman star Ree Drummond can do just about anything. Many of her fans view her as the queen of the kitchen. However, according to the Food Network host, she didn’t know what she was doing when she wrote her first cookbook. She decided to just have fun and put together a book she thought her fans would enjoy.

Ree Drummond’s cookbooks

Drummond’s first cookbook was The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl. Published 2010, this book gives an introduction to her cooking style and a brief background of her upbringing. Her second cookbook, titled The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food from My Frontier, was released in 2012. Her other books include The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Dinnertime, The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Come and Get It!, and The Pioneer Woman Cooks—The New Frontier: 112 Fantastic Favorites for Everyday Eating.

Ree Drummond says she didn’t know what she was doing when she wrote her first cookbook

Drummond is honest with her fans when it comes to her abilities. During an interview with Design & Living magazine, she talks about her first attempt at cookbook writing.

“Obviously, I had no idea what I was doing” says Drummond. “I had been a food blogger for a couple of years and taught myself photography.” The Accidental Country Girl says she looks back on the photos in that first cookbook and she cringes. She wasn’t pleased with her photography skills.

“That book came out in 2009, and I look back at the photos and I cover my face with my hands because the photos were not good, but I love it because it was me,” says Drummond. “I wasn’t trying to make it something it wasn’t, so I just did photos of my kids and my dogs interspersed with the food. Even though I look at it now and could say, ‘Oh this should be better,’ I wouldn’t change a thing about it. It was my first cookbook.”

The Food Network host also admits on her website that she was winging it when it came to her first cookbook. She wasn’t quite sure how to go about putting a cookbook together, but she gave it her best shot.

“I had no idea what I was doing when I wrote that sucker, and I didn’t care,” says Drummond on The Pioneer Woman website. “I embraced it and ran with it, and I’ll always be so glad I did.”

Drummond also says she mainly wanted to make food that people would love. “I wanted to make a cookbook full of food that you’d absolutely love, because I love all of you,” she says.

Ree Drummond’s new cookbook

Drummond’s latest cookbook will be out soon. She says the book should be out sometime this fall. The next book will be called The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Super Easy! “I am so excited about it,” says Drummond on The Pioneer Woman website. “It’ll have lots of recipes with shortcut ingredients, which I think everyone needs permission to make.”

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