‘The Pioneer Woman’ Ree Drummond’s Thanksgiving Traditions
The Pioneer Woman star Ree Drummond likes to follow Thanksgiving traditions each year. The Food Network cook enjoys both common and unexpected traditions during this holiday.
Ree Drummond’s Thanksgiving traditions
Drummond says she has a lot of food-related Thanksgiving traditions. One meal she likes to make each year is a mashed potato dish. She says the best thing about potato dishes is that they can be made ahead of time, so she usually bakes her potato dishes the day before Thanksgiving. “Then I’m not peeling, and mashing, and boiling on the day,” says Drummond during an interview with Parade magazine.
Green beans and tomatoes are another favorite of Drummond’s. She likes to cook this dish for Thanksgiving because it’s colorful and it goes well with her other dishes.
Another tradition the Drummonds follow is that they don’t work much on Thanksgiving Day. She says she likes to cook, but Ladd and her other family members don’t do much ranch work on Thanksgiving.
Ree Drummond likes to watch her favorite movies on Thanksgiving
Movies are also part of Drummond’s Thanksgiving holiday. She likes to watch two of her favorite movies—The Godfather and Gone with the Wind. “They’re on TV every Thanksgiving, and they really get me through it,” she tells Parade.
The Accidental Country Girl made her first big Thanksgiving meal around the second year of her marriage to Ladd Drummond. She says she knew how to cook but was intimidated because she had never cooked for a large group of people before. However, the Food Network star says everything turned out well.
Ree Drummond’s favorite Thanksgiving recipe
In the winter issue of The Pioneer Woman Magazine, a reader asks Drummond what her go-to Thanksgiving dish is. Drummond reveals stuffing is her absolute favorite side dish to make each year. However, her family members each have preferences when it comes to how they like it to be prepared.
“[I like] stuffing, which is actually both stuffing and dressing in our house,” wrote Drummond. “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. 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.”
Planning ahead for Thanksgiving
Since the Drummond ranch is quite far out in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, Drummond says she’s not close to a major supermarket. She has to plan meals ahead of time so she can get her dinners ready.
Drummond says she usually does her shopping the Sunday or Monday before Thanksgiving so that she will have time to go back and buy something if she forgets an ingredient. She told Parade magazine that if she’s in the middle of cooking dinner and she realizes she’s missing an ingredient, she’s “out of luck,” so it’s important to shop early.
Drummond says she tries not to make Thanksgiving only about the food. She makes sure to take time to count her blessings and remember those who are less fortunate.
“When I was younger and I would help my mom cook the Thanksgiving meal, all I could think about was first of all eating, and second of all, going Christmas shopping the next day,” said Drummond. “That’s what Thanksgiving meant to me. But through the years, I really do take the concept of Thanksgiving seriously. Even though there’s a lot to do with meal preparation, I try to keep it in my mind the ways that we are blessed.”
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