The pioneer woman cooks : recipes from an accidental ranch wife

Breaking free from a dead-end relationship, Ree Drummond left Los Angeles and made a pit stop at home in Oklahoma on the way to a new life in Chicago.

It was there she met 'Marlboro Man', a fourth-generation cattle rancher with steely blue eyes and a muscular work-honed body.

Drummond fell hard and fast, and suddenly she was married, living on his ranch in the middle of nowhere, and managing a brood of four young children (also known as 'ranch hands').

In her folksy, wonderfully engaging voice, Drummond shares how she learned to cope with the isolation and peculiarities of ranch life, from chasing beavers out of the pond and saddling horses, to cooking for a man who believes the sun rises and sets in a steak and baked potato.

Using only simple and widely available ingredients, Drummond shares many of her satisfying and delicious recipes - both for cowboys and cowgirls - including Cowboy Calzones, Pioneer Woman's Ribeye Steaks, Cheese Grits, fresh Blackberry Cobbler, Pico de Gallo, and Iny's Prune Cake. Bursting with the colours and flavours of country life and peppered with her wonderful homespun stories, "The Pioneer Woman Cooks" encourages even the most harried urban cook to slow down, relish the joys of family, nature, and great food, and keep it real.