When I cook her recipes, I keep in mind that she is feeding people who have worked outside all day. I feed small children and office workers.🤣. So, I tend to half the recipe or cook as two dishes - eat one and freeze one.
That’s the best thing to remember. Her family is a farm family, they work hard from dawn to dusk so keep that in mind. Those potatoes would be good with her barbecue chicken recipe.
She may be cooking for a farm family but is presenting the recipes to home cooks. Food Network should have done the adjustments to size the recipe for a normal family amount.
I remember Ree back in the OG blog days too. I followed along with her Black Heels and Tractor Wheels weekly stories. I'm from Oklahoma so we found out about her locally.
I made a recipe of hers ONCE I felt so guilty about all the cheese and butter I was putting in it that I locked the doors, closed my blinds turned out the lights in the front room and made sure no one was watching me make it. I was scared, I survived.😂
I would love to see a "Can Christine guess the measurements" video. Where you measurements things in your hand, then put them in the measuring cup/spoon to see how close you are. 😍
Wet hands helps break up & spread rice. Also always let a a saucy, cheesey casserole sit 15 minutes before serving. It allows to cool & settle not not be a mess to serve.
I've made all of these before as well. My family faves are the sour cream noodle bake, and the twice baked potato casserole. I don't know what I do differently, but my broccoli cheese looks much different than yours. As is the texture. But I have reached a point in my life where casseroles in general are just far too tedious. They use too many pots and pans, are a lot of work and make a big mess. No longer worth the pay off. I have thrown them over for crock pot and sheet pan meals. Sometimes I miss eating them, but I'll never miss making them!
I agree with the prep, for a casserole it should be a lot quicker to put together, I love that you gave an honest opinion on the recipes, that's why I follow your channel! TFS
I like Pastor Ryan's Mexican Lasagna from the PW blog. That's a go-to for me when I'm taking dinner to someone. One question... How much weight did y'all gain after the filming? 😆 I think I gained five pound alone from WATCHING the broccoli rice casserole segment. 😂
While I have watched many of her videos and I appreciate many of her recipes, I just can't refer to her as The "Pioneer" Woman. Opening cans and boxes of stuff isn't quite the stuff of pioneers. 😃
I had never watched her before, and that was the very first thing that came to my mind. NOTHING about this was "pioneer-ish" . Yeah... I may be doing a LOT of modifying to those recipes! I try to avoid 'packages' as much as I can.
But you aren't either and she is giving quick recipes that are are winners with her family On Her Beautiful Ranch!!!.... You can always try recipes that you make Everything and Have time to do it I assume you have All the Time single or just married! With No Kids! ....Thanks Ree!
Sour cream noodle bake is bomb and if you look at the recipe you’re like ehhhh idk about this - but it is SO good. I like to prepare it on the weekend so all I have to do on a weeknight is just throw it into the oven.
@@sheramelton3583 ok, but when the ingredients are identical to mashed potatoes what is the difference? You're just calling it a casserole because of the pan. The exact same ingredients are hitting your stomach.
I bake the huge Jumbo potatoes. I poke my potatoes with a fork 3 times, rub olive oil on them and sprinkle salt and pepper on them then bake at 400°F directly on the oven rack for 1 hour. They don't dry out and they are so good!
This is what I was going to comment. I don’t use my microwave for much but starting them in it, and then finishing in the oven is the perfect way to make a baked potato.
My Mum always put her potatoes in cold salted water and brought them up to the boil. Drain and let air dry before putting in the oven to bake. Never a fail and always crispy.
It's nice to see people put themselves out there to share how they feed their family like Dee did... love that...respect that. We all adjust recipes we borrow from others to make it our own. Trial and error is a great teacher.
I’m not trying to be disrespectful, but I really wish either you’d actually done the recipe the way she’d said in her recipe, or made the title “my version of Ree’s casseroles. You can’t say you’re making her recipes to review them, then completely change them, and then critique them….
Yeah I would of liked to see the actual recipe. You can't really say it is a review when you don't follow the recipe exactly.With that said tho...I think her adjustments would be exactly what I would of done. The title should of been "My versions of Pioneer Womens top 5 recipes"
Would rather have seen the recipe made exactly as is for a true review. I have made a couple of these and they are delicious. I left out the snark while cooking them. 🤣 I could feel the judgement in this segment. Happy for PW success! Also if you watched her cook her own recipes she always grates cheese for better quality outcome.
I looked up that broccoli rice casserole recipe and there were a couple things you did differently - was that on purpose? You didn’t mention the changes (which you did for the other recipes where you deviated) so I wasn’t sure. Only half the cheddar was supposed to go in the sauce, with the rest on top (which, yes, still a crazy amount of cheese, but the textural difference might have affected the taste as well),and it was supposed to be two layers of rice and two of the broccoli cheese sauce, alternating - which again might have affected texture.
UPDATE: I actually DID make it, I halved the milk to 600ml, did a half stick of butter to 4 tablespoons floor, left out the velveeta and the mustard powder and also used rice pouches to be able to do the layers. I also did it for 45 mins instead of 30 and it was great
I would definitely double the rice, blanch the broccoli or nuke for 3 minutes in the microwave, halve the butter, no Velveeta, and like the other comments, add cooked chicken or even cubed ham, and half of the recipes shredded cheese should be on top.
Ree's blog got me through my first years as a new mom, she was everything! 2007 - 2011, loved her so much - she was the only other adult I "interacted" with besides my husband on most days. I called her my favorite friend that I'd never met. But as her popularity grew, she became less real to me. Now she seems like a stranger. Which, I guess, she actually always was, but it didn't feel that way before! Anyway, thank you for bringing back some amazing memories! And for your real feedback on these casseroles! You're awesome!
Her cookbooks are really personal and great. I just borrowed her new cookbook from the library and it took me back to the old days. I guess nowadays she's too famous and has too much going on to run her blog. It's now more like her brand instead.
I could be wrong, but I’m thinking that after the first cookbook or two, there is probably a committee at the publisher’s office coming up with all of these “new” recipes. I know zero “good cooks” who have hundreds of recipes they feed their families on a regular basis…typically just a few dozen with an occasional existing cookbook/magazine/internet recipe thrown in the mix. That’s why I lost interest in her cookbooks after the first couple.
GIRL. I seriously remember the OG Ree Drummond days. I remember seeing her at a blogging conference like 10 years ago! Fun video... and I really LOVE the Pioneer Women bubble heads as your scoring system. LOVE LOVE. :) I'm in Boise... we need to get together one day!
I thought these were all to cheesy and greasy. None of which I would even try. I love many of your recipes but these are just way to rich. I also agree with you on mixing all those layers. Work smarter not harder I say.
Definitely remember her blog days- the Marlboro Man, all those mixer giveaways and blog linkups, stories about the ranch...Pre-pinterest, I had her kitchen tour bookmarked and some of the pics saved to a folder because I loved her drawers with flour, sugar, etc. It was A LOT harder to earn $ on a blog back then (rStyle🤢 didn't exist so nothing was sponsored🤗) so overall content tended to be SO MUCH BETTER than now- you were actually reading about a person's life/interests, not what they felt would get the most views! Ree definitely worked at her blog and was not just a "overnight sensation". She was such a good read. It's crazy that was probably 15 years ago! (As for the drawers-I had them 2 kitchens ago & hated them 😂).
One of the greatest cooking disappointments of my life was a PW mac and cheese. It took me 3 hours to prep and it was just mweh. I do love her show and have her cookbooks, but I've not made many that weren't just too prep intensive for me. I'm curious about her new book that is supposed to be "easy" recipes. This was a fun video!
I really appreciate you talking about how much prep work is required for some of these recipes. Nothing worse than thinking you are going to throw together a casserole and it ends up taking an hour before you can get the thing in the oven. By that point I am ready to eat whatever is laying around and can barely wait for the thing to bake!!!
Velveeta ruins most casserole dishes, in my cheese loving opinion. And sour cream is a beautiful blessing from those cow farting beauties! As is cheese!
I remember the early Ree Drummon days too, I read her blog religiously and tried many of her recipes. Most were fabulous, very good comfort foods. Thanks for taking the time to make these and give an honest review. Love your channel, you inspire me to cook more and keep our pantry well stocked, and these days that's more and more important!
My family loves PW's Chicken Spaghetti casserole from her first cookbook and the savory Everything Bagel breakfast casserole from her holidays cookbook. Give 'em a try!
@@babydollsanta Agreed! I cheat tho and use rotisserie chicken and just cook noodles in chicken broth instead of boiling and breaking down a whole chicken
@@eleveneleven11114 same.. I use rotisserie chicken as well and sometimes even cook the veggies, I have picky eaters that don’t like them too crunchy 🤷🏻♀️
My wife makes chicken spaghetti once in a while. It is an old East Texas country recipe that she grew up on. My kids like it, she loves it. I tolerate it. It is just too creamy and heavy. On the other hand, her mom's chicken pot pie is a winner.
I watched the Pioneer Woman's video and saw that you changed some of the things in the Chicken Tortilla recipe. For example, the seasonings were divided, because she cooks her chicken in half of those seasonings (probably to flavor the chicken), where you precooked your chicken. The other half of the seasonings is added to the onions. She drains and rinses her beans. She probably doesn't use the bean liquid, since she already added seasonings to the chicken.
I will never understand how people will review her recipes 5 out of 5 but then say "I used half the amount of butter" or "I made it once and it was ok, but I remade it and changed something and it was awesome!" Cooking is an art, but it's hard to take a recipe at face value when people don't follow them exactly.
Hey Christine I love to see you redo her dishes!!! She makes so many comfort food dishes and that's what I love I think that her merch on the other hand is way overpriced
I'm not trying to be mean or hurtful....But if you're *CHANGING HER RECIPES* to fit *YOUR TASTES* - you probably shouldn't be rating them 😕 If you made them EXACTLY how she said, I would have no issues with your personal opinion of rating... That's simply My personal opinion. Lol
I have 2 things to say about sour cream 1. I’m gluten and dairy free. However, I have 2 dairy days a week (thank you lactaid) and I eat sour cream on one of those days. 2. A 16 oz. container of great value sour cream recently went from $1 to $1.74! Crazy!
The blog was so funny! Cowboy sayings and her son saying “juice box” were particularly hilarious. I try to remember many of her recipes were for feeding folks who worked very hard on the ranch and didn’t count calories or carbs.
PW doesn’t cook for health most of the time but I do love most of her recipes. I own her cookbooks. I absolutely love southern cooking but it isn’t always good for you.
I really appreciate you ranking all of these and giving your family’s opinions on each casserole. I watched her top 5 casserole video and I was skeptical to make any of them just because of the prep work like you said and I worried if they would really be worth it. I’m definitely going to be doing the twice baked potato casserole very soon!
I'm thinking that I'll make it for Thanksgiving because Mom just invited all 3 of my boys, so she may also add my niece & nephews? That means we will have lots of kids who want to eat! 😀
Bean likker, in the south we call it pot likker. That is liquid gold. I've done a couple of PW's recipes and they were tasty, but most of her things aren't budget friendly like that potato casserole you made. Lots of dairy and pricey to make that one. That is a holiday dish for sure. We have one similar that my family has had for decades, we call it hash brown casserole, it's pretty much the same except no bacon, and you toast corn flakes in butter and then they go on top and you bake it. It's not a holiday without it on the table. I always enjoy your sense of humour. You are fun to be around, just wanted to say that. I love your witty t shirts. I think my favorite is the one where you are silently correcting my grammer. Um, I used to do that too, only not so silently. I remember reading Ree's blog way back when her kids were little, like really little, before she was anyone famous. I enjoyed her pictorials and she is funny too. I don't like her much anymore. She isn't the lady next door now. You still are though. I don't comment here often, but I am usually here in the wings. Waving hello ~~
I’m not sure how you can say it’s a recipe review if you don’t make it the way she wrote it. I’m all for doing it your way but you didn’t make her recipes. I used to cook freezer meals with a group and the members who skipped steps and combined things, we ended up hating their dishes. I guess I’m getting flash backs. LOL
I felt you had a bit of a bad/dramatic attitude while making these. I've made all five, the potato one twice now, and followed her measurements/directions without issue.
I am so excited to watch this! I have always been wondering about some of her recipes. Hoping I can get the necessary ingredients at a decent price in Korea. Omg~ so much butter and cheese! The potatoes are already out of my price range with the butter, sour cream, cheese, and bacon. Pricey foreign foods. ㅠㅠ Bean liquor? Lol I thought I misheard until you said it again. I have never heard that term used for it. ♡ from Korea!
Thanks for the explanation y'all. I am from MN so I had never heard that term used before to refer to the liquid. I have never cooked beans with my friends from the south so that is why I probably haven't heard it. No need to get defensive.
@Ai Zee you are trying to explain, but you are wrong. Bean liquid is not the same as bean liquid . That would be like calling maple syrup maple liquid or calling olive oil olive liquid.
@Ai Zee I apologize for my typo. Sorry I made you so angry you had to yell. You have your opinion and I have been around for 70+ years so I know I won’t be changing what I know to be true. And, have a good day 😃‼️
I put sour cream in/on everything. I love adding a spoonful to my tomato sauce when making spaghetti and it makes it so creamy! I love the idea behind Pioneer Woman's cooking, but I agree. She has so. many. steps. Pre cooking is a nice idea, but still I am with you in regard to adding it all into the bowl and pouring it over. Makes much more sense to me.
I wonder if the cheese was iliminated or maybe just added as a top layer, would it still be good? ( I mean still keeping the sour cream, cottage cheese, cheese suace elements? Love Pw, Ina Garten ect but the amount of cheese and butter always makes my jaw drop! However as an English person I do know that my American sister-in-laws Thanksgiving dinners are bomb!!! So America please keep the cheese and sticks of butter on that day for my sake:) X.
Never been a fan of PW. Her merchandise is way overpriced. Reminds me of when Rachael Ray became famous. I'm sure anyone's recipes would be just as fantastic as Ree Drummond's if you had a staff behind the scenes to help you.
I have found that her merch is very poor quality. I have been gifted several bowls and casserole dishes and they just don’t hold up to constant use and washing. Give me plain ole Pyrex any day.
@@nanato9152 yes! It kinda bothers me using a knife painted with some floral design. Doesn't that eventually wash off or chip away? And some of her casserole dishes look pretty, but again I'm not paying those prices for pretty things. My budget won't allow it. Pyrex is much better & far more durable.
@@stacyrussell460 I have a Cuisinart knife set that also has printed designs on the blade and they do I deed chip off eventually. Not all over (yet) but closest to the blade and especially if you have to scrub anything off of it.
I love Ree's recipes and like you, remember her pre-fame; however, the calories and fat consumed is always so much a thing that I had to start reserving her recipes for special times only. Sad though, cuz they really are delish! Love your video comparison of the dishes!
The sour cream noddle bake is a favorite at my house BUT you must add the green onions that the recipe calls for It makes a Huge Difference on taste buds. I love Pioneer Woman Great Video
I'd love to see your healthier versions of these recipes or similar and your Black Eyed Peas broccoli casserole. With the twice baked potato recipe, I understood her concerns and adjustments. I dislike recipes that don't say potato weight too. I agree with others that if you don't follow the recipe exactly the first time with measuring, it isn't a fair try.
I love that you did this! Love your energy and humor!! I too was a follower of hers before she had a show etc...I WOULD LOVE to see these recipes made without white flour stuff, PUFAS, non-gmo ingredients like corn or corn oil, fried foods, processed foods, foods with all the PUFAS. Her recipes are so yummy but not the healthiest.
I ❤ the Pioneer Woman. We make the 4 hour trek to Pawhuska every year. Her store and restaurant are amazing. We have stayed at the boarding house once. Very Francy 🤠🍻🌻 The tour of the ranch is really neat too.
Potato casserole: use frozen hash browns instead. The diced ones are best. Try adding onion and garlic powder and if you like them, chopped onions. For a holiday or potluck put in Crock-Pot, easy and cheesy!!
Do you mean for the twice-baked one, or the tater tot one? Hash browns would be so much easier than baking, cooling, peeling, mashing, and baking again those potatoes!
@@kryxena the twice baked one 😉 here in the Midwest it's at nearly every winter/holiday potluck and called simply "cheesy hash browns" or "cheesy potatoes". Pretty sure there's not a pound of butter unless it's 8qt or 10qt or larger crock pot batch.
You made good call on the baked potato casserole. I did the 4 sticks that the recipe called for and it swam in grease. Other than that I have always been very happy with Ree's recipes.
Here's a trick for baking very large potatoes in less time; Stick a metal skewer through them. The metal draws the heat into the center of the potato, so that it bakes from the inside, out, while also baking from the outside, in.
I think most of these sound really interesting. We're vegetarians, so would substitute meatless products for the chicken, ground beef and breakfast sausage. I rarely use processed cheese, so like you, I would eliminate the Velveeta. And I'm a sissy, so would have to take it easy on the seasonings! Thanks for testing these for us -- it's great to know what you're getting into before buying and cooking all the ingredients. Great video, very helpful.
Ree had a lovely white bean soup that was delish. Her version had bacon if I recall, but you can omit and add smoke flavor, grill some of the veg, or add smoked peppers.
The prep, if short on time, patients, or love to cook ut have physical issues, there are frozen or pre chopped onions, peppers, and such. The frozen are less expensive than pre-cut in the produce department. Just throwing that out there. I LOVE to cook but have issues in my old age so am finding short cuts here and there.
I made her breakfast casserole for Christmas breakfast last year and it was a HUGE hit with my family! I am going to try the potato casserole, that looked decadent and yummy. 🙂
And there was me thinking casseroles were a healthy option 🤣 those look like a heart attack on the plate with all that cheese, but probably taste great
I loved Ree’s original cookbook and her blog. It’s interesting to put into perspective though what her life is really like though. They have over 433,000 acres and their cattle business is worth something like $200 million, completely separate from her business. It does not surprise me that her recipes are beef and dairy heavy. They have million of dollars worth of cows! I read the book “Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI” and it is a history of that area. It is very interesting but incredibly sad what happened there between the whites and natives.
So should this be added to the CRT list in all the schools... Exclamatin point! Wow, it's always interesting how things go from a fun recipe based, funny and enjoyable RU-vidr to this subject. Sick of it.
@@violapastuszyn1349 I loved her as a young mom, but her country club roots really started overpowering her country charm. I stopped following when they remodeled that other building for her studio, and everything was always so staged.
I love PW recipes. I treat most of her recipes as special occasion side dishes. Definitely NOT everything is for weekly consumption. lol I've always been very aware of my butter, cheese and oil consumption, so when I have the occasional recipe that uses more- I do follow the recipe. But that did seem like an excessive amount of butter in that potato dish. lol
I don't EVER peel white potatoes. The peels taste great , add nutrition, save time. Yep, even for mashed potatoes...I don't peel the potatoes. Sour cream....LOVE.
I love most of Ree Drummonds recipes we have tried. Our favorites are her Sunday Stew, which is always requested by family and friends, breakfast bread pudding, her mashed potatoes recipe, and her chicken mozzarella pasta.
I don’t see why you can’t mix it all together like you did for the chicken tortilla casserole on at once. I never get the layers in the “right order” anyway. 😂
I made a new discovery this weekend I wanted to share. My Walmart has everything french bread. It's french bread with the same stuff on everything bagels. 🤤 It was so good. We had it with home made vegetable soup. It was amazing you should try it, it was only $1 😋 Also I love pioneer woman, and you awesome combo
If you were critiquing MY recipes, and you went THIS far off , I'd be pissed, because they would no longer be my recipes, so how could you possibly critique them?!!!
I can feel my left ventricle slamming shut just watching you make that first recipe. I'm really glad you put in a lot less butter! Sorry, but I think many of the Pioneer Woman's recipes are way too high in fat and sodium. When I try some of Ree's recipes, I usually cut back on butter, sour cream, or cheese.
Black Eyed Peas was the spot for Sunday dinner when I was pregnant with my 1st child! It was something about their meat loaf and the mashed potatoes with the skin that just made my baby happy! And to this day, my baby loves mashed potatoes and meat loaf! Lol
By definition you didn't do her recipes when you don't follow her recipe completely. If it says 2 sticks of butter, do it. When it says 4 teaspoons of seasoning salt, you do it. It's not her recipe when you modify it. That then becomes YOUR recipe.
As one who usually adds extra butter and cheese to recipes, the amounts given in these made me a little sick to my stomach. There actually is such a thing as too much cheese. Thanks for the honest reviews and for taking allllllll the time and effort to make them for us. ~ Lisa
I remember watching her on Food Network a while ago and thinking, "Does she have a contract with dairy farmers for this show? That's a boatload of dairy." But I can't usually eat dairy products.
Your style of presentation seems off here. Very distracted/ unfocused/ hyper/ whining. Better editing is needed. Normally you are more balanced in your comments. I’m disappointed today🥺.
Just my opinion on these: The first one, I am absolutely going to make. The second one, I think they were going for a lasagna effect with the layering, but your version is definitely easier. The noodle bake - uhm, no thank you. The broccoli rice casserole could use some bacon and way less cheese. The tot casserole, never been a fan of any version really, but might have to give this a try now after seeing/hearing your review.
@@heatherhays1141 Minnesotan here. I just discovered King Ranch chicken casserole (well, hotdish here in good 'ol MN) and made it for the first time last week. Luckily, the recipe I used was easy to cut in half, since it's just me and the DH at home. It was delicious and I can see why it's a Texas favorite. Going into the rotation.
I fully don't understand Pioneer woman's popularity. Her recipes often take left turns from another standard recipe that's actually good. Nothing she cooks is original, if anything she makes things worse.
When I grill chicken, I always grill up extra to keep in the freezer for recipes. It takes just as much time to grill up ten chicken breasts as it does to grill six. I would do the same thing with the baked potatoes. Cook up extra when you make baked potatoes for dinner and freezer the extra.
You didn't follow her recipes and then criticize them for not being good. When routinely eating super spice foods, your tastebuds are killed so anything less spicy tastes bland. Never kill your taste buds. Never eat super spicy foods like shown in this video.
The thing about it is she might’ve used 16 big potatoes because she cooks in very large amounts and then it would’ve been the right amount of butter in the right amount of salt because it might’ve been almost twice as much as she put in. Thinking about it if you’re copping somebody’s recipes to see if you’d like them you almost have to copy them exactly and then the next time change them up, don’t you think?
Kinda judgmental? Everyone has different tastes and I try to look at a recipe before making it to see if things my family doesn't like are included. Otherwise I am comparing apples to oranges?
I loved Blackeyed Peas blue cheese dressing and the fried corn on the cob!!! We lived in Richardson, Tx and live just a few blocks from one and it was our go to place.
I’m sure there’s a difference in flavor too from fresh ingredients she uses versus Wal Mart ingredients. So even the ones that aren’t the best might be better with fresh high quality stuff. Great video!
PW is actually pretty notorious for cooking with Walmart ingredients because that's the closest place to buy groceries from her Oklahoma ranch. She became popular because her recipes were made with ingredients anybody in rural America could find easily and the results were usually fattening and family friendly.
