The Pioneer Woman

You've heard me babble about this woman on my other site. You are tired of her. Frankly, so am I. She's got it too good. She cooks too much. There's no way she has time to do all she does. And yet...

I go back. Every day. I wait to see what she'll feature on that cooking site. I make the things she makes. I do, in fact, learn from her. Most of all, I appreciate her brand of cooking, which is regular with a little upgrade. She doesn't make over-fancy dishes. She cooks regular things, some of which I already make (which makes me feel good about myself - always a website plus) and some of which are things I can totally see wanting to make, and knowing that my husband will eat. The food usually has a touch of class, but she's not afraid to use common ingredients - ones she can find in her small hometown grocery store.

I think the way she organizes her recipes is totally useable, and the pictures - oh, the pictures, she takes of the process. My sister and I agree that our favorite is always her "cast of characters" post that is the first photo of every post. It features all of the ingredients, sort of piled up and stacked, ready to be used, and somehow it always has all this character and appeal, and I feel confident that what she's getting ready to make, I too, can make. Her writing is a little overmuch sometimes - I think she thinks she's quite cute. But it's not that distracting, and sometimes I do even chuckle a little despite myself. Don't let her writing get in your way; her cooking is still pretty freaking good.

If your computer is slow, this is not the site for you; those gorgeous pictures she stuffs her posts with take a minute to load.

From her site, I have made:

• Cheesy Olive Bread - most excellent and fattening glory, if you like olives, which, in fact, I do.
• Spicy Chicken Legs - good, but only so-so, and I even kicked up the "spicy" quite a bit from what she suggested.
• Cinammon Rolls - I'd say these are above average but not excellent. I think it's the fact that she uses baking powder AND baking soda in order to avoid kneading... it's just not my favorite taste. But that's just me; I think most people love em.
• Pumpkin Puree - It will probably turn out to be a good thing, but my instinct is that I should have buttered and salted the pumpkins before baking. Or something. It remains to be seen.
• Wings/Wing Sauce - perfect, but, like, how hard is that? It's a standard wing sauce recipe.
• Marlboro Man's Favorite Sandwich - you know what? It IS really good. And cheap and easy to make.
• Crash Potatoes - simple. fast. delicious.
• many, many more...

Generally speaking, it's a site for the everyday cook who wants delicious things to feed an entire family. The food is decidedly midwestern, which I find comforting, and it's usually at least a little bit fun.

Simply Recipes

Elise at Simply Recipes has gone and done (been doing) what I would so love to do but A) can't because I'm not as good a cook as she is, and B) can't because I can't take a decent photograph of food.

Of all the cooking websites, and there are trillions, I like hers best for several reasons. The way she indexes and organizes her recipes, for me, is very intuitive. There are a million ways to do this, as evidenced by the millin different ways cookbooks in print organize their contents, and I think it is just as important as the recipes themselves. Because if you can't intuitively find them? They might as not be there.

I also appreciate the elegant simplicity of the recipes she offers. Sometimes there's an exotic idea or ingredient thrown in there. Sometimes she tosses in a recipe that requires extra time, a special skill, or a particular utensil, but usually they are just really good, authentic recipes that anyone can make, and anyone would want to make, in my humble opinion.

Like her recipe for spanish rice. I have had some very bad spanish rice in my day. I have made some very bad spanish rice in my day. I have seen a million variations on how to get the tomato taste in there, some of which require laborious processes of cooking tomatoes, skinning them, pureeing them, and then using the juice while cooking the rice. This is too hard for me, and it will send me running back to Mahatma for the packaged stuff, which is pretty damn good if you ask me. But Elise allows for using canned tomatoes, doesn't ask for a bunch of hard-to-find herbs, and her product is flawless. I am a poor rice cooker, and I have not been able to mess up her recipe.

Disclaimer: She does have a particular fascination with oxtail, and I just can't get into that.

I also like how she always tells where she got the recipe, often crediting her parents or other family members in a very delighful and non-gushy nor overly sentimental way.

Her recipes read right, and are followable, unlike many that you find on the mass production sites like about.com. The process makes sense in the order she presents it, and for that I am grateful because I am forever mixing things together before I should because the recipe didn't stop me soon enough, etc.

Anyway, go visit her and write back. Tell me what you think, what you made, and how it turned out. And I'll review for you as I go as well.