The Pioneer Woman Recap: Gathering Bulls

Emily Caruso | Jelly Toast

The Pioneer Woman is back! We rundown the latest episode of this series here and now.

This week marked a typical day on the ranch for the Drummond family.

Wake before dawn, gather a few bulls and hit the books before digging into some good old fashioned comfort food. That sounds like my kind of day.

Well, with the exception of the gathering bulls and up before dawn part. But that’s what living and working on a ranch is all about, and no one does it as fabulously as the Drummond family. 

Pioneer Family

To get things started for this ranch lunch, Ree sets to work on the dessert recipe: Chocolate Pecan Crispy Treats. They are a chocolatey twist on a classic crispy treat.

To make these treats extra chocolatey, Ree adds some chocolate hazelnut spread to the melted marshmallow mixture before stirring in the crisp rice cereal. She then folds in mini marshmallows and pecans before pressing them into the pan.

To finish them off, Ree drizzles on melted, semi-sweet chocolate all over the top of the treats. These Chocolate Pecan Crispy Treats are simple, classic and delicious!

To quench the thirst of her hard working ranchers, Ree is making a batch of homemade strawberry lemonade. She starts by blending up fresh, hulled strawberries along with a bit of sugar and water.

This strawberry puree gets added to freshly squeezed lemon juice, a bit more sugar and some water to mellow it all out. The finished lemonade is a gorgeous blushing pink color and perfect for a warm spring day. 

For the main lunch recipe, Ree is making a hearty scalloped potatoes and ham casserole. It starts with sautéing onions in a bit of butter. Ree uses these onions to help build a white sauce with flour, whole milk and half and half. 

To build the casserole, Ree layers thinly sliced potatoes and cubed ham into a buttered dish. She then sprinkles on some shredded monterey jack cheese and tops it off with half of the white sauce.

Ree builds a second layer and sprinkles it with black pepper and bakes it in the oven, covered, for a bit and then the casserole gets uncovered and finished off in the oven until golden and bubbly. 

For this ranch lunch, Ree even whips up a vegetable: Lemony Green Beans. These are fresh green beans that she sautés in a hefty amount of brown butter and finished with lemon and parsley until they are vibrant and still have some crunch to them. This green bean recipe is simple, quick and perfect for spring time.

“Gathering Bulls” is a sweet glimpse into what the real life of the Drummonds is like: hard work, a loving family and of course, fantastic food.

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Emily Caruso

About Emily

Emily is known for her absurdly beautiful food photography and coffee co-dependencies on her Jelly Toast Blog. On Food Fanatic, she shares a third addiction: fabulous snacks.