Cowgirl Cookin

I'm so happy this morning, y'all, because you're gonna love this woman

Reed Drummond, the host of Pioneer Woman on Food Network, is here to do some country cooking with us

Amen, sister! And we're starting with Reed's perfect, simple enchiladas. Cheers. Cheers, honey

And then it's a helping of my garlic lime spinach. Makes you like Popeye

Then all aboard, y'all. Toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot

Because this train's heading to one delicious drink and decadent dessert. This looks incredible

She is the pioneer woman. You went from high heels to tractor wheels, right, Rie

That's right. That's right. She is in the kitchen with us today, and her life went from like A to Z, didn't it

It really did. A to Z. You now live on a ranch

Yes, I grew up on a golf course, and now I live among manure, so..

Can I say that on your show, Paula? Yes, you can. I like today's recipe that you're going to share with us

It's simple, perfect enchiladas. Yes. And I'm putty in your hands, baby

Put me to work. I don't have Paula Deen as putty in my hands very often, so..

All right, a little olive oil in here, Ree? Just a little bit, and then we're just going to brown the onions with some ground beef

Okay. This is just a delicious, simple enchilada recipe. My mom used to make it

I actually had a Mexican great uncle. He shared this recipe with my mom quite a while ago, and she used to make this

There's nothing fancy about it, but it's good stuff. We're going to throw in a pound of ground beef

Okay. And we're going to brown this together. And it's very cowboy friendly

Yes. And when I moved to the middle of the country, see, I was a vegetarian when I met my husband

Oh, you were. So I kind of had to learn to cook hearty meals that the cowboys would consider fuel

So you cook now every day. This is a working ranch that you and your husband live on, and you cook for your ranch hands, right

Well, I cook for the ranch hands if we have a really big cattle working, but I have four ranch hands of my own that I gave birth to

Oh, what a gorgeous family. I hope I'm going to get to meet them today

They're going to drop by. Oh, good. My husband and my boys are here with me

And I want to meet the man that knocked you off your high heels. He roped my heart

He did? Yeah, he did. I never in a million years thought that I would live in the country

And in fact, that's where my little nickname, the Pioneer Woman, came from

I love that. So I'll take care of this. You go on down there and start your sauce

I'm going to start with some canola oil. Uh-huh. And a little flour

Okay. And make a roux. This is just better than cracking open the enchilada sauce and pouring it over

It just adds a little bit of substance to the sauce. Okay. And then once we let this bubble up for a couple of minutes, we'll pour in some chicken broth, about two cups of chicken broth

Okay. And then we'll just pour in the red sauce, enchilada sauce, any kind of Mexican sauce

Okey-doke. Now, let me see what you've got. You've got enchilada sauce. Yeah, this is just store-bought enchilada glass

And you're putting in three cans, right? Three regular-sized cans. Okay. Well, I understand that your story is much like mine and my husband's, that it's very romantical

Yeah, I sort of think of my story as a Harlequin romance meets Green Acres, meets Forrest Gump

Yes. Oh, sweet. Meets The Godfather or something like that. This book, The Pioneer Woman, was on the New York Times bestseller list

How did you get started writing, Rie? All I did was start a blog to share personal stories

I taught myself photography and started posting photos of cows and cowboys

So, and then I started sharing recipes. And that turned into a cookbook

And then I wrote this little love story about how I met and married my husband

Your story is wonderful. Anytime you share food in conjunction with a story, you know, it adds so much more depth

It does. Especially, and I think, Paula, you and I share a love of butter

So, in that sense. You do? You love butter? Yes, I love butter

I don't judge how much butter I have by how many sticks are in my fridge, but by how many pounds are in my fridge

Yes. You hear me? I hear you, girl. Can I get an amen? Amen, sister

What is this having two sticks of butter in your refrigerator? I've never heard of it

That's like half a day's supply for me. I get shaky if I've got less than two pounds

Yeah. All right, Ree, this is done. We need to throw in two cans of green chilies, Polly. Okay

I like this enchilada recipe because there are lots of layers of flavor

We'll add some olives later and some green onions. So you know my mom put them in hers so I do what my mom did Uh This is done and then we going to let the sauce simmer What are we going to do next And then we going to soften up some tortillas

Just kind of, we're not going to brown them or crisp them. We're just going to throw them into oil for a few seconds on each side

I love that. You were not bashful with that at all. Oh, no, no, no. All right, so we're going to be softening up these corn tortillas to make our enchiladas

And when we come back, we're going to make a garlic lime spinach. Yum

I adore spinach. I love spinach. Makes you like Popeye. Coming up, we're making a flavor-packed veggie

I love it, Paula. Mmm. And then, are you ready for a show-stopping dessert

Yes, that's a yes, y'all. And later, a drink perfect for any ranch hand

Look at that. Yum. Lusciousness. Back in here in the kitchen with a pioneer woman, y'all, re-drumming

And she is a lovely lady. I'm having such a good time with her

She has shown us her mother's and now her recipe for simply perfect enchiladas

She softened our corn tortilla shells. So put me to work. We've got an assembly line here

Okay. So what we need to do, Paula, is ladle some sauce. Just a ladle full would be fine

Kind of like if you're doing lasagna. Yeah, just kind of lay the foundation

There you go. Is that enough? A little bit more. I was going to say, I would think it would take about two

Yeah, that's perfect. Little ladles. And we'll just shake it around and move this over here

Okie dole. Now, we just need to dunk each tortilla into the sauce

Get out! And you do the messy work. And then I'm going to..

I would never have thought of this, Rie. I'm going to chop up some..

And where do you want me to put them? Like right here? Just right here. Yep. And see, you're ahead of the game

I've still got to chop up my green onions over here. Okay. I like this recipe

Sometimes I use shredded pork instead of beef. Sometimes I use shredded chicken. Combination

Sometimes I do three or four different cheeses. Yes. I'm chopping up some black olives

And you can buy the already chopped ones. But I kind of like the texture of doing it yourself

I'm making a mess of your kitchen. I hope you don't hold that against me. No, that's all right

This is just an assembly. We'll just add some of the meat mixture

Okay. Do you want me to roll? Yeah, you can roll. But we've got to load these things

I loaded that a little full. Oh, my gosh. You loaded it perfectly. Yeah, I did

And then we'll see how, we'll see if we can get it to close. And then just put it face down in the sauce

Okay, seam down. Yes. We'll tuck and roll. Tuck and roll

That one's better. It's so nice being in your kitchen, Paula

I love you being in my kitchen This is not my typical morning

Do your children get in the kitchen and help you a lot, Rhi

Well, the boys, you know, when they're little, like my boys are, they're 8 and 6

It's almost more work to have them in the kitchen with you So I have to make myself, you know, allow them to come in

But my 11-year-old daughter is very much into cooking. As hard as we work the kids, they're probably going to wind up moving to L.A. and becoming vegetarians when they get to be old enough

And being city slickers. Yes. That's the thing about kids, though. You raise them and then you just kind of brace yourself and watch what happens because you just

That's right. You want them to become what they want to become. Right, and you don't know whether you've done a good job or a bad job

until it's too late. Until it's too late. What you gonna do about it? Put them back in the womb at 21

I don't think so. That would be painful in many ways. All right

Just ladle a little sauce over the top. Okay. That's perfect. Because we're just gonna bake these for what, 20 minutes

About 20, 25 minutes on 350. Put plenty of cheese on top

Yes, that's what's so good. And see, we've got all this great stuff on the cutting board, and I just sprinkle it all over the top

There you go. That's the great thing about Mexican food. You just kind of scrape everything into the pan and nobody knows the difference

Right, because so many of the dishes, everything's all together. All right, well, I've got something yummy coming up

I see the spinach, and I'm so excited. To go along with it

Do you cook a lot of spinach at your house? I love spinach. I always have three or four bags of spinach in my fridge

I adore spinach. And this is so simple. It's garlic lime spinach

All right, so I've got three fat cloves of garlic, Rhee, and I'm just gonna smush these down

Rhee if you would put a couple of tablespoons of olive oil into our pan and I just gonna to put our garlic in there We just going to brown it off You know you have to be very careful with garlic because it will burn on you

And while I'm doing that, if you would zest us some lime. Yes

Oh, I love it. So we're just going to keep this garlic going so that it won't burn, but I'm already smelling it

I smell it. I smelled it instantly. Yes. The flavor is starting to explode

Alright, now if you'd pass me the spinach, please, Rhi. I've got two six-ounce bags of spinach that's been washed

So we're just gonna toss this in with our garlic, saute it for a couple of minutes, and we are done

How many limes do you need zested? I just need like a half a teaspoon. Okay

Okay. So a little salt, a little pepper. Look at that. What did we do without microplane

zesters? What did we do? We were living in the dark all those years. You know what? I

don't think I use zest. I sure didn't use it as much as I do now. Our spinach is done

so if you would toss in our lime reed. Oops. Oh, Paula, I made a mess. No, that's all right

That's all right. That's all right. That gets that. And when we come back, we're going to kind of pull everything together

And we're going to make something sweet. What is it? It's chocolate peanut butter pudding

Oh, yum. You like it? I'm up for that. I'm in. Coming up, this dessert is a real kid pleaser

Who likes chocolate? Yes! All right, I got a toot, y'all. All right, let's eat enchiladas

That sounds good. I sprinkle a lot of cilantro on the enchiladas

I noticed that you did. Ooh, look at that steaming. Because they're so warm and cheesy and rich

and the cilantro just gives them a really good richness. See that? And that's the way

Oh, my gosh. These are fabulous, Rhi. Yay. You little dollop. Hey, you're looking a little stingy there, sister

There we go. Put that into me. There we go. There we go. Oh, my goodness

Cheers. Cheers, honey. You can come to my kitchen anytime. I was hungry

How about a little spinach? Mm-hmm. Mm. Oh, the spinach. The lime is a nice kind of complement to the Mexican

It goes perfect, doesn't it? It really does. I love it, Paula. Rhee

Oh, look. Look at what? There's my husband. Is that your husband

Yeah, and my boys. You just cute as a tat. Someone's gonna meet you later

And these are your boys. Your timing is perfect. Because you know what

We're making a peanut butter chocolate pudding. Who loves it? Toot toot

Say toot toot if you love it. Toot toot. Toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot

Listen, y'all pull up a stool, guys. Daddy, if you would help them

Your mama and I, guys, are going to get started on this peanut butter chocolate pudding

We need two-thirds of a cup of sugar over in here. You got a fourth of a cup of water

And we need three tablespoons of cornstarch. Sounds good. While you're doing that, I'm going to measure out a cup and a half of half and half

This is a good start to a dessert. Yes, yes. This is going to be so good

All right, a cup and a half of milk. And I'm going to add two egg yolks to this

And we're going to save these whites and make our meringue. Who likes meringue

I do. Toot toot. Do they like chocolate? Yes. All right, I got a toot, y'all

How about peanut butter? Yes. Yes, toot, toot. That was toot, toots, y'all

Do y'all just have, like, cows? Yeah, we raise cattle. Yum. So this vegetarian in high heels wound up on a ranch eating beef three times a day

I know everything there is to go about agriculture. At least two times a day

What kind of cattle do y'all raise? Mostly Angus-type cattle. That's a good kind of cattle

Yes, good beef. Good beef. How many acres? Pretty good size. It is

Yes, ma'am. I'm just going to beat up this half and half wreath. We've got our two yolks, so I'm just going to pour that in there before that gets too hot

so we won't have scrambled eggs. So there we go Are y liking the looks of this so far All right now go ahead and add a quarter of a cup of the peanut butter and let that melt in there And I going to add about a fourth of a teaspoon

of cream of tart. Well, did you have any idea, lad, what you were getting into when you married

her when you brought her home to the ranch. She adapted pretty well

It took her about a year, and then she really got where she loved the country

So now I can't hardly get her out of the country. It's a great place to be, isn't it

It is. I'm going to add a quarter cup of sugar. This looks scrumptious

So this is perfect timing. We're going to put our pudding together, guys, using a chocolate wafer

cookie. These are nice and thin, so I'm just going to put us a nice little layer

I'll stir the vanilla in. Okay, please. And about a teaspoon of vanilla. So we're going to make

a couple of layers here. So, Mama, if you'll put about half of that pudding. Yep

Guys, come on down here so you can see what we're doing. That looks... You see that

Look at this. Would you help me by putting another layer of the chocolate cookies, please? Grab some

cookies, Bryce. I like to do that. Oh, you like to do that. Well

get up here. Now, let's ask Mommy if she will put the rest

of that pudding. Alright, this is for the boys. What you think

I got a clap. No two, but a clap. Alright, now guys, you take your pot

down there and you enjoy licking that pot. And y'all, listen to this. Now, we're gonna

put this in a 325 degree oven. And we're gonna bake it

for 23 minutes. Not 24. Not 22. 23 minutes

Gorgeous. In this gorgeous, gorgeous. Gorgeous and glossy. Alright, in the oven, guys

Look at those boys. That brings back wonderful memories of when I had my boys in the kitchen with me

when they had to do as they were told. Back when they listened to you

Yes, back when they thought I was smart. Coming up, y'all, we're getting ready to saddle up with our dessert and drink

And they might just be too good. We're never leaving your house. What a great way to finish up our time together, Rhi

What are you going to make, Rhi? Dulce de leche coffee. Well, let me be dipping us up some pudding

That sounds good. While you make our coffee. I made this. This is a coffee, right

This is a coffee drink. It's just dulce de leche. It's a Mexican food product

It is? Sold in the Mexican aisle. Yep. But you can make this yourself. Kind of like caramel

It is. Just a... You can put cans of sweetened condensed milk in a pot of boiling water

and boil it for quite a while. And caramelize it. Yes. So that's pretty much what it is

And then you just pour the coffee over this. Very, very hot coffee

And then we'll just whisk it together. I did this one day in Oklahoma when it was snowing on the ranch, freezing cold

And I'm not going to do this today, but I added a little Kahlua

So look at what it did to the coffee. Look at that. Yum. Lusciousness

If you want to add a little booze to the coffee, just put it in before you pour the coffee in

And then I whipped some sweetened cream. We put this on top

Oh, my gosh. Plenty. And then shaved chocolate. Well, isn't that funny because I was eyeballing all that garnish, and I thought, well, that would be really good

I know it all sort of ties together, doesn't it? Yeah, it all goes together. so I'm going to borrow a little of your ingredients here

Boys, doesn't that pudding look delicious? That pudding looks great. Yes. Well, let's give him the biggest bowl of pudding

And I can always add more. Okay, boys. Ooh. There you go

Y'all dig in. This looks incredible. Oh, Paula, this is so good

Oh, my goodness. This is delicious. Do y'all like it? Uh-huh. Is that delicious

Very good. Nice. Now, Paula, we have some bad news for you

We're never leaving your house. That's all right. That is all right, because you know what

I can always find room for a couple of more cute boys

I've had such a good time with you, Rie. You're a beautiful, spectacular woman

Y'all have a great day today. and we always send you love and best dishes, y'all

From our kitchen to yours. Thanks so much. Thank y'all