The Pioneer Woman

I genuinely don't understand the negative reviews. Yes granted a lot of recipes have a lot of sugar, meat and / or butter in the early seasons, but there are many later shows (enough to make a full season easily) that are dedicated to light meals and healthy eating including low fat and low sugar/ carbs.

This has been touched on in other reviews, but she is cooking not just for her family of 6, but also many of the ranch hands hence the large quantities. Working on a ranch is hard physical work similar to farming years ago and uses way more calories than sitting at a computer desk all day, so the high calorie food is actually necessary. Also who in her family or on the ranch is overweight let alone obese? No one is the answer! It is worth noting she always watches portion sizes which is just as important as the food itself. I remember thinking on more than one occasion how stingy the portion sizes were for her kids but that's obviously deliberate!

I would even bet there are some people that criticise this show can barely cook for themselves and live off processed food which is virtually guaranteed to shorten their lives. Ree is a creative, genuine cook that wants nothing more than to spread love through her cooking, to friends, family and ranch workers and often times to the wider community. If you want to misinterpret that then go ahead. She ain't changing and moreover she doesn't and shouldn't need to.

For anyone living off processed rubbish and criticising Ree for the "unhealthy" food she feeds her family, then, well, you are a hypocrite.

It seems to me that there is nothing but hatefulness and spite in many of these reviews. Ree never said she, her show or her cooking style was anything other than what it is so why all the bashing? Everyone is entitled to an opinion but if you truly want to be taken seriously then give a serious opinion and why you feel that way without the hatefulness. If she isn't for you and your taste and cooking style then that is fine. What isn't right is that you bash her and her cooking style because it doesn't match yours. Is her cooking many times on the simplistic side? Yes, it is. If you prefer something different then just don't watch. There are plenty of other shows out there that might better meet what you are looking for in a cooking show. As for the ingredients she uses such as processed, sugar, fat, etc., then, again, there are plenty of other shows out there that will offer a more "healthy" style of cooking if that is what you are looking for. I come from a farming family where bacon and eggs were eaten almost every morning and everyone lived to a ripe old age. Processed foods were not incorporated much but the use of sugar and natural fats were. Everyone worked hard and did not have a problem with these things because of it. From all appearances, Ree's family is also one that works and plays hard and I doubt that anyone on here can say with any real knowledge that they are unhealthy. There is enough hatefulness in this world, why add to it?

I watched an episode today. I can only surmise that the overly sugary- sweet presenting style has come from all the literal sugar she adds to everything. She even said at one point, something like "sugar ALWAYS makes everything better." Uh, no it doesn't. It was almost as if she was addressing her critics by saying this.

How can she feed her kids all that unhealthy stuff? Does she eat all this stuff herself?

As for the person who wrote a previous review quoting how many hits her blog has etc etc, nice try bigging her up, whoever you are (Ree).

I started watching the Pioneer Woman by accident and haven't stopped watching ever since. I found the whole series being as cooking for a Southern American Ranching family for all situations perfect as my antidote to life's stresses especially after a hard day at work and returning to an empty home. Ree comes across as a very warm person, available and motherly always smiling even when cooking multiple meals. Similarly her family, her house any invited persons all come across as affable. I know that this is fairy tale like to the actual circumstances, but hey I buy this, preferring it to some police/violent or scandal driven drama as presented daily on tv. Personally I wouldn't try half the recipes as presented by Ree as these are laden with fats or sugar. I do remember the episode when she was trying to lure back her husband from taking his breakfast, by frying a fatty breakfast and cooking cinnamon buns in loads of butter and sugar. It was so wrong from a healthy point of view but so sweet of her in her intentions. The way she repeatedly voices her concerns and they way she would solve them through her baking makes me feel so soothed. There is something magical about her programmes Ree is actually selling a make believe lifestyle that some of us dream of. I like this gal :)

This show and host is so warm and inviting. You get to see first hand her kitchen, ranch and family. Being from Texas and now living in LA, this makes me miss the South and the good cooking. It is great to see such a close knit family that instills work ethics and spending quality time with your family. My mouth waters at just about everything she cooks. It makes me feel like I am right there with Ree Drummond (the host) and have a personal invitation to visit her loving home.