One of your recipes is for One-Pot Homemade O’s and Cheesy O’s. For those who love the nostalgic original, how would you say this recipe compares or differs?
The recipe is so similar — it truly does taste like SpaghettiOs. Mine has a little bit more of a Parmesan vibe than the original, which I believe had cheddar cheese. For appearance, I sprinkled on some minced parsley. It seemed a little too elevated.
Along these lines, what are some of your similar, favorite nostalgic foods?
Oh, I could go on all day. Cinnamon toast is a big childhood favorite. Macaroni with butter, milk, salt, and pepper — nothing better. I still love Grape Nuts and a few other cereals from the 1970s. I can’t even go near Cocoa Puffs. Dangerous!
If someone wants to change up their Thanksgiving side repertoire, what recipe from the book would you recommend?
Speaking of Os, the cheesy version of SpaghettiOs is a truly delicious version of mac and cheese and would be really nice as a Thanksgiving side. The butter bath biscuits are absolutely incredible and very easy. [They] would be a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner roll.
What was your most memorable meal of 2023?
I have had lots of delicious meals. My most recent one was in New York City when I was launching this cookbook last week. My sister, my daughters, and I went for Korean barbecue at Barn Joo. We [wound] up getting small plates of dumplings and other delights instead, and I absolutely loved every bite.
Do you have any go-to food-related gifts — homemade or purchased — to give during the holidays?
My number one food gift is my [and] my mom’s homemade cinnamon rolls. My mom and I used to make them when I was growing up and deliver them to friends and neighbors. Years later, when my mom moved to another state, her friends mourned that they no longer got a pan of cinnamon rolls at Christmastime. While I don’t make this claim very often, it definitely applies here: They are the best cinnamon rolls in the universe.
What other upcoming projects do you have coming down the pipeline? Anything else new that fans can look out for?
I am really digging in and doing more of what I love doing. I have my restaurant, bakery, and store in our small town of Pawhuska, Oklahoma, and seven years after we opened, I still love it so much. I enjoy my product business at Walmart, and designing the items is such a creative joy for me. Of course, I’ll keep chronicling my cooking with my website, cookbooks, and my Food Network show.
Someday, Ladd and I are going to travel abroad, and I will take pics and share every bite along the way. The only thing we need to do is find the time to go — and decide where to go!
“The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Dinner’s Ready!” is now available wherever books are sold.
This interview has been edited for clarity.