The Dish That Made Ree Drummond Give Up On Vegetarianism

When you look at Ree Drummond's most popular recipes on her Food Network page, you see things like pot roast, sausage gravy, and holiday bacon appetizers. These and many more are hardly considered to be vegetarian dishes. But the popular television star known as The Pioneer Woman did, indeed, live a meat-free lifestyle when she was in college in Los Angeles. After graduating, she met the man who would eventually become her husband at a bar in Oklahoma. Not long after they started dating, Ladd Drummond cooked a steak dinner for Ree. She recounted on the Biscuits and Jam podcast, "I took a bite and I was no longer a vegetarian. So, I think I was vegetarian for the wrong reasons." Whether her change of diet was due to the actual steak or the bliss of young love is unclear, but it was probably a little bit of both.

Fans of Ree Drummond know that her husband, Ladd, has been featured extensively on "The Pioneer Woman" cooking show, her popular blog, and in her cookbooks. He is a cattle rancher and the couple live right on the family's cattle ranch in Pawhuska, Oklahoma. Needless to say, their lives basically revolve around the subject of beef and, therefore, steaks. Still, Drummond appreciates a good meat-free meal. Among her favorite dishes are cauliflower soup and macaroni and cheese.

Ree Drummond admits that her husband, Ladd, is very much a meat-and-potatoes kind of man and many of her recipes reflect an emphasis on beef (and other proteins). However, the former vegetarian has created an impressive number of meat-free dishes that traditionally contain meat, thanks to Drummond's culinary creativity. Her black bean burgers rely on beans to mimic the look and texture of beef, her sweet potato chili is thick and chunky without a smidge of meat in it, and she's even created cabbage "steaks" and buffalo sandwiches that swap a thick slice of cauliflower for chicken.

On the other end of the spectrum, Drummond knows her way around a beef roast (but not bread-baking). On an episode of "The Pioneer Woman," titled "All About Ladd," she whipped up some of her husband's choice dishes which included an incredible-looking prime rib and the dishes she made using the leftovers, including sandwiches and salads. But Ladd also enjoys her dishes that don't contain beef; his wife's chicken spaghetti is one of his favorites. One thing we're sure of is that Ree doesn't make him fried chicken pizza as she admitted it was one recipe she wishes she never filmed for her show.