The Food Nerd Road Trip Every Home Cook Needs to Take

Yes, I am a food nerd, and I proudly own it. While it's not everyone's thing, I've survived the occasional jab about my desire to have chickens for fresh eggs and the jokes about how many cookbooks I have. That all came to a head a few years ago when my husband (who has supported my cooking, baking, entertaining, and kitchen utensil obsessions from day one) surprised me with a dream trip! We were going to Pawhuska, Oklahoma, and Waco, Texas just after the holidays in January 2021!

I know some of you may be saying, "What kind of dream trip is that?" But for you foodies out there, you know exactly what I mean! We were going to fly into Wichita, Kansas, rent a car, and drive to Pawhuska—the county seat of Osage County with a population of just under 4,000 people in Northeast Oklahoma. This is the home of the Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond. If you've paid any attention to some of my pictures or videos, you may catch the occasional Pioneer Woman product—cooking pots and pans, measuring cups, tea pots. Yes, I have a lot of her goods.

My husband's work had brought him to this area before, so he was already familiar with what there was to do and see. We weren't able to get a room at her boarding house (due to it still being COVID times), so we stayed at a historic downtown Pawhuska hotel, The Frontier House, which was beyond charming! The best part was that our room overlooked the famous Merc!

Ree Drummond opened her Mercantile store (referred to more often as "The Merc") about ten years ago, and it has become a tourist mecca. The Merc has a huge shop where many home and food-related items are sold, a bakery upstairs with some of her best recipes on the menu, and of course a restaurant where I was sure to get my favorite Pioneer Woman recipe—the meatloaf. I have always been a connoisseur of meatloaf, but hers is tops on my list, and it did not disappoint.

Entrance to Drummond Ranch in Pawhuska, OK, marked by a rustic gate leading into vast, open fields under a clear blue sky.

What we didn't realize until we got there, though, was that if you're there on the right day (check their website for details), you can get free tickets to visit "The Lodge." This is where the magic happens and the Pioneer Woman's Food Network show comes to life. The Drummond Ranch is far out of town on 430,000 acres—the Drummond family has owned this land in Oklahoma since the 1800s and is considered the second-largest family-owned land in America. So getting there took some effort, but my husband, being the self-proclaimed cowboy that he is, had no trouble with this.

The Lodge is actually a guest house on their land that has been turned into Ree's TV studio. It was breathtaking! I felt like I needed someone to pinch me—I was standing in "her kitchen." It was like going to a shrine that you needed to give thanks to (I know, nerdy foodie stuff again!). We were there for probably an hour, but it seemed like forever to me, enjoying looking at every nook and cranny, every room, the pantry, each drawer. It was truly a dream come true.

We spent the rest of our time in Pawhuska visiting Ree's pizza shop, P-Town Pizza, and enjoying some amazing "Not Knots," which are, as they sound, amazing little knots of pizza dough slathered in garlic butter and parmesan—delicious! We visited the local cowboy museum (I had to give him something on this trip), and we learned even more about the Drummond family history there too!

Soon we were off to Waco. After an overnight stop just north of Dallas, we made our way to this "town within a town." In case you haven't heard, Chip and Joanna Gaines, HGTV celebrities, now have basically their own town within the city of Waco called The Silos and Magnolia Market. This place is amazing—from shops to a bakery, to a baseball field, and even a chapel. It was quite the sight to see! We enjoyed some baked goods and coffee and wandered the grounds, going in and out of each place. What they have done to farmhouse style has been revolutionary, and certainly others have heard about it since they seemed to also be there! We did make a side trip to their original carpenter Clint Harp's shop.

But before we knew it, our little trip was coming to an end. I was ready to get back home with all my new finds! (I practically needed another suitcase to bring it all home!)

So for those of you who are like me and have these affinities but haven't made the trek to visit these places, you should. I have a few more places on my list yet to go (come on, Erin French—pick my postcard!).

In honor of this post, I am sharing some of my favorite celebrity chef and baker-inspired recipes. The first one was inspired by Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa. Someday I shall make it to the Hamptons!