Winners of the Pioneer Woman Cookbook Giveaway and Some Comfortable Quotes

The Randomizer has spoken beyond the booming voice of a cheesecloth curtain- commenters 18 and 16 (right down the middle...that IS random) are the new owners of Pioneer Woman: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl! Melissa, a lover of breadsticks, tomato soup and German pancakes, from the very adorable craftamania that is IS-LY and Sabrina, an Italian enamored by pasta as well as a fellow foodie and lover of Eastern coastlines from Rhodey Girl Tests! Send your addresses to me ladies- Tokissthecook AT Gmail.

The big winners were Mac & Cheese (7 votes) and Mashed Potatoes (3 votes) with an honorable mention at the end for Chicken Pot Pie (2 votes). Y'all really put a lot of thought into your answers so I thought the least I could do would be to link love it up with some quotes on your favorite comfort foods (when I could find your links. not a small amount of stalking sometimes required). Although I'm holding you all accountable for my current cravings, at least we'll all have ideas for dinner:

Healthy Delicious: Has to be pho. There's something about pho like like a huge bear hug from the inside. I also tend to lose my appetite when in need of comfort, but pho never seems to heavy or nauseating like other classic comfort foods can be. {I've talked to you about this at length so let me just say that you are a winner at life and someday I want to try your pho because I LOVE it}

This Michigan Cherry:My ultimate comfort food - meatloaf and scalloped potatoes. Makes me think of a nice dinner at home in Plymouth on a cold night. {I think I need a field trip to the Cherry Farm. Plymouth is also supposed to have a fantastic pie shop. Pure Michigan, this summer converted me}

Big Time Fancy: I could do stuffed peppers every day. I could eat my grandma's pastitsio & Greek potatoes until they both came out my ears. But in truth? I could do grilled cheese and soup (tomato, broccoli cheddar, chicken tortilla) on every single day where I feel less than 100%. That's my ultimate comfort food. {Yeah, Greek food? Particularly Greek food by a certain Greek? Very comforting. And smells nice. And gives around the back hugs while I stand at the stove.}

Megan (Gasp Shock):Comfy foods... ones that remind me of home. My dad makes homemade pizza with a Chef Boyardee mix that is so greasy from pepperoni, the crust turns a distinctive shade of orange. {Chef Boyardee Pizza. That's what I'm talking about.}

Running Pointer: (Stalk Fail. Send me your link!) Mashed potatoes. I absolutely love them. {You and me both. Mashed red skin potatoes. mmmm}

LFar: Ultimate comfort= cheesy nachos with salsa and a huge class of diet coke. (Obviously I need to learn to cook) {Lisa, let's get on this the next time you're in Chicago}

Cate (One Song): My favorite comfort food would have to be mac and cheese. i eat it rarely, but it's the one thing that makes me feel warm and fuzzy every time. {Point 1 for Mac and Cheese. Cheese and Noodles. That is not something that can be disagreed with}

Kate RD: A good turkey sandwich...on yummy bread with yummy mustard. Even an "o.k." turkey sandwich is more comforting to me than most other foods:-) {Perfect RD response. Everyone's all "Cheese! Chocolate! Refined flours!" and Kate's all "Put down your pitchforks and make yourself a fresh sandwich." I love that.}

Shanti: Comfort food: melted brie, apples & baguette. Best accompanied by beer. Or mac and cheese. Or grilled cheese. Do you see a trend here? {I see, smell, eat and love the trend. Point 2 for Mac and Cheese}

Twists & Turns of a Life w/ Curls:My homemade potato recipe I acquired from my mother she's been making since, well, forever. It involves bacon and sour cream and your thighs will hate it but your lips will love it. People who have always hated potato soup for it's "lack of taste" always beg for another bowl. With that some warm bread, little bit of spreadable butter, and some wine. MMMM, yummy! {I'll deal with the wobbly bits later. Post this recipe.}

We Are Not Martha: You know my ultimate comfort food has to be mac and cheese. preferably with super sharp cheddar (gruyere doesn't hurt either) and some sort of meat. Like bacon. Or prosciutto. I love peas in my mac and cheese too! {Point 3 for Mac and Cheese. And I did know that. And I also know that your chosen additives of sharp cheddar, gruyere and peas might be why we're friends}

Everyday Adventures of Me in the City: My ultimate comfort food is mac and cheese. My mom always made it for us when we were kids (often with hot dogs) and even now when I'm feeling down, I reach for it. So good and tasty. {Point 4 for Mac and Cheese. Extra point for addition of sliced hot dogs. Amazing}

Amanda Nan: Southern breakfast. Eggs over easy and super runny, grits chock full of salt and butter, homemade biscuits (pre-made and frozen as couples) with homemade wild plum jelly made from my Mississippi grandmother's recipe. A tall glass of milk with Hershey's cocoa powder and you've got every third Saturday morning from the ages of 2 through 8, haha! {I love that you've got the basics (grits, biscuits) against wild plum jelly. And then chocolate milk. A+ for your comfort. Great answer}

Verlan: (another stalk fail- link please!) Cornbread. I love it with everything. My ultimate comfort food meal would be biscuits and sausage gravy. Both are foods we ate a lot of when I was growing up in Eastern Oklahoma. {You're from PW country! Biscuits and gravy were a camp treat in Arkansas when my brother and I were growing up. Maybe time to visit a recipe and officially turn my kitchen into a mess hall}

I Love the Kitchen: More like Favorite: Comfort Food! How do you choose one?! Pulled pork with mac and cheese. Boeuf Bourguignon. Chicken-Wild Rice Soup. Quiche, any quiche. Crepes. My college boyfriend's mother's white chicken chili. The bruschetta at Pizza Art Cafe and a big glass of red. {This cracked me up. Favorite Comfort Food: Yes. Woman after my own heart}

Kelly: (another stalk fail- link please!)For my ultimate comfort food, I would have to go with mac and cheese! The cheesier the better! {Point 5 for Mac and Cheese!}

ANG: without a DOUBT...mashed potatoes and gravy. my moms, generally around the holidays. but, i've gotten pretty good at my own creamy version. YUM. {Point 2 for mashed potatoes. I'm aligned and think that I need you to come over for a potluck with said potatoes}

A Homemaker's Habitat: Naturally, truffled mac & cheese of course. {Point 6 for M&C! And the gilded variety as well! If you are able to leave the country with 2 ounces of actual fresh truffle, I think I will indenture myself for it}

The Sport of Cooking: {Wit thought all was lost and did not actually enter but I'm entering her Pear Butterscotch Pie for her. Because HOW GOOD DOES THAT SOUND?!}

Pineapple Grass: my favorite comfort food would have to be the following meal: warm bread and butter, meatloaf with beer-battered french fries, vanilla cake, buttercream frosting. {There is not a single thing wrong with beer-battered fries. Or funfetti cake, my personal favorite box}

Kare: My ultimate comfort food is macaroni and cheese. The Kraft dinner version is absolutely included in that, what can I say. {Point 7 for M&C! And yes to the blue box. (Kraft is an Edelman client)}

Anastasia: I'd have to say southern peach cobbler... mmmm. Warm, and no ice cream necessary. I've recently found that alfredo from scratch is pretty divine too. {Nice choice and I am with you on the a la mode. Sometimes? Sure. But usually I just like my warm, biscuit-y fruit straight up}

Food n' Such: My comfort food is pancakes with real maple syrup and bacon or sausage. Reminds me of Sunday mornings before church. {Way to take a new approach. Breakfast. Breakfast for dinner is on my personal comfort list}

What's For Dinner: Easy: My Daddy's Mashed Potatoes. :) {Point 3 for mashed potatoes! My dad makes killer eggs but I'd be interested in what makes Dad potatoes so cravable!}

One Scoop at a Time: My ultimate comfort food is congee otherwise known as rice porridge. I was fed it as a baby instead of jarred foods and to this day, there's nothing tastes more homey tan hot bowl of congee with a bit of ginger zest and green onion sprinkled on top. {Probably my favorite entry. I've never had congee but this sounds like the essence of comfort and now I'm wanting to try it!}

Deep South Dish:I really have many, but the first thing that came to my mind just then was Chicken Pot Pie. {My friend Gina makes a killer homemade version but there's a certain freezer section selection that strikes my fancy}

Madeline's Adaptations: My favorite comfort foods to make at home are pot pies and stews. And of course there are those days when my kitchen is a mess and I have no choice but to order my favorite comfort take out, pizza ;) {Point 2 for chicken pot pie!}

On Being a "Natural" and the Pioneer Woman Giveaway!

When you take on the habit of talking about food most (all) of the time, people are bound to make some assumptions. When you decide to start a website dedicated to this habit, this is a sure thing. A sure thing like dessert after dinner or lemons and eggs in the fridge.

The front-runner? "Cooking just comes so naturally to you." It's not that I can't see where that might come from. I can. I talk about it a lot and I only post the prettiest things here 90% of the time.

But let me clear this up: eating comes naturally to me. As for cooking? Well, I do love it. But more than loving it, I need it. Even when I oversalt, undercook and generally turn my kitchen into Chernobyl, I am pretty zen. It's quiet. It smells good. Having this physical process wherein I turn plants and oils and spices into something I want creates a space I can think in. And I'm a chatty girl so finding a spot above all my own noise? Priceless.

That being said, I make too many goofy mistakes day after day to be in the same sentence as natural. Take last night's dinner: Coconut Milk Chicken. This was one of those recipes I'd seen and just had to make. I defrosted my chicken well in advance thinking the opportunity would present itself. It did not.

By Wednesday, it was necessity. I started it at 9pm when I got home and sat down to eat at 11:20pm. I needed that chicken. I also needed a 5 quart Dutch oven but decided I could "make it work" with this ovular 2.5 quart. It is very good that no part of my job requires me to be a "natural" at physics because I grossly underestimated the size of the chicken vs the size of the vessel vs the volume of coconut milk. See all that chicken brimming over the top of the pot? See all that pink liquid sitting below the pot? That used to be in the pot with the chicken. Silly chicken. Silly physics. Silly TKTC.

And another thing. The really "together" cooks? The naturals? In my head their kitchens are clean. They have a full set of pots and pans and lids that match. They may have an oven and stove too young to have known life without the Food Network. They clean as they go.

I bought a bottle of wine for $3.50 at Jewel last night (Golden Gate Sauv Blanc, anyone?) then I drank a third of it while my chicken roasted. Out of a glass that was meant for milk. All my real wine glasses are dirty. I have two pots with matching tops, that is all. I did not own a wooden spoon until three weeks ago. My kitchen is a horror because I hate doing dishes. Potentially more than expense reports which is really saying something. Not so much a natural, at least not in my head.

If I could get the same zen feeling from a long run that I get cutting multi-colored carrots into little medallions, I would be super marathoner. I'd like to make more time for that part but until the balance is struck, I'll make good meals with good food and take the stairs.

I ate that chicken at almost midnight last night. And it was good. It was messy, I didn't follow the recipe to a tee and I had to use a turkey baster to clean my stovetop out but by the time I ate? I felt myself. That is the most natural thing about it.

I'm far from being the only blogger who finds herself relishing a mess in the kitchen. The Pioneer Woman, aside from being just a generally lovely person, is a home cook who just loves it. You can hear it when her drawl leaps right off the monitor. It's messy, it's got butter in it and you should just grab a spoon and enjoy it hot out of the pot. And lucky for all of us, Ree's step by step photos make for more fool-resistant recipes than most.

This woman who loves to cook (but cares not for the pretentious parts) wrote a cookbook, the Pioneer Woman: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl. And that cookbook sounds like her, looks like her and my guess is that if you were to put the book in the oven at 350, it would come out tasting like tres leches cake (please don't try this). It's a good book.

And I have two copies to give away- a week before the book is officially released.

GIVEAWAY RULES Starting at midnight CST Friday October 23, and going until 11:59pm on Tuesday, October 27 entries are open to answer this question: What's your ultimate comfort food?

I'll choose the two winners with a randomizer and announce them next Wednesday. Bon Chance and Bon Appetit!