This is Later with Lee Matthews, The Lee Matthews Podcast More what You Hear
Weekday Afternoon's on the Drive. Elizabeth Toda is a seventh generation cattle rancher and
host and star of the cooking and lifestyle show Ranch to Table, one of
the founding shows on the Magnolia Network. It's fourth season, by the way,
you can see it on Max, Discovery Plus and the Magnolia Network.
She's also put together her newest cookbook, which I think you might find interesting.
It's called The Ranch Table, and Elizabeth the what was your goal here
to stand above other cookbooks? Oh, my goodness, big question. I
was really excited to write this book. I really wanted to really share a
whole year on a ranch and really talk about the seasons and all the food
and all the events that we do that really surround one year. And for
me, this was just a really fun book to really put together. And
you know, I just wanted to share simple foods. My main goal with
this book is really just to have people have fun in the kitchen. I
am not a trained chef by any means. I'm just a rancher who loves
to cook and I just love putting getting people together and having a meal.
The Ranch Table is the name of the book, and Elizabeth potis the writer
of this, And you know, this hits close to home. We've got
a lot of ranchers and when you are out on when you're out on a
ranch, you might be forty sixty miles from the nearest supercenter or grocery store,
So you have to prepare and you have to have a lot of ingredients
on hand, don't you. Absolutely, really bringing in the provisions is a
real thing for us ranchers out there. We definitely do have to do all
that, and so for me, I just wanted to kind of share that
and how simple it can be at home making meals and being able to just
have people together. And definitely, I mean, we are about half an
hour from the nearest grocery store from where we live out in California, and
it's it's a beautiful place. But yeah, you definitely have to bring in
the provisions. Do you have any particular advice for people, because you know,
ranchers always have gardens and are always gardening and trying to grow something.
Mm hmm, yeah, I think. I mean, I've always been a
big believer in ranchers and farmers. They're they're some of the best cooks,
I think, because they really know about food. They know what they're growing,
and they know how to cook it. And so I've always learned a
ton from farmers and ranchers. I feel like I really have learned the most
around hanging out around a barbecue with ranchers about you know, barbecuing tips and
all of that sort of stuff. So this is something that I've really excited
to share and with this book and also the show. It's really just about,
you know, simplicity and having fun together and having fun in the kitchen,
and you know, just really enjoying people's company. The Ranch Table,
and Elizabeth pot is here with us. She's the composer of it. You
also see her on the namesake of her television show, which is available in
a number of different places including Discovery Plus, Magnolia Network, and Max.
Let's go through some of these recipes because they sound great. Your ranchers beef
chili hits close to home for me because I too prefer to have cubed hunks
of wonderful beef rather than ground meat. Yes, I'm there with you big
time. It is so delicious. To me, I really want to taste
all of those different flavors that are in a chili. There are so many
delicious, amazing chilies out there, but I love mine because you can really
taste with each bite all the different ingredients that you put in there and putting
in the meat where you chop it up yourself. To me, that is
just yum. I want it now. And for me, it doesn't matter
what the meat is. I mean, I usually I like to use a
lot of different combos. We have a lot of bison processing here in oklahom
So I like to throw in some bison. I like to throw a for
friend of mine is killed a deer, I might put some deer in there
with the bison or the bison, and beef and sirloin and pork as well.
You know, I like to mix it up. Yeah, absolutely,
I mean you can really have fun. I think that's the most fun you
know, thing about working in a kitchen and being able to cook your own
food is that you can really have fun with it. And that's my hope
with these recipes that you can really, you know, make it your own.
I'm a big person to believe. I'm a big believer in tasting everything
you cook. You know, as you go, keep tasting because I think
that we all have just a little bit different are looking for something a little
bit different, and it's just something that's really fun and great to do at
home. But yeah, I love I love different putting in different meats.
That's that's great. Elizabeth poets with Us or a new cookbook is The Ranch
Table. It's butternut squash season. Mm hmmm, it is, indeed,
And I love my butternut squash soup with sage. I add in a little
bit of cream at the end, but I'm not squash soup, I swear
my goodness. It is just so simple to make, and it is so
delicious and filling and sweet. I just for me this time of year especially,
it's it's really the best time to have these. I love making breads,
but I also just love making my own soup. And it just is
one of those things to have a big pot of soup on the stove throughout
the day and then be able to eat it at night. There's just nothing
better. Wells serfs, I mean it freeze as well, so you can
make a big pot of soup and still eat on it all winter. It's
also I find if you have a lot of butternut squash or tomato or whatever
it is, that's a good way to put up the vegetables. Absolutely,
such a good way, especially just to be able to eat it throughout the
winter, like you were saying, I mean, it's it's just such a
it's it's a treat really, and be able to do it all ahead of
time. I love that. I love making big meals and being able to
freeze things and be able to eat them all winter long. My freezer and
my vacuum sealer are my two best friends in the kitchen. Yes, I
love that. I love a good vacuum sealer. Spicy honey apple pie.
Let's get into the desserts. Mmmm. Yes, I love my apple pie
because it has a ginger crust, which I love adding in that ginger and
it's super buttery, flaky crust, and then putting those delicious apples in there
with honey. I love just putting honey right in with the pie in the
apples. It's it kind of is this mixture between honey and ginger and apple
and it's sweet and flaky and all that buttery goodness. So I'm gosh,
now I'm really hungry to help. What kind of apples do you suggest?
You know, the beauty of apples is. I just feel that you use
what you love, you use what you can get. I have a ton
of Gravensteins, which are kind of a really old variety. My great great
my great great uncle planted these old trees years and years and years ago before
I was born, and I'm still using these trees. But truly, I
feel that, you know, you can use what you have, use what
you can get. That's easy, especially with apple pie, because you're adding
in the sugar, you're adding in the you know, the butter, all
the good stuff, so you know whichever ones you can get your hands on.
It's a love letter to the rhythms and flavors of ranch life, and
it's a popular cookbook that's out now, just in time for the holidays.
The Ranch Table Elizabeth Pote will be watching you on your Magnolia Network show,
The Ranch Table, and thanks for bringing the recipes to us. Thank you
so much. Lee. Thanks for listening to Later with Lee Matthews, the
Lee Matthews Podcast, and remember to listen to The Drive Live weekday afternoons from
five to seven and iHeartMedia presentation