Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond Reveals That 10th Cookbook Will Be Her Last

Ree Drummond is almost ready to close the book on cookbooks.

The Pioneer Woman star’s publications have filled bookshelves since 2009 and her upcoming cookbook The Pioneer Woman Cooks: The Essential Recipes, out Oct. 28, was supposed to be her last, she told PEOPLE. 

“This is my ninth cookbook, and I had decided at a certain point that this would be my final cookbook. I know that sounds sad and crazy, but I feel that I’ve kind of told the stories I want to tell with food, and I’m just going to keep making my favorite things,” Drummond explained. 

“There’s been a development, and I will actually have a 10th cookbook, but that will definitely be my last,” said the celebrity chef, who announced the launch of her new QVC collection of apparel and food, Ree by The Pioneer Woman, on Wednesday, Sept. 17.

The upcoming book (which she joked she would call The Last Supper when it was supposed to be her final book but said, “I don’t know if I would’ve had the nerve to!”) contains what she considers to be her “greatest hits” in the kitchen.

“I really started examining what I was cooking day in and day out, week in and week out. And even though I would make new things and try new things, I just always kept going back to my go-to classics,” the mother of five explained, adding that some of the recipes are from back when she started blogging in 2007. “Naturally, I have refined and tweaked and improved the cooking times, the methods, but I hadn’t ever really gone back to update the original recipes, so I thought, ‘Gosh, why don’t I just tackle all of my essential recipes, which is how I consider these, but incorporate all of these improvements?’ Some of them are small but meaningful tweaks and others are a little bit more considerable.”

Stepping away from writing gives the celebrity chef the time to focus on other ventures, like the Ree by The Pioneer Woman line.

While the two focuses of the collection, food and clothing, might not seem like a pair, they are a perfect fit when it comes to Drummond’s personal brand. “They seem like two categories that don’t have a lot to do with each other, but in my weird little world, they’re very linked,” she said. “Even in the early days of my Food Network show, I would get emails and social media messages about, ‘I made your meatloaf. It was amazing. It was so good. Can you tell me where you got your shirt that you wore when you made the meatloaf?’”

The clothing line consists of knits, denim, blouses and dresses, all of which have special details like “prairie- and boho-inspired embroidery” and “feminine details,” according to a press release. The items are available in sizes ranging from XXS-5XL and cost $42-$139. “This is really a collection that reflects what is in my closet and what I reach for over and over and over,” Drummond emphasized, saying that, in line with her own personal style, the clothing is casual and wearable. 

On the food side, the cookbook author is releasing two dishes, pecan pie and braised pulled pork, but teased that there are more items to come later this year. The dishes will come frozen and are “pretty much exactly how I would make them here in my own house,” Drummond said.