What's your favourite family recipe? Miranda Lambert goes down memory lane for new cookbook

When she was a teenager, Miranda Lambert listened at the dinner table while her grandmother, her mother and their friends swapped gossip, life lessons and stories from East Texas.

Those overheard conversations over plates of enchiladas and banana pudding became inspiration for Lambert's Grammy-winning musical career, teaching her the art of storytelling and entertaining at the same time.

“Some of my first songs were written about some of the stories that they were going through,” Lambert said. “I hadn't lived it myself yet, but I really absorbed that.”

After nearly two decades in country music and at the height of her career as one of the most award-winning country artists, Lambert is dishing on those recipes — and the stories behind them — from her family and friends in a book called Y'All Eat Yet? Welcome to the Pretty B*tchin' Kitchen.

“It's really important to surround yourself with people who celebrate the good times and who hold you up through the bad times,” said The House That Built Me singer. “That's what this whole book is about.”

The book, out now on HarperCollins imprint Dey Street Books, is equal parts Lambert's family memoir, a guide to Texas-style entertaining and a church potluck cookbook.

Get to know Lambert's grandma “Nonny” and her mom “Bev” and all their colourful female friends through the recipes they've swapped and shared: the famous meatloaf that often leads to wedding bells, the whiskey cupcakes and the potini bar (mashed potatoes in a martini glass with all the toppings.) She also teaches the tricks to glamping in her Airstream travel trailer and tubing down the Guadalupe River and her dad offers a primer on seasoning a cast iron pan to perfection.

“It feels really good to be free and just sort of take a step back and a deep breath and let the creativity lead the decisions,” Lambert said of her future musical plans.