Knock "em Dead Dessert

denice

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Isn't she the one that is romantically  involved with Andrew Cuomo?  That's probably why she is on Food Network despite her lack of ability.
 

Kat0121

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Isn't she the one that is romantically  involved with Andrew Cuomo?  That's probably why she is on Food Network despite her lack of ability.
Yup she is but she was on FN before she started seeing him. I don't think her shows are still on FN. I just looked at her Wikipedia page and this is on it 

Kwanzaa Cake


Much of the criticism of Lee has coalesced around a recipe for "Kwanzaa  Cake" that she demonstrated on a 2003 episode of Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee. The recipe consisted of angel food  cake topped with icing, cinnamon, apple pie filling, pumpkin seeds and corn nuts  (all store-bought), with seven Kwanzaa candles then inserted into the cake.[17]

Food writer Anthony Bourdain, who has been harshly critical of Lee in general, described the video clip of this segment of the show as "eye searing" and "a war crime".[18][19][20]  The cake was called "scary" by the Houston Chronicle,[21]  and "the most ghastly-sounding dish in Lee's culinary repertoire" by Tulsa World.[22]  Salon.com  wrote that the video "takes pride of place in the pantheon of hilarious culinary disaster videos".[23]

Cookbook author Denise Vivaldo, who claims to have ghostwritten recipes for many celebrity chefs, wrote a humorous post in The Huffington Post  in December 2010 stating that she was responsible for the recipe (though she said that the candles were Lee's idea), and apologizing for it. She also wrote that Lee "has incredibly bad food taste".[24]  A week later, the post was removed, after Lee's lawyer threatened legal action.[25]  Lee has said this recipe is the only one of hers whose criticism she has taken to heart, and that the recipe was partly due to the Food Network dictating the show's content at the time.
 

artiemom

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regarding Sandra Lee.. I think I heard that she has had breast cancer and was not doing so well.. I am not sure if she if a bit better now...

I never really cared for her on the FN....
 

Kat0121

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regarding Sandra Lee.. I think I heard that she has had breast cancer and was not doing so well.. I am not sure if she if a bit better now...

I never really cared for her on the FN....
She is better now. She had a double mastectomy and was found to be cancer free in September (I just looked it up). I'm happy for her. Andrew Cuomo really stepped up during her illness. I give him a lot of credit for that. 

Me either. I used to watch her Semi Homemade shows as something to laugh at. She's put out a lot of cookbooks so there must be a lot of people who do like her. 


My faves on Food Network are Ina Garten (I love her!), Mario Batali, Alton Brown (ADORE him), Alex Guarnaschelli , Geoffrey Zakarian and Michael Symon. I also like Trisha Yearwood and Cat Cora.
 

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Brownie buckeyes sound amazing! Oh we do fudge too with nuts!
 

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 I know this sounds boring, but homemade apple pie--from scratch with fresh apples.  I cook up Granny Smiths, although recently, since I've been baking a lot of apple pies for other people, I've been using Cortlands, as they are a lot cheaper, and I can't tell the difference when they are cooked.

I peel and slice the apples, and cook them with brown sugar, white sugar, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. I get them soft, but not mashed up.  I make the filling dark and spicy. The smell is heavenly!  I use Jiffy pie mix, with some add-ons. Mom always did this, and made very good pie crust. The only crust that's better is the unbleached flour, with 2 sticks of Land O'Lakes butter in the crusts one that I do when I have the time.

I like the simple, rustic look of my pies. The crust is stuffed full with apples, bumpy and a bit patched together--I can NEVER make a perfect-looking pie crust! The pie is best warmed a bit, with whipped cream or good vanilla ice cream melting into the buttery crust.

Tonight, someone offered to pay me for my labor and ingredients to bake one for them for next week.They loved the ones I donated to our club's Bingo game. This is the first time anyone's offered to pay me to cook, LOL! And I was flattered...and I accepted!
 
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Winchester

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My faves on Food Network are Ina Garten (I love her!), Mario Batali, Alton Brown (ADORE him), Alex Guarnaschelli , Geoffrey Zakarian and Michael Symon. I also like Trisha Yearwood and Cat Cora.
I am a big Ina Garten fan (I've asked for Cooking for Jeffrey for Christmas) and I just adore Alton! You know, he's coming back with more Good Eats? I think they're going to be online though, not on FN. We used to watch Emeril quite a bit; I tried many of his recipes and, man, they are good. I found his recipe for Rustic Rub and I make it every year, a pint for me and another pint for our son; we pretty much go through the whole pint during the year, too. I'll sprinkle it liberally on roast beef, steak, add it to meat loaf, throw it in beef stew and pot roast. I even add it to our beef when I make beef pot pie. It's fantastic on beef and even pork, too. Good stuff.....I don't add all the salt the recipe calls for though.

Rick calls Ina the "Snobby Contessa" because of where she lives and her friends. I like her and I don't think I've ever made any of her recipes that wasn't a hit around here. I really liked watching her on FN.
 
 I know this sounds boring, but homemade apple pie--from scratch with fresh apples.  I cook up Granny Smiths, although recently, since I've been baking a lot of apple pies for other people, I've been using Cortlands, as they are a lot cheaper, and I can't tell the difference when they are cooked.

I peel and slice the apples, and cook them with brown sugar, white sugar, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. I get them soft, but not mashed up.  I make the filling dark and spicy. The smell is heavenly!  I use Jiffy pie mix, with some add-ons. Mom always did this, and made very good pie crust. The only crust that's better is the unbleached flour, with 2 sticks of Land O'Lakes butter in the crusts one that I do when I have the time.

I like the simple, rustic look of my pies. The crust is stuffed full with apples, bumpy and a bit patched together--I can NEVER make a perfect-looking pie crust! The pie is best warmed a bit, with whipped cream or good vanilla ice cream melting into the buttery crust.

Tonight, someone offered to pay me for my labor and ingredients to bake one for them for next week.They loved the ones I donated to our club's Bingo game. This is the first time anyone's offered to pay me to cook, LOL! And I was flattered...and I accepted!
Kudos to you! I think it's fantastic that you're going to get paid to cook. You should be flattered! 
The only reason I don't want to do an apple pie for Christmas is simply because we have apple pie and dumplings pretty often. My pies don't look "pretty" and I tend to have trouble with the way they look more often than not, but they taste good. Way to go!
 

denice

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I like Ina Garten as well.  I understand where he gets the nickname from but her recipes aren't like that.  The ones I have looked at have a reasonable number of ingredients and I recognize all of them.  I have looked at some of the recipes on Food Network and they have a long list of ingredients.  They also have some ingredients that I have never heard of which means they would probably  be difficult to find.  A lot of Bobby Flay's recipes are like that.
 

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I know a few people laughed at my version of strawberry shortcake but Jon loves it. Whenever I get those angel food cups-he eats them all in one night. and it has to be real cool whip..I find it refreshing. biscuits are too heavy. I prefer the angle food cake. It's just sweet enough that the tartness of the strawberries is a nice combination along with the creamy goodness of Cool whip. Hey I like things simple. As long as he likes it, then it's all good. I have bought various store bought cheesecakes and he always says it's only soso. He is SO picky when it comes to deserts..i tell him next time he complains I will just buy him a herseys bar with almonds...that shut him up. LOL. I guess I am not much of a desert person. I much prefer deep fried foods. I envy you folks who cook and entertain...I am just too clumsy to do it.
 
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My version of strawberry shortcake is....muffins! I have a recipe for a sweeter muffin; it's a really old Betty Crocker recipe and, I think it's Rick's favorite way to eat shortcake. So I guess you'd call my strawberry shortcake "strawberry muffins". Whatever works! (And when fresh strawberries are out of season and we don't have any in the freezer, then I'll make the muffins and fill them with strawberry preserves.)

Ina's recipe are, for the most part, very simple with ordinary ingredients. I like to listen to her and I like to watch her cook. She doesn't get flustered easily (although I've seen her flustered and it's funny). If I could choose one cook to cook me dinner, it would be Ina. Definitely. With Alton a very, very close second.

BTW, Rick's mother asked him to ask me to please make that salted caramel chocolate pecan pie again for Christmas dessert. So I think that ends that!
 
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Kat0121

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My version of strawberry shortcake is....muffins! I have a recipe for a sweeter muffin; it's a really old Betty Crocker recipe and, I think it's Rick's favorite way to eat shortcake. So I guess you'd call my strawberry shortcake "strawberry muffins". Whatever works! (And when fresh strawberries are out of season and we don't have any in the freezer, then I'll make the muffins and fill them with strawberry preserves.

Ina's recipe are, for the most part, very simple with ordinary ingredients. I like to listen to her and I like to watch her cook. She doesn't get flustered easily (although I've seen her flustered and it's funny). If I could choose one cook to cook me dinner, it would be Ina. Definitely. With Alton a very, very close second.

BTW, Rick's mother asked him to ask me to please make that salted caramel chocolate pecan pie again for Christmas dessert. So I think that ends that!
I love Ina. I don't find her snobbish at all. So she lives in the Hamptons? So what? Someone has to. 
  She' s easy to watch and her recipes are uncomplicated and use ingredients that we non-Hamptoners can find too. 

I also love when Jeffrey makes an appearance on the show. He's just as likable as she is. They are perfect for each other.
 

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Call me weird, but I don't like chefs who are overweight like Ina. She bores me stiff with that soppy look on her face. I think one beautiful chef is Giarda DeLaurentiis.

Does anyone like Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman? Love her website.
 
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I tried to watch the Pioneer Woman one day when I was home sick from work and couldn't. There's just something about her that turns me off. I did take one of her cookbooks out of our library one time, but wasn't overly impressed. Not overly fond of Giada either, although the recipes of hers that I've tried were all good.
 

Kat0121

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I tried to watch the Pioneer Woman one day when I was home sick from work and couldn't. There's just something about her that turns me off. I did take one of her cookbooks out of our library one time, but wasn't overly impressed. Not overly fond of Giada either, although the recipes of hers that I've tried were all good.
I've watched some episodes of TPW and I don't find her very likable. Giada annoys me. She's far above Sandra and Rachael as far as cooking ability is concerned but she annoys me. I'm sticking with my faves- Ina and Alton. 

ETA- First in my heart will always be Julia may she RIP. 


 
 
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I've watched some episodes of TPW and I don't find her very likable. Giada annoys me. She's far above Sandra and Rachael as far as cooking ability is concerned but she annoys me. I'm sticking with my faves- Ina and Alton. 

ETA- First in my heart will always be Julia may she RIP. 


 
YES!
 

denice

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I like to read through the recipes on The Pioneer Woman's website.  She goes through preparing whatever it is in a funny down home style.  At the end she gives the recipe in a traditional way.  She is completely different on T.V.  Giada gets on my nerves.
 
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I like him, too. I'll watch him on our CREATE channel at night when they have cooking shows. I enjoy watching Martha Stewart as well as Lidia Bastianich, and Cook's Country/ATK. CREATE also has the old Julia episodes and I'll watch those. I used to like Ming Tsai and he's on CREATE. 

I've started watching Annabel Langbein (The Free Range Cook) on CREATE. She lives in New Zealand and her shows are fascinating. It's about cooking, of course, but the scenery is gorgeous and she gets out and about in her area. It's a good show and I enjoy it. I wouldn't mind having her cookbook, to be honest. http://www.annabel-langbein.com/

Another favorite of mine is Kevin Dundon, who is from Ireland, and also has a cooking show on CREATE. He's very interesting. I like watching him work. I'd love to have Back to Basics, his newest cookbook, but I'd also like to have Full On Irishhttp://www.kevindundon.com/ I watched one of his shows on chocolate and I swear I gained ten pounds just watching.

Cookbooks. It's an addiction. Honest. I tell myself I don't really need another cookbook and I suppose I don't. But I take them to bed and I read them from cover to cover, just like a novel. And then I'll take them out to the kitchen and.....whatever happens happens. 
 
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