I might rail on Rachael Ray at times, but at least she cooks food -

[Rabrrrrrr]

and, unlike that Sarah woman (Sarah Lee?) who does the "Half-assed Cooking" show or whatever it's called, at least Rachael isn't foisting boxed and canned chemical shit on her family, but is cooking actual food.

I gotta give credit where credit is due. Sure, she's perky and can get annoying, but, by God, she's cooking real food that isn't unhealthy OR lazy, and is showing and speaking truth to the lie that digging shit out of a box or a can is "easier" or "quicker" and that one CAN cook entire meals quickly with fresh, natural, foods.

[_testify_]

1. I used to adore her

Then she got on my nerves. If I hear "E.V.O.O." one more time I'll feed her to the Iron Chefs.

[Rabrrrrrr]

7. She used the phrase "put it in the GB - the garbage bowl - girl's best

friend!"

ARGH!!!!

And she said EVOO twice tonight, but neither time followed it with "that's extra virgin olive oil".

[eyesroll]

12. Why doesn't she use a bag instead of a GB?

Even if she reuses her shopping bags, there are always those wimpy produce bags or the bag the bread came in. I use those for trash, and I don't have to wash another bowl.

[Rabrrrrrr]

16. a bag slows one down and it's just unconscionable environmental waste.

Except for those few bags that one is forced to buy that can't really be re-used, such as bread bags (at least, if one isn't buying healthy bread and is just buying the sliced shit) or produce bags that have ripped or what-have-you.

My produce bags I can get many, many, many uses from. I have bags that I've used for probably close to two years.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

28. Yay! A bag saver...

When I worked at the health food store, it was disturbing how many customers would request an obscene amount of bags for their purchases (as in 'please wrap the apple in two plastic shopping bags, so the container of yogurt doesn't dent it'). Or the people that would absolutely need the bag for their single item that already came in a sealed bag. We used to just want to scream at them, "You don't need a bag for your bag!" Of course, this store catered to the rich, so we had a bizarre combo of people who cared about health food and those who would spend about a $100/day at the gourmet deli because they didn't have to cook.

[deucemagnet]

52. Then, there are some cashiers who are "bag ninjas".

They have your one package of AA batteries and your reciept in a full-size bag and handed to you before you can say, "No, I don't need a...."

[SammyWinstonJack]

31. She is annoying! Her hand gestures alone, are enough to send me

over the edge! I'll take Paula Deen or Ina Garten any day. I kinda like that guy that picks up shoppers in the grocery store and then cooks a meal for them in their home, aka "Take Home Chef" I think is the name of the show? He's cool! My fav is Anthony Bourdain. Yummy! And not at all PC. :evilgrin:

[GOPisEvil]

2. That Semi-Homemade show is an abomination.

Rachael Ray proves that you can cook a quick meal with a minimum of prepared ingredients. I've tried some of her recipes and for the most part, they are quite easy and tasty.

[Skittles]

3. she is too annoying for me

I'm sure she's a nice gal but I can't take more than one minute of her

[KamaAina]

4. I'm still not over her tour of New Orleans

on the $40-a-day thing.

She treated us to a tour of the fabulous architecture on St. Charles Street. :dunce: (hint: it's 'Avenue')

[WCGreen]

5. Yes and her recipes are a good place to start....

I have cooked a lot of stuff based on her recipes...

[Name removed]

6. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Blue-Jay]

8. She's cute in an abnormally-large-noggin kind of way.

[burythehatchet]

46. best description yet

[eyesroll]

9. Rachael Ray annoys me but Sandra Lee is an abomination.

I've railed on her before -- what gets to me is that half the stuff she makes would be quicker and easier to do from scratch, or at least with the RIGHT packaged ingredients.

The example I keep going back to is her pumpkin cheesecake petit fours (or whatever she called them) -- make shells out of doctored up sugar cookie dough, and make the filling by scooping out the innards of a perfectly good pumpkin pie and a perfectly good cheesecake and whipping them up and putting them in a pastry bag and...you get the idea. Why she didn't just get packaged tartlet shells, a can of pumpkin pie filling and a brick of cream cheese is beyond me.

That and she tells her audience that they can and should pass that stuff off as from-scratch. She encourages food fraud. That's a no-no on my list.

[jmowreader]

10. Sandra Lee needs to be enlisted into the Army and sent to Iraq

and NOT given a job in a mess hall. This will save the world from her Semi-Fucked-Up Cooking.

It would be more, y'know, REAL, if she'd just cook the shit straight out of the box without fuckin' with it. This is the wench who bought a $15 cheesecake and scraped the filling out to shove in tartlet shells she made out of canned sugar cookie dough...when it would have been a hell of a lot cheaper and a hell of a lot easier to buy a cheesecake mix and pipe the filling into premade tartlet shells.

Every Sandra Lee show features "cocktails" that you make by filling a beer mug with Jack Daniels then adding one cube of ice and a twist of lemon. There is a reason for this.

[eyesroll]

13. Hee!

GMTA!

[Rabrrrrrr]

15. LOL! You and Eyesroll had the same story at the same time!

Both clocked in at 7:32.

I'm glad I didn't see that episode! I would have been screaming!

The only things about Sandra that make her show worth watching are her breasts.

[TheFriendlyAnarchist]

11. I actually got one of my favorite steak recipes from her

[LostinVA]

14. Little EVOO Yummo Sammies drives me bonkers.... BUT

She is a decent cook (not a chef, but a decent cook). Sandra Lee? WTF??? She even lied about having Cordon Blue creds -- she went to a TWO WEEK COURSE... and didn't even FINISH IT!!!

[jmowreader]

24. You misheard her.

She didn't say she had Cordon Bleu creds, she said she had some Cordon Bleu once.

And it was pretty good, but if you scrape the breading off, you can spread the cheese on little crackers and make canapes that go great with her famous "Jack in a beer mug" cocktails. Save the ham for tomorrow's lunch sandwiches, and the veal goes in a delicious soup made by opening a can of Campbell's Tomato Soup and dumping all the leftovers in the house into it.

[LostinVA]

25. Bwaaahhh --- that sounds just like her show!

[MorningGlow]

48. AUGH! Sammies!

We used to be forced to watch her damned show every night (actually two back to back, IIRC) because MorningGlow Jr. was in love with her. He was one year old. Now, at 2 1/2, he's outgrown her (thank GOD)--although Mr. MorningGlow and I still say "sammies" and "EVOO"--ironically of course.

Too bad his new love is Melanie, the can't-sing-can't-act chick who just got fired from PBS Sprout's The Good Night Show for having a couple of "dirrrrrty" satirical fake-PSAs in her past.

My poor kid--such bad taste in women. I hope he improves.

[xmas74]

17. She can be annoying sometimes

and a few of the things she makes are not my cup of tea.

But she has taught some lazy cooks how to make a meal and make it fast. I've watched the show quite a few times and have tried a few recipes-they do work just fine and are finished in the proper time frame, if your prep is done beforehand.

I turned a friend on to her for that reason. My friend's big accomplishment before watching her was to make a box of Rice-a-Roni and add ground beef. Now she's fascinated w/ what she can make, has bought all her cookbooks, makes menus in advance for the week, has learned how to shop properly and how to do as much prep as possible in advance (chopping onions and veggies to store in the fridge for weekday cooking, portioning things out in advance, etc). She's now a much better cook, her family eats healthier and her grocery bill is $100 lower than it used to be.

Thanks to Rachel Ray I can eat at B's house and not be disgusted by everything on the table!

[Rabrrrrrr]

19. Absolutely! I have to give Rachael credit for such things.

For teaching people that they can cook actual food and don't have to resort to chemicals from a box.

That they can respect their family by serving them healthy stuff, instead of stuff that just slowly kills them.

I used to rail on Rachael because she isn't overly creative, nor doing great cuisine, but I never knew of the existence of Sandra Lee's "half-assed poison lazy fuck-your-family cooking show" until the last year, and so now my respect for Rachael has gone way up because until Sandra showed up, I never realized that Rachael was actually using food, real food from the outside of the grocery store, not the chemical shit from the center of the grocery store.

[xmas74]

23. My best friend learned how to use fresh herbs

from watching her show.

And the food is family-friendly for the most part. Her children are rather fussy but they'll eat almost everything in the cookbook, mainly because they see her cooking it on television. Her oldest son watches the show and now wants to help cook because of it.

She's still not my favorite by any means but she is good for people who are just learning how to cook. And she has a few episodes about how to get kids in the kitchen, which is wonderful. Get 'em to try new things and to develope an interest in good food and how to make it while they're still young and they'll know how to make positive choices in the future.

[Midlodemocrat]

18. I am currently a major Barefoot Contessa fan.

Her recipes are incredible. We had a fantastic meal Sunday with a colleague of mine from work and every single thing turned out wonderfully.

[Rabrrrrrr]

21. Yes, she's really good! So is that southern woman.

Her accent makes me want to slap the livikng shit out of her, but she cooks good homemade, country old-style foods - and best yet (I'm still talking about the southern woman, but I include contessa in this evaluation as well) they both very obviously get a major kick out of serving food to people, and see sharing food as an essential human activity. An ideaology with which I agree wholeheartedly.

And Contessa does some pretty creative stuff. I'd like to see her on Iron Chef going up against Mario (and I say Mario because I think he has the humanity enough to enjoy the contest).

[tinfoil tiaras]

37. Paula Deen?

I think that's her name? She has the 2 sons that have their own show now..?

[tinfoil tiaras]

36. I made this ice cream thing

That was made on Contessa, and it turned out awesome!

I freaking love the food network. And that guy who wears the turtle neck on Contessa. I love him alot too.

[Benfea]

20. You know who annoys me even more? Giada.

She has that upper middle class "I'm talking down to you" air about her that annoys me so about Martha Stewart. Don't get me wrong, she's drop-dead gorgeous, but her personality is like nails on a chalkboard.

Of course, her recipes (the real reason to watch a cooking show) are absolutely fantastic. I rarely make recipes after watching a cooking show, but I've tried some of hers and they are amazing.

[Rabrrrrrr]

22. But of the three (Rachael, Sandra, and Giada) she has the BEST breasts.

No contest at all. She is the clear and obvious winner.

:-)

She is kind of annoying to listen to, but also, as you say, her recipes are fucking great.

[Beausoir]

29. Noooo! Giaada has some fantastic recipes!

Even though she's a bobble-head, she has great recipes.

[Benfea]

32. Isn't that what I just said? -NT

[Beausoir]

34. Yes. Doh! I leapt to the bobble-head's defense before I read that you

liked her recipes.

Stoopid me.

Just a warning...do not try her Petite Filet with Gorgonzola and Porcini Mushroom Sauce.

One of the worst recipes I have ever tried. Who uses mayonnaise in their mushroom sauce? *Barfs*

[Benfea]

39. Paula Deen puts mayo in pretty near everything. ;) -NT

[Beausoir]

42. She does not! Butter maybe...obscene amounts of butter....but not mayo.

Long live the Lady!

[Rabrrrrrr]

43. Yeah, I'm not remember Paula using much mayo, either.

But definitely remembering lots of butter.

[wickerwoman]

38. Is she the one who mixes meatloaf by hand with 2" press-on nails?

I can't even express how disturbing I found that...

"Everyday Italian"? More like "Everyday ER When the Fingernail Lodges in your Trachea".

[burythehatchet]

47. Giada has TONS of spunk and moxie

[jobycom]

26. Christ, you guys feel that?

Either Rabrrrr just said something nice about someone or the world just stopped!! :rofl:

I agree with you, too. Well said.

[Arugula Latte]

27. Sandra What's-Her-Face bugs the crap out of me and a big part of

that is because she changes her kitchen color/decor to match her show and then she says things like: "I want you to buy a box of Jello and put it in a bowl and then I want you to add bits of a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket to the Jello and then put it on your tablescape." :grr:

[Beausoir]

35. LOL! A perfect Shamdra recipe!

[Bridget Burke]

50. I LIKE the changing kitchen decor!

But I find her recipes revolting.

However, given her cocktail recipes, I doubt any of her guests are sober enough to notice the food.

[Beausoir]

30. Shamdra Lee is her name. She HATES to cook, so why does she get a show?

What's with this trend of giving people who loathe food and cooking their own show?

Rachel Ray? Hates to cook.

At least Shamdra spends a goodly amount of time on cocktail recipes.
She has realized that even she needs to be smashed to choke down her recipes.

[calico1]

45. That totally pisses me off.

If you hate to cook then you shouldn't have a cooking show. It also pisses me off that she tries to depict people who do cook as being fools for not taking her great shortcuts.:puke: Besides, how many people who hate to cook are going to watch the Food Network? Her show is a waste of space. And her tablescapes are just too ridiculous. I can't imagine any sane person following her decorating advice. She once filled some candle holders with perfectly good coffee beans. All I could think was "what a waste of coffee beans!" When I am flipping I will watch a minute or two of her just to see what stupid idea she has. Two minutes is about all I can take of her. I find Giada and Rachael annoying too but at least they can cook.

[Placebo]

33. I will love her forever!

She's the best person on Food Network. :D

[Benfea]

40. No way. Alton Brown roolz! -NT

[Rabrrrrrr]

41. Alton Brown is a god!

He's my hero!

[Divameow77]

49. My mom and I drool over

Alton Brown, we love him in all his geeky, funny glory ;-)

[Bridget Burke]

51. I used to consider Alton & Jon Stewart the Sex Gods of Cable TV.

Until I saw the Dog Whisperer!

[Courtesy Flush]

44. If the food's good, the show earns its keep

We used to love Jeff Smith (pre-child-predator days), because he seemed to be such a nice guy with a good world view.

We bought his cookbook, and every recipe we tried was crap.

I'll take the Barbie Doll with the good food, thanks.