As a warning, any comments saying bad things about Sandra Lee on the new post will be deleted as they will be deemed clutter. I think we all can agree the negative opinions have already been expressed well in this comment set.

That said, I recommended Every Day Food on the meal planning post, and I would like to reiterate it here. The magazine features a microwave, cocktail hour, after school snack, and Cooking for One recipe in every issue. But my favorite is the Grocery Bag. You get a shopping list (including a list of pantry staples) and a 5-day dinner menu plan for four people. Fresh ingredients are used along with frozen, canned, or other processed items. And almost every recipe can be made in 35-minutes. It’s great for new cooks and no-time-to-cooks.

I find most of her recipes to be very healthful and good. Shes got several books: Robin to the Rescue and Quick Fix Meals 1 & 2

But I agree the many posters who find Sandra Lee and her “recipes” horrifying. Even of the three cited by Erin above, only the chicken skewers would be potentially edible to me without significant overall.

I’d recommend:
1. Check out Robin Miller http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_rm/ While she uses some prepared & preped foods, her real focus is on weekly meal planning, bulk preping ingrediants and other time saving techiniques. Also, she cooks more food than needed at the beginning of the week and then “morphs” the leftovers for additional meals. Since I know how to to cook and have specific tastes, her recipes are very easy to “upgrade” (versus “fix” which is what I would have to do with Sandra Lee’s food).
2. Check out http://www.traderjoesfan.com which has recipe forum for people to share their favorite recipes using TJ’s foods.
3. And there’s alway The Minimalist, Mark Bittman – http://bitten.blogs.nytimes.com/

“The nutritional difference between frozen vegetables she often suggests using and fresh vegetables is minimal” That fact is true, however one must take into consideration that freezerburned corn or that wilted, old, spinach (which is still tagged as “fresh”) is less likely to be eaten in general, because, well, GAG!

The greater push behind avoiding frozen foods is the “carbon impact” and the “food miles” incurred.

for those unfamiliar, just google those terms.

OH yeah, and sandra lee is the devil, but Ray-Ray can kind of grate on the nerves, too.

I am in agreement with many of the other posters-fresh food tastes best. You can make a great salad in under five minutes (spinach or romaine lettuce, fruit, nuts and a protein source). I make veggie burgers from scratch once a week and freeze them in single serve bags. I can then microwave for 1 minute and cook on a single serve grill and add a small salad. I have a homemade meatloaf recipe I make with 96% lean chopped sirloin. I make it and freeze for days I am tired. Or get a Compact Showtime Rotisserie-in the time you go through the drive through, you could buy a rfg whole chicken. Go home, place on the rotisserie, add vegetables to the vegetable tray on top (takes under 5 mintues) and sit down, read your mail or just rest. In around 40 minutes, you can have a great meal.

I think my best tip for great food fast is to pre-chop fresh fruits and vegetables and freeze them in 1/2 cup serving bags. That way, if you need some fast, you can grab them. If a recipe calls for more, then you just grab what you need. I do that all the time and LOVE it!

As an avid fan of the Food Network and owner of several cookbooks from an array of their hosts, I’m a little taken aback by the responses on Sandra Lee – can’t knock her for being an enterprising self-made entrepreneur – she certainly has found a niche that has made her some big bucks. While I personally don’t find her appealing, I don’t think this was a promotion for Sandra Lee. I have two small kids, work fulltime, and love to cook so I’ve tried a few of her recipes and I have to say – not a fan on many. BUT there are a few gems in there that I use over and over again like her tip for buying prepared cookie mix (chocolate chip oatmeal is our favorite) and smooshing in dried fruit, nuts, etc. They are delicious and my kids love making them with me, not to mention that they are good enough to give out in snack bags for Christmas. Theres minimal cleanup and my kids and I have a great time doing something together that otherwise would be slightly draining with my busy schedule. To Erin’s point – I think Sandra Lee offers some time saving/clutter controlling ideas for simplifying life that we all can use. I’ve been trapped multiple times by promising cookies for school, devising homemade gifts for, or even saying yes to bringing a dessert to something that there was no way in hell I realistically had the time or energy to make. Now – I try to embody what Sandra Lee is saying . .. make is simple on yourself and take shortcuts. For Easter dinner for instance, I had a kid with a double ear infection, a HUGE deadline at work and a multitude of life commitments (read Easter Bunny duties) so I took a page from Sandras book and used store bought dough, frozen berries, some canned cherries and presto – I had a very yummy pie to bring that got raves and didn’t cause a holiday meltdown on my part. I don’t know, for myself theres some value in her message. MY brain prefers the natural homemade route but my life doesn’t allow for that all the time so it’s a good compromise and a stress relief for me.

The Best 30-minute Recipe by the editors of Cook’s Illustrated.

But something about her manner really threw me off. I’m not exactly sure why. Yes, I wasn’t impressed with her recipes or with her “See with all the time I saved I can clutter up the table with loads of stuff I’ll never use again”. (Usually I’m cleaning while I’m between cooking steps, not decorating.) Yes, all the boxed and jarred and “buy this sauce/mix/thing you’ll never use up instead of combining 3 staples” is wasteful and silly.

But really, it was her manner more than anything else. It seems judgmental and silly, but there it is.

Count me as another not fan of Sandra Lee. Every time I catch even a moment of her on Food Network my stomach turns at the unappetizing concoctions.

O.K., my wife and I, sadly, do fall into the category of those who eat out many times a week. We are both teachers, my wife in her first year, and that means that work does not end at five o’clock or, frequently, ten o’clock either. We’re always on the lookout for ways to eat at home more often.
I appreciate Erin’s bringing this book to our attention. I also appreciate her spirit of humility, recognizing the “horribly judgmental and rude thoughts” that occurred to her when she first saw it.
My wife and I are not lazy, but neither were we well prepared to cook scratch-made dinners every night while planning for twenty-four lessons a week (yes, seriously twenty-four). So, we’d certainly appreciate, as Erin asks above, suggestions for cookbooks and websites that offer very simple, very fast homemade recipes. Ad hominem attacks optional.