About the Book
The new way to cook -- quick, marvelous meals and nothing is made from scratch.
Sandra Lee has been making everyday lives a little bit easier for over ten years with her Semi-Homemade techniques. Now, she brings her inspiring, practical ideas into the kitchen in her very first cookbook, with recipes that are quick, easy, and most of all delicious.
Semi-Homemade Cooking combines fresh ingredients with carefully chosen prepackaged foods -- everything from ready-made pastry to premade soups -- to create a worry-free, timesaving new approach to home cooking.
Nothing is made from scratch -- but everything tastes completely homemade. Semi-Homemade Cooking is packed with over one hundred inspiring recipes -- from classic dishes like Southwestern Turkey Chili and Corn Bread, Six-Cheese Tortellini, and French Apple Raisin Sandwiches, to more sophisticated fare, such as Spicy Crab Salad and Roasted Pepper Soup to mouth-watering desserts like Cream Cheese Flan, and Raspberry Trifle with Rum Cream Sauce.
It's all here: appetizers, soups, salads, main dishes, desserts, snacks, even treats for your pet -- beautifully presented, artfully selected, and most can be prepared in less than 30 minutes.
Sandra also includes recommendations for her favorite product brands, grocery store shopping lists, helpful leftover hints, storage suggestions, and music and wine suggestions to accompany the meals.
Semi-Homemade Cooking is perfect for anyone who wants homemade meals without spending hours in the kitchen.
About the Author Sandra Lee is known to audiences nationwide from her many appearances on the QVC shopping channel and numerous network and cable television programs, demonstrating her hugely popular product lines for the home.
She has shared her many down-to-earth secrets to decorating, gardening, and crafts, creating a lifestyle that is beautiful, affordable, and, ultimately, doable. Sandra and her many Semi-Homemade solutions have been featured in Good Housekeeping, Redbook, Country Living Gardener, Better Homes and Gardens, Woman's World, Victoria, and People. She has appeared on many television programs, such as NBC's Today, FOX's Good Day LA and Good Day New York, and several popular cable shows aired on such networks as Lifetime Television for Women, The Discovery Channel, and TNN.
Sandra now turns her friendly, realistic approach to cooking with her very first cookbook, Semi-Homemade Cooking. She is a member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals and studied at the acclaimed Cordon Bleu. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband Bruce and Aspen, their dog.
The Review
Damn! Sandra Lee has given out my secret to cooking. I like to cook - I just don't like to spend more time doing it than I have to. So I "cheat" a lot. Great tasting food for little effort. And my plan was going well: Don't tell a soul and they'll remain impressed with my cooking skill. Now thanks to Sandra Lee, not only is my secret out - but now more people will be able to cook like me. Probably better than me. But since I now have even more great, easy recipes I can pass off as my own to my husband and friends, I'll forgive her. LOL
This is fast becoming one of my favorite cookbooks. I don't think it's fair that she's allowing us to give away my favorite recipe so far (the Malibu Rum Cake). I think that recipe alone is worth the price of the book. (I'm a sucker for all things coconut.) But I am not telling you the Gnocchi Dippers nor the Six-Cheese Tortellini recipes. Nope. Nu-huh. You'll have to get your own copy for that. (Or come over for dinner sometime.)
Normally we would give away books after reviewing them. Not this one. It's MINE! ALL MINE! And it's not just because of the small cooking stains it has acquired over the past week, either. These are great, simple-to-make recipes that are quite impressive to eat. The ingredients are for the most part common pantry itmes you should have on hand. There's nothing worse than having to go to the store for spcialty items every time you want to cook.
There is great variety, so it should please any cook with any taste (and ability.) Although I wish it were spiral bound, I like the large format and large print. It makes it easy to follow along while whipping, stirring, mixing, chopping, and in my case, spilling things all over.
I love this cookbook. Completely. Buy it! ~Trixie, October 2002
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