Sandra Lee, Star of Semi-Homemade Cooking on the Food Network Hits the Book Tour

Food Network Fan · 10-13-2008, 12:15 PM

Sandra Lee, Star of Semi-Homemade Cooking on the Food Network Hits the Book Tour Trail

Home & Food Expert, Sandra Lee, Cooks Up Three New Titles to Simplify Living: Semi-Homemade Money Saving Meals, Semi-Homemade Desserts 2 and Semi-Homemade Fast-Fix Family Favorites

Last update: 6:30 a.m. EDT Oct. 13, 2008

NEW YORK, Oct 13, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- National bestselling author Sandra Lee will help busy professionals and homemakers everywhere save money and time to create smart, great-tasting meals in minutes.
Aligned with her Semi-Homemade(R) philosophy, Food Network star, Sandra Lee will visit over a dozen cities this fall to meet with communities and address the top issues that plague the nation, such as the rising cost of groceries and feeding a family on a budget. The home & food expert will give money-saving shortcuts for family-friendly meals and simple solutions to make life easier.
"Everyone loves a home-cooked meal, but who has the time to prepare one from scratch?" explains Sandra Lee. "I look forward to sharing my new books with everyone across the country, discussing the time and economic challenges we all face, and most importantly, offering money-saving solutions to make everyday more meaningful and special, regardless of unavoidable income and time constraints."
The Sandra Lee "Semi-Homemade Sweet & Simple" book tour features afternoon bake sale events to benefit Share Our Strength, a national non-profit organization dedicated to feeding the 12.6 million food insecure children in the United States and evening soiries for savvy, over-worked professionals and homemakers. A portion of the proceeds from the tour and book sales from Semi- Homemade Desserts 2 will be donated to Share Our Strength.
The following book titles add to the popular Semi-Homemade series and are available in stores now. Each book boasts a mix of go-to dishes that includes hundreds of full-color how-to recipe photos to ensure budget cooking and time- saving success:

* Semi-Homemade Money Saving Meals -- More than 130 budget-friendly
recipes and tips to save time & money with supermarket selections and
solutions for everyday dilemmas.
* Semi-Homemade Desserts 2 -- A mix of old favorites and updated
classics -- ten do-able, brilliant baking chapters, all filled with
easy incredible indulgences, including cakes, cupcakes, cookies, pies,
brownies, bars and more. There is even a new quick-scratch chapter and
heirloom recipes made modern.
* Semi-Homemade Fast-Fix Family Favorites -- Sandra's all-time favorite
time-saving recipes, with over 300 shortcut meal solutions and comfort
food classics throughout 12 packed chapters -- all-American cuisine,
ethnic flavors, one-dish dinners, slow cooker made simple and grilling
greats. This collection includes nearly three times as many recipes and
photos as the other books in her series.

For the complete Sandra Lee "Sweet & Simple" book tour schedule visit: http://www.sandraleeonline.com/book_tour.htm
Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade
Sandra Lee is an internationally-acclaimed home & food expert with an Emmy-nominated television show, Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee, which airs on the Food Network. With 17 books to her credit, she is a New York Times and Amazon.com bestselling author. Semi-Homemade revolutionizes the way people think about creating from scratch. With its trademark 70/30 philosophy, which combines 70% ready-made products with 30% fresh and creative touches, Sandra Lee's Semi-Homemade has become the advocate for over-extended people. Semi-Homemade allows anyone to take 100% of the credit for something that looks, feels or tastes as if it were made completely from scratch.
The Sandra Lee "Semi-Homemade Sweet & Simple" book tour events are in partnership with Share Our Strength and the ConAgra's Food Foundation and sponsored by Domino Sugar, Betty Crocker and Diageo.
SOURCE Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade

http://www.semihomemade.com

BerryBaby · 10-13-2008, 03:42 PM

They make it seem like people are SO busy they don't have time for anything. Who are these people? Making dinner should be a number one priority and a special time to share with your family. These are moments we cherish forever. They shouldn't be last on the list.

MiseEnPlace · 10-13-2008, 06:44 PM

I work with a couple of people who tend to be like the people who are Aunt Sandy's target. When I was joking last week about her appearance in Charleston and my supervisor said something like what's wrong with coooking like that, that's how I cook... when I cook. Open mouth, insert foot

Another time I was trying to get a coworker to make carrot cake (she loved the one I brought in for the office) but when she looked at the ingredients and told me there where too many. She doesn't even have basic spices on hand

Guess there are two ways of looking at cooking. One sides looks at as a chore and something you need to do in order to eat. I think these are the people who are so busy to too busy to cook real food. The others see it as an away to bond and share with others. And enjoy putting the time, effort and love in making something for others.

I don't have kids or a large family, so I make a lot of things for my friends and coworkers because I enjoy sharing my food with others.

Food Network Fan · 10-13-2008, 07:40 PM

I think that if you are someone who never learned to cook she can help a person get started. Some people have no desire to learn and will continue the minimum throughout their lives.

The fellow that registered a while back that was eating TV dinners because his loved one that always cooked for him couldnt' anymore really gave me a new appreciation for Sandra Lee. I think her way would be better than going the frozen meal route. There have to be a lot of folks out there who have relied on someone else for meals and either lose that person or they are unable to do it any longer. She really might help those folks if they don't even know where to start.

But for me personally, I have always wanted to learn how to make things. I will even try and figure out how to copy something I have eaten just so I can say I know how to make it.

ibcheft · 10-13-2008, 07:51 PM

I find that there are those of us who just have a passion for cooking, and wanting the best possible dish we can provide to our families, and those who see food as a survival only, not as a enjoyment, not as a means of culinary delight, and those who make time to cook and those who take time to prepare. Thus the people who find other things more important than eating. I think this is the group that Aunt Sandy attracts, these people who want, what we have but will not take the time to do it. That is just my opinion, not putting anyone down, or trying to degrade, I understand that they are different perspectives to everything. So to each their own, for the people who look to Aunt Sandy for inspiration hurray at least you are looking for more than opening a box, and to us who look to the chefs for inspiration may we find the ultimate delicacy, gastronomical delight, that lights our passion to cook more.

MiseEnPlace · 10-13-2008, 09:43 PM

I know not everyone enjoys cooking and I do give Aunt Sandy some credit for getting people into the kitchen and making food. I just hope using her recipes will inspire those non-cooks to try more real homemade cooking.

isilzha · 10-13-2008, 09:53 PM

Some people just don't like cooking like you guys do.

I'm just inept at it.

Pluff Mudder · 10-14-2008, 12:20 AM

Different strokes for different folks. There are us that really like to cook, love getting in the kitchen and playing with new recipes and sharing our love of food with our friends and families. And, then there are those that basically look at food as something they have to have to live and could care less if they every set foot in a kitchen. And in between those two groups are those that like to cook, but just don't have the time or feel they have the kitchen skills and that is where Aunt Sandy comes in. It's not all out of a box and it's not all from scratch, but lets the preparer put a home-cooked meal on the table instead of just nuking something in the microwave or going for take-out all the time. So, it's not 100% made from scratch... but it's still proving a meal for a family and bringing them together around the supper table.

Food Network Fan · 10-14-2008, 12:33 AM

That's true.

And I really did think a lot about our friend who registered and was looking for help with his frozen dinners. My husband would be in a mess if something happened to me. I am sure he would probably turn to anything he could microwave. And you know they have to miss the meals they had before if someone had been cooking with love for them for years. It's sad really. You know they had an appreciation for the meals the way they had been cooked for them for years, and frozen ... even if it tastes decent, it's not what they have eaten prepared special for them the way they like it.

I think it would be really tough to have always had someone who fixes you what you love not be able to do it anymore. I think Sandra's way might be less intimidating for someone who must learn all of this down to the very basics. But it's not a show for the people who do already know, or are wanting to do things with out all the packaged products with all the preservatives.

Pluff Mudder · 10-14-2008, 12:40 AM

I know if I wasn't around to cook, the DH would be eating sandwiches or nuking something in the microwave. He really doesn't care anything about cooking, just the eating... and he loves to eat. I've tried to get him to fix one meal a month just so he would have some basic kitchen skills just in case. He did it two times and then said "Forget about it, too much work."