I'm reading "Andrew Cuomo ex Sandra Lee wishes ‘peace, healing’ after 2nd accuser steps forward" (NY Post):
“Sending everyone peace and loving healing regards from Malibu! The best sunsets ever thank God for the Ocean!” Lee posted on Instagram Saturday night, alongside a photo of a beach.
The post was made hours after The New York Times revealed [accusations from] Cuomo’s 25-year-old former aide, Charlotte Bennet, is accusing the 63-year-old governor of asking her inappropriate personal questions at work... days after another former aide, Lindsey Boylan, publicly accused the governor of attempting to kiss her on the mouth at his New York City office in 2018....
I'd say Sandra Lee is keeping her distance. This is a woman I had never paid any attention to until I was looking up Cuomo's Wikipedia page yesterday. I can't remember exactly why, but I suddenly needed to know where he went to law school. The answer is Albany Law School. Isn't that interesting?
I got to reading the "Personal Life" section. There was that marriage to the 7th child of Robert F. Kennedy. And then there was an 8-year relationship with Food Network host Sandra Lee. I was curious enough to click through to Lee's Wikipedia page, and that led me to some of the biggest laughs I've had all year. Lee has an approach to cooking that she calls "semi-homemade." In practice, this involves using lots of processed foods and combining them in ways so ludicrous that it kind of has to be a spoof.
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... Food writer Anthony Bourdain, who was harshly critical of Lee in general, described the video clip of this segment of the show as "eye searing" and "a war crime." The cake was called "scary" by the Houston Chronicle, and "the most ghastly-sounding dish in Lee's culinary repertoire" by Tulsa World.
Here are the Kwanzaa cake hijinks:
That's very very funny, but the next thing I clicked on was so funny I nearly died. She makes a baked potato out of ice cream!
I love the way she resists showing any sign that she knows what she is doing is ridiculous and a phenomenal waste of time. If you want to take all this trouble, you should make something from scratch, and if you're going to buy convenience foods, you should take the benefit of the convenience, not futz around with them... especially not to form them into something utterly gross.
And isn't this a metaphor for human relationships? Are we not all processed "foods"?
When you meet somebody — let's say when you're Sandra meeting Andrew — you're not starting from scratch. Both of you have been through so much, like peeled sliced-up cooked apples in a can or a manufactured angel food cake. You might feel that these things should be combined — that Sandra and Andrew should form a relationship.
But maybe they're better off kept apart. The angel food cake can be eaten plain. It's good enough. Processed, but okay. But those apples... don't you think maybe they shouldn't be eaten at all? Leave them on the shelf! Yes, the angel food cake has a hole in it, but that doesn't mean you ought to open whatever can you've got nearby and dump in the gooey contents!
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166 comments:
Finishing any statement with the words from Malibu is flaunting your economic success. There's a twisted kind of admiration for someone who pulls off a long con like the Sandra Lee's.
“Look at me, I’m Sandra Lee”
Somebody had to say it.
Sometimes in college, we would order a pizza, and when it arrived sprinkle some Kraft Parmesan cheese on it.
Damn, I could have had my own show...
The Kwanzaa cake is fitting for the holiday. Made up and ridiculous. I'm surprised she wasn't cancelled.
asking her inappropriate personal questions at work
publicly accused the governor of attempting to kiss her on the mouth
The fact that the fakenews presents these absolutely trivial incidents as horrors survived by the "accusers" makes me laugh.
Thanks!
I remember, back in the 70s, there was a women's-magazine fad for improving packaged cake mixes by adding packaged pudding mix.
I sometimes take a basic frozen pizza and add my own toppings to it. Fresh vegetables taste a lot better than the frozen cubes they sprinkle on there.
Megyn Kelly is an alum of Albany Law.
I see that Andrew, a Catholic in name only, never married Sandra Lee.
Her food reminds me of recipes from the '60s and '70s when magazines and food manufacturers were pushing the convenience of packaged foods but knew people still wanted the appearance of homemade. One of my favorites (to read, not to eat) is the Ocean Spray Cranberry Sauce Candle.
In a way, we can say that Andrew Cuomo was trying to open whatever hole he had nearby to dump in the gooey contents. Sandra Lee! A woman of her time!
When I was in high school I worked as a server at the hall where Albany Law held their graduation reception. Those kids were pigs...
Her show was like a bad joke told with sincerity. But the operative word was bad. Bad concept. Stupid “themes.” The worst of the Food network. For a few years they thought having a contest every year would produce another Guy Fieri or Alton Brown but they just showed how hard it really was to come up with a fresh concept on a “cooking show.” The found some interesting personalities, but few real “stars” who could carry a show. Both Lee’s stunk, Katie (Billy Joel’s ex) and Sandra. The whole network seems stale now, back to recycling “Good Eats” and rerunning Guys shows.
I think I've watched her videos before.
"I sometimes take a basic frozen pizza and add my own toppings to it. Fresh vegetables taste a lot better than the frozen cubes they sprinkle on there."
But the Sandra Lee approach would be to take frozen pizza and add separately packaged frozen vegetables.
It's merely a happy coincidence that Cuomo's gf left him right recently.
As alluded to above her show does resemble the ‘50s era recipes that combined processed foods weirdly like meats and Jello. James Lileks has chronicled many in his Gallery of Regrettable Foods, which is fun to browse.
http://lileks.com/institute/gallery/menucards/10gift/7.html
I see what is going on here.
Black History Month is over, March is Women's History Month.
So Althouse presents us with a vid of a white woman butchering a Kwanzaa cake.
Wow, I know it's a light hearted subject but it's one of those 'Althouse at her best' gems. Had to interrupt my husband's morning paper reading and make him listen to my synopsis of the videos and then read word for word Althouse's comparison of processed foods to human relationships. Thanks for the laughs.
Perfect application of purposely underestimating the stupidity of the American public even if - particularly if - we can spot the palmed pea in the three shell monte game.
Boxed white cake, coconut extract and bagged coconut flakes makes magic.
so ludicrous that it kind of has to be a spoof
That's pretty much my thoughts on anything the Dems are trying to push these days. My wife will point out some news item about Pelosi and crew, and I'll tell her that can't be true because nobody's that stupid.
Gossip that seems to about Sandra Lee
This celebrity chef can't do a lot of talking because of a non disclosure agreement, but she has been doing these online improv workshops. Her way around the NDA is to suggest "topics" for the improv group which invariably are about her much-higher-on-the list ex. One "topic" she recently suggested was her surprising her boyfriend at a hotel where he was staying for work, and not being allowed into the hotel until he finished having sex with the woman that was inside the hotel and her being secreted out of the hotel after.
"One of my favorites (to read, not to eat) is the Ocean Spray Cranberry Sauce Candle."
That's really crazy.
I had a job back in the early 70s that entailed reading magazines (for a monthly market research report) so I read all the women's magazines of that era. This was before Martha Stewart brought some taste and elitism to these kitchen crafts. We had so many laughs. The funniest 2 craft ideas I read about were:
1. Save the string from bakery boxes and knit it into dishrags. (You know that red and white thin string? And you remember dishrags??)
2. Save pop tops and loop them together to make something that would be sort of like a beaded curtain. (You never see those beaded curtains anymore so maybe you can't picture what I'm talking about.)
The inspiration:
Gallery Of Regrettable Food
Were you a child in the 50's addicted to reading everything? If so, you have seen this before. The horror. No, really, the horror.
The Freudians liked to point out that men choose women who were as most like their mother as they could stand. Cuomo never hit on any sultry Italians. Maybe his relationship with his mother was not as idyllic as he claimed.....None of Joe and Rose Kennedy's large brood married an Irish Catholic....I read that Malibu sunset line as a deft twist of the knife. Revenge is a dish best served cold with a chocolate and vanilla icing in a warm California climate while watching the Malibu sunset.
Fuck New York. They get what they elect and deserve and try to push down the rest of our throats. Let them suffer with this asshole Cuomo and his brother Fredo. Anyone dumb enough last spring to think these small pox blanket executive orders issued by Democrat Governors was an accident is and idiot. That includes Anthony Fauci, Billy Joel, Ben Stiller…and the other ass kissing Emmy celebs that blew him in the award video.
Tawny Kitaen fucked OJ. Sandra Lee fucked Coumo. Same thing. Now her new claim to fame.
Add instant mashed potatoes to any canned soup.
Her show was part of Food Networks main line-up for several years. I would DVR it along with others and watched many episodes. I still remember some of her themes, ever-changing kitchen decorations and coordinating tablescapes.
Don’t you love how these brave women “step forward” after the ship is already sinking? I can understand it I guess.
There are a lot of feminists that protect Democrats like Cuomo so they can keep raking wombs in minority neighborhoods and do their best to keep kids out of school.
In Wisconsin our beta-cuck Gov. Tony Evers was emaciated years ago as part of the education establishment. Feminists already neutered the guy.
Her show was the worst. The thing I remember most about it is that she always included an alcoholic beverage of some sort in every episode. No matter what the theme, there was always something boozy included. Kid's Party? Cocktail time for Mommy! Easter Dinner? How 'bout some chocolate bunny jello shots? The show should have been called, Sandra Lush: Half-Baked.
Campbell's mushroom soup, undiluted, was a popular ingredient in casseroles. Mix that with some tuna. Throw in canned peas and carrots, and top it with crushed potato chips. Bake... until you're ready to eat that.
What a kook. Only in America . . . .
That first video reminded me of the "Kramp" recipe from the Groove Tube.
https://youtu.be/2a1EGwTTR2k
Paula Deen once posted a recipe for "English Peas" as follows:
Ingredients: 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) of butter, 2 cans (14 1/2 ounces) English peas, drained.
Directions: Melt the butter in a small pot and add the peas. Cook over medium heat until peas are warm.
The comments were savage, and hilarious! Of course, Food Network deleted the comments....
I used to eat some of those conconctions when I was a kid when we went to a neighborhood dinner party and someone wanted to get fancy. (1950's 60's) Not the cranberry candles though those are new to me.
There is a really funny web site by the wonderful James Lileks...Gallery of Regrettable Food
Try it...you'll like it!!!
"Wow, I know it's a light hearted subject but it's one of those 'Althouse at her best' gems. Had to interrupt my husband's morning paper reading and make him listen to my synopsis of the videos and then read word for word Althouse's comparison of processed foods to human relationships. Thanks for the laughs."
Thanks for reading to the end of the post, michaele. You might be the only one!
Sorry Fernandinande but your boss trying to kiss you is pretty terrible.
"The answer is Albany Law School. Isn't that interesting?"
Mario was a private citizen until 1975, when he was appointed secretary of state for New York. Elected lieutenant governor in 1979, governor in 1983 (through 1994).
Andrew began college studies at Fordham in 1975, and at Albany law in 1979.
This is actually a Chris story: he began studies at YALE, c. 1988. He moved on to Fordham law c. 1992.
Speaking of regrettable food: Lime jello marshmallow cottage cheese surprise
One can of New England clam chowder, add in cold seafood salad from the super market deli, heat = seafood chowder. It is very good.
And isn't this a metaphor for human relationships? Are we not all processed "foods"?
No
@ tcrosse.... OMG hilarious.
I once whipped some mashed potatoes up till they were really creamy and spooned them into an vanilla ice cream carton. I think I got the idea from an Archie comic. I left it in the freezer for my sister to find, which she never did, and I forgot about it for maybe a week and a half, until my Dad walked into the living room where I was watching TV. He was holding what looked like a bowl of vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce. He put his hand on my shoulder and said, "Your life just took a turn for the worse, pal."
And isn't this a metaphor for human relationships? Are we not all processed "foods"?
What am I - chopped liver?
Not the virgin they were expecting to throw in the #metoo volcano today. Here's the Cuomo news interspersed with some stanzas from The Rape of Lucrece: https://abardseyeview.com/for-light-and-lust-are-deadly-enemies-governor-cuomo-and-shakespeares-rape-of-lucrece/
This post made me feel happy and cheerful. Why? I suppose because it gets in a nice meandering way to something that is quite a bit more interesting to think about than Cuomo.
She's signalling to the victims. But hey - Cuomo is a democratic - so he gets a pass!
Cuomo is the gold standard... in grandma killers. and the collective corrupt left hath given Cuomo a golden statue.
Yeah - Tcrosse for the thread win. that is perfect.
Campbell's mushroom soup, undiluted, was a popular ingredient in casseroles. Mix that with some tuna. Throw in canned peas and carrots, and top it with crushed potato chips. Bake... until you're ready to eat that.
I remember eating that crap as a kid. The potato chips were an interesting topping. Of course, the tuna was the red/pink stuff about one grade above cat food.
Ann Althouse said...
Campbell's mushroom soup, undiluted, was a popular ingredient
In college I learned to cook with Campbell's mushroom soup: Can be a French-type sauce on any meat or fish including take-out hamburgers, and, added to any vegetable - peas, carrots or french fries - makes a French-type creamed vegetable. French: because of the mushrooms. Dinner with those ingredients plus European wine, namely Mateus, just so clearly showed that I had left home and moved into sophisticated ways.
watched the ice cream baked potato show. There is something about Sandra that speaks from the lost era of innocence and food coloring. that ice cream potato - while mockable and completely un-appetizing - is downright nifty.
Fun for the kids. Check out her kitchen and the scalloped shelves...
"I remember, back in the 70s, there was a women's-magazine fad for improving packaged cake mixes by adding packaged pudding mix."
-- Ok, that actually sounds like it would be amazing. But, again, I have no taste.
If I had to guess, Cuomo was a raging Trump-hating Maddow watching Huffpoo reading CNN rage-aholic rage-machine with an unbearable ego to match. probably became unbearable for sweet Sandra.
Even when I was obsessed with cooking shows and figured they were all capable of providing insight in the kitchen her show was one I skipped. It's not even a step up from those youtube videos where people make mac n' cheese, throw in some cheetos, and call it a pie. And the premise was as ridiculous as the food she prepared: a childless TV blonde has the wisdom and experience to show stressed out regular moms how to cook for their families? It made no sense.
I love the way she resists showing any sign that she knows what she is doing is ridiculous and a phenomenal waste of time.
Never heard of her. The videos were good for some belly laughs. Not because she was resisting showing the ridiculous of what she was doing, but because she seems oblivious to the monumental stupidity of her endeavors.
Still my go to Rum Cake. I'm pretty sure mom got it from a booklet of recipes by Bacardi in the 70's. I don't use the nuts and I don't use all of the glaze.
Cake:
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
1 18 1/2-oz. pkg. yellow cake mix
1 3 3/4-oz. pkg. instant vanilla pudding mix
4 eggs
1/2 cup cold water
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup dark rum (81) proof)
Glze:
1/4 lb. butter
1/4 cup water
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup dark rum (80 proof)
Preheat oven to 325"F. Grease and flour 10" tube or 12-cup bundt pan.
Sprinkle nuts over bottom of pan. Mix all cake ingredients together. Pour batter over nuts. Bake 1 hour. Cool. Invert on serving plate. Prick top. Drizzle and smooth glaze evenly over top and sides. Allow cake to absorb glaze. Repeat till glaze is used up.
For glaze, melt butter in saucepan. Stir in water and sugar. Boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in rum.
She isn’t quite Jacques Pepin, is she?
If I had to guess, Cuomo was a raging Trump-hating Maddow watching Huffpoo reading CNN rage-aholic rage-machine
You are insufficiently cynical as regards Cuomo. This characterization would suggest he has strong beliefs. Aside from his own power and advancing it, I doubt he believes in anything. He's the cynical scion of a political dynasty, and has been aiming for president ever since his father failed to get there. There have been only two occasions I can remember appreciating his humanity:
1. He speaks movingly of the time when his father lost to Pataki (Andrew was campaign manager) and later when he lost his first governor's race, and how he and his father (and presumably occasionally brother) were written off, sat around soaking in their loss, watching others on TV, plotting to rise again, and what that felt like, what experience of being written off gave him. He speaks movingly and, in some ways, chillingly about it on a relatively recent interview he gave with Howard Stern and others he'd given previously.
2. Early in COVID, he did a really good job on TV, to the point where I even wondered if he did rediscover his humanity at some point, blotting out everything I already knew about the guy coming of age in terms of political awareness during his ascendence.
One of my favorites (to read, not to eat) is the Ocean Spray Cranberry Sauce Candle.
Looks like something from the imagination of David Cronenberg or Clive Barker.
Since it's (FINALLY) dump on Cuomo time, maybe some enterprising financial affairs journalist wants to take a look at Cuomo's HUD initiative to increase home ownership, and how the debasement of lending standards in the interests of economic justice, an innovation he pioneered at HUD, laid much groundwork for the 2008 financial crisis.
We have been making recipes from old community cookbooks that we have found. The ones from the 30's and during WWII are pretty neat. Since we are a mixture of mid-west and southern farm people, most of those recipes don't use a lot of grocery-store items except coffee, tea, flour, sugar. The 50's start having prepared foods and it gets worse to maybe the mid-70s with a lot of Sandra Lee-type recipes. Then right before and after the Bicentennial a lot places did heritage cookbooks. We did lots of hamburger recipes in February. An amazing number of "oriental" recipes called chop suey or chow mien. Chili, tamale- and taco-pie are neat recipes to watch change over time and geography. Even things like pizza and spaghetti are neat to see change over time. The Library of Congress even appreciates them: https://guides.loc.gov/community-cookbooks. Also Glenn and Friends cooking videos on you tube are neat. Glenn does lots of old cookbook recipes.
Nobody doesn't like Sandra Lee.
Everyone needs to go to Reddit and look at the Old Recipes sub
They have some of the worst and the best recipes I've ever seen. You will be addicted.
THIS is the best chocolate cake I've ever made!!! Guaranteed Nana's Devil's Food Cake
I made it into a sheet cake 11 x 13 with cream cheese frosting. Used espresso powder instead of coffee. Had to experiment with the cooking time for my oven, pan size and elevation. But..it worked.
McMegan, back before TDS and the DC swamp destroyed her brain, had some good comments on how we look back with laughter at some of the cookbooks and prepackaged stuff of yesteryear, but it was revolutionary then because a lot of people simply aren't good cooks. Not everyone is a foodie who wants to slave over a hot stove for hours on end, or spend money on exotic ingredients. Cooking is just one more chore that has to be done and so "add a can of condensed soup and a bag of frozen peas" is a godsend because it means you can spend less time cooking and your family gets something that is at least somewhat tasty.
eh - daskol.
I cannot buy the fakery of leftwing politicians and their acting skills. How do you drop any lower from killing the elderly - so Trump would not get any credit for his efforts to create mobile quarantine and medical facilities for NY?
Ann, I hate to be bitchy, but before writing this nasty stuff, you should have checked out this woman's personal biography. She was raised in a trailer by abusive and absent parents. She has often spoken, with humility, of how she knows she's not as classy or well-trained as the other Food Network Stars.
She built a business out of nothing after a horribly deprived childhood, where she raised multiple siblings singlehandedly.
Sure, she's tacky, but you're being elitist because you didn't bother do enough research before deciding she's an idiot. Her show isn't for wealthy university law professors: it's for poor and working-class women who use party decorations to make themselves feel as if they're women who can entertain.
A lot less mocking is in order. Also an apology. For the first time, I have to say, this is shitty, nasty, mean-spirited post from you.
Sandra Lee: "Opening up about her childhood, she says, “I was the oldest of five children born to a teen mother who was unable to care for us. There was substance abuse and other issues. I have had a huge hand in raising my siblings and took on that task when I was very young. They were, and remain, the loves of my life. Nothing meant more to me than seeing those four little people feel loved and cared for in a way that we never felt from our parents. I took any odd job in the neighborhood: I cleaned houses and used welfare and food stamps to feed my two brothers and two sisters, making sure they had food, clothes and the basics they needed, and focused on ensuring they knew they were as good as anybody else. If it were not for the charity of others, I never could have provided for my siblings.”
Thanks for reading to the end of the post, michaele. You might be the only one!
Presumtive. We read all the way but just weren't moved...
This must have been a great source of amusement for you and your college peers. Mocking women -- and children forced to grow up too soon -- for their efforts to rise to the status of homemaker.
Most people cook this way, just not to this extreme. Got a box of Bisquick? Have cans of beans ready to go. Add a little extra something to the Hamburger Helper? Maybe if you are a retiree or very well off and don't have two parents working you can slave over dinner for hours, but during the week we have a lot of "semi-homemade" meals.
Thai elephant
1 elephant, quartered
50 lb garlic
50 lb onion
50 lb cumin
50 lb ginger
25 lb red pepper
15 lb cinnamon
100 lb coriander
Encoignure loaf
1 1/2 pounds encoignure, ground
1/2 cup medium cracker crumbs
2 beaten eggs
1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
2 tablespoons chopped green pepper
dash dried thyme, crushed
dash dried marjoram, crushed
Combine all ingredients and 1 teaspoon salt; mix well.
Shape mixture into a loaf in a baking dish. Bake at 350
degrees about 1 1/4 hours. Makes 6 to 8 servings.
Campbell's soup. haha. Yeah, I remember that. My mother was trying to balance getting her degree and cooking us food, so we got slop like Casseroles with mushroom soup. Or hamburger/onion/condensed milk on a baked French bread or Rice/onion/Mushroom soup.
Ah the 1970s. Boy did they suck.
And then when she got breast cancer, Cuomo dumped her. And so you mock her cooking? Jesus wept, did those ferns and your taxpayer-funded pension consume both your research rigor and common decency?
She made tuna noodle casserole and put potato chips on top. Once, she retired she went back to making meals from scratch.
NWBTCW
Tina, that Kwanza cake is nasty, it doesn't matter how she grew up.
It's the ultimate make something up for tv.
I'll be honest, by the way. For the longest time, I just assumed Sandra Lee was a fake person made up by a company, because the name sounded marketable. I think it wasn't until 5-10 years ago I learned she existed.
Thanks Tina Trent!
That explains a lot!
https://www.prevention.com/health/health-conditions/a32301986/sandra-lee-breast-cancer-weight-gain/
The celebrity chef, who was diagnosed in 2015, explained that the stress of the disease, as well as undergoing a double mastectomy, caused her to lose a significant amount of weight.
Both the final a's are pronounced in Kwanzaa.
For my sins, I worked for many years at a large food company which turned out convenience mixes for quick suppers. One of the requirements was that it be something that kids would eat, kids not being known for their discriminating palates. This was our bread and butter (so to speak) so it didn't do to cop a superior attitude about other peoples' cuisine of necessity.
It seems like more and more people seem to be presaging the "end" of Cuomo, but I've become far too cynical to assume such things since this past election. I mean, I was already pretty damn cynical before now, but now I'm also a pessimist. These days I just assume for any powerful Democrat to be ruined there has to be such an overwhelming volume of irrefutable malfeasance that it becomes impossible to ignore even by outlets like CNN. We're nowhere near that level for Cuomo.
Of course I think any presidential hopes for Andrew Cuomo have been sufficiently dashed (and it's extremely likely that that was the whole point of all these sudden "revelations" over the past month or so). But I still think that it's unlikely that he'll suffer any real consequences beyond that. He'll probably win reelection as NY govenor. And there will be minimal legal fallout over his other misdeeds.
I hope I'm wrong, but reality has taught me to not expect any kind of justice in 2021 America.
Her reputation isn't confined to the kitchen. She once recommended spicing (sweetening? up one's lovelife by sprinkling Pixi Stix powdered candy between the sheets.
"Black History Month is over..."
So blacks got screwed with the shortest month of the year?
Racist.
Does Sandra have a sister who makes delicious cakes?
Maybe somebody nobody doesn't like?
Now i feel bad for piling on.
My mother being raised by a divorced woman in the 50s didn't learn to cook at all till she had me and my first two sisters by the time she was twentythree.The suggested recipes on soup cans and every cook book from every church supper group helped her to learn and us to eat.Some of us did not grow up with the privilege of others.Tube steaks and beans Anyone?
Blogger Francisco D said...
Campbell's mushroom soup, undiluted, was a popular ingredient in casseroles. Mix that with some tuna. Throw in canned peas and carrots, and top it with crushed potato chips. Bake... until you're ready to eat that.
I remember eating that crap as a kid. The potato chips were an interesting topping. Of course, the tuna was the red/pink stuff about one grade above cat food.
My first wife could never get over that I loved casseroles and her mother, who worked at a big career, had come up with all these recipes in the 40s before TV dinners came along. She could whip up a dinner in 20 minutes and mushroom soup was often an ingredient. I loved that stuff.
Our food budget in medical school was $10 a week.
Matt Sablan said...I'll be honest, by the way. For the longest time, I just assumed Sandra Lee was a fake person made up by a company, because the name sounded marketable. I think it wasn't until 5-10 years ago I learned she existed.
It's also possible that you had her muddled with Sara Lee. I know I did.
Nonapod: A lot of things are possible. I'm not a very smart person.
Tube steaks and beans Anyone?
Beanie Weenie. On Toast!
"I remember, back in the 70s, there was a women's-magazine fad for improving packaged cake mixes by adding packaged pudding mix."
How about mixing a packet of Lipton's dried onion soup in a pint of sour cream and making onion dip?
When I was a kid that was our go-to recipe for parties.
It was delicious and super cheap.
Who says poor people can't have yummy food?
Matt Sablan - Me either. I mean, I sometimes think I'm pretty smart. But inevitably I go and say or do something really dumb. Or a thought emerges from my brain that is so stupid that I almost say out loud "Come on brain, work more better!"
"She isn’t quite Jacques Pepin, is she?"
No, she's way cuter...
I'm outraged that she put the butter on top of the sour cream. How is the butter going to melt?
"She isn’t quite Jacques Pepin, is she?"
When he came to this country Jacques Pepin was offered the job of chef at the JFK White House. Instead he went to work for Howard Johnsons.
Thank you Tina. I am not a good cook, don’t want to be a good cook.
Sandra Lee was a hard worker.
I detest people who mock hard workers. In any job.
The old saying goes something like you know the true character of a person if they are nice to janitors, waitresses, door men. And Ben cooks who cook food you may detest. Change the fucking channel.
I would assume the ideas are meant to appeal to kids, though those two examples were odd and I did laugh at the potato (actually I laughed most heartily when she asked “have you ever wondered what to do with the lid of your butter dish?”)
As for cake mix doctoring, there are two “recipes” I’ve used and enjoyed though both are quite sweet. One is peach cobbler made with yellow cake mix, and the other is the “ooey gooey butter cake”. Both very popular with kids and generally as a guilty pleasure for adults.
And one of my favorite family entrees is my mom’s pot roast made with Kraft Catalina dressing, the recipe for which I’m pretty sure came from a women’s magazine in the 70s.
Getting back to the schtick of making things from prepared foods, there’s a channel called Tasty which features a show called “Make it Fancy” where the host creates gourmet type dishes out of anything from Cheetos to Pop Tarts. Lots of fun, my eleven year old loves it.
How about mixing a packet of Lipton's dried onion soup in a pint of sour cream and making onion dip?
And don’t forget, Velveeta and RoTel tomatoes.
Then go for the trifecta- sausage balls made from breakfast sausage meat, shredded cheese, and bisque CK!
The most sublime form of schadenfreude is watching an ex's life go to pieces. She gets the last laugh. The background info that Tina Trent posted makes Sandra seem a lot more sympathetic. A morality play is so much more enjoyable if someone in the play is actually moral. She's not some Marie Antoinette saying let them eat Kwanzaa cake. She got treated badly by him.
Kids will eat anything if there's enough sugar on it....Sexual magnetism is the sugar in relationships. If you're pretty enough, men will eat any number of bad meals and rave about the cuisine. She could get away with serving Kwanzaa cake, but don't try this at home if you look like Moms Mabley.
Campbell's mushroom soup, undiluted, was....
Was?
Campbell's mushroom soup is.
The cake probably tastes pretty good, but the full size candles look dorky. Certainly better than the Brits, who soak their cakes in syrup. Yuk!
I've always thought of Sandra Lee as being the poor woman's Marth Stewart. Sandra tries to set a pretty table with the one set of dishes she has. Martha has a separate building to house all of her tableware. I'm a scratch cook down to making 90% of the bread consumed in my house, but some of the "semi-homemade" recipes can be fun. There's an old cookbook that has all of the recipes from the backs of cans, bottles, jars, and boxes. While some of them are cringeworthy, some of them are classics, The original recipe for Quaker's oatmeal cookies is there. Most of the recipes pre-date the time when people started ruining recipes to make them "healthy". While one ingredient is the thing in the bottle, can, jar, or box, many of the recipes are pretty nearly "scratch".
I don't tend to watch cooking shows so I've only seen a few of Sandra Lee's. They looked like harmless fun in the kitchen to me. I was sorry to hear Alton Brown is coming back. His recipes are awful. While the science behind cooking can be interesting, oooking is also art. He only knows how to paint-by-number.
As others noted, most of us cooked closer to the Sandra Lee model than the Giada Delaurentis or Bobby Flay types. Alton Brown’s were so weird he's now “fixing” old episodes so the recipes work, and my wife and i never successfully reproduced his old ones. But we did have family recipes like Ms. Lee’s. My wife’s tuna casserole is exactly like Franc D’s above, especially if he insists that the crumbs of a bag of Lay’s is the best chip for this recipe. The “family chili” includes a packet of Lawry’s original chili mix, and being a west coast version, several cans of beans from small black ones to fat red kidneys. Ive tried doing the beans from scratch and its never the same. Even our homemade salsa uses canned tomatoes because they are more consistent than fresh, especially when none are on our vines. And the secret ingredient is a small can of tomato sauce.
"The most sublime form of schadenfreude is watching an ex's life go to pieces."
Isn't that just plain 'Freude'?
Nothing 'Schaden' about it...
"Alton Brown’s were so weird he's now “fixing” old episodes so the recipes work..."
Brown has a very easy and very delicious guacamole recipe...my go-to lately.
So according to Wikipedia Sandra Lee is a UW-La Crosse alum which was an unexpected twist.
It's interesting that these days there's this new wave of culinary stars, the Youtubers. People like Sam the Cooking Guy, Matty Matheson, and Binging with Babish. Most of their recipes tend to focus on scratch making a fair number of their ingredients (Sam the Cooking Guy caught a lot of grief in the comment section for using pre shredded cheese at one point). But that said, they tend to focus on simpler fare. A majority of their recipes aren't particularly complex in either construction or flavor. Lots of stuff that would be considered simple "comfort food" or old standards but done with new twists.
I wonder if there is a neurological difference between people who think foods that look like other foods are neat and fun and people who think they're repulsive and inedible.
Mmmm. Sara Lee. Like others, that's what I read, every single time, when I see Sandra Lee.
Nobody doesn't love her.
Guacamole: since we make our own salsa this is super easy
Mash Haas avo keaving as chunky as you like
Add tbsp salsa per each full avo
Grind black pepper
Salt to taste
Stir and serve
Hilarious parody from an old Prairie Home Companion: Tuna the food of my soul
Other than Tina Trent, everyone on this string sounds like a bunch of high school bully girls. Sandra Lee never pretended to be anything but what she is. I expected to see a lot more pushback to Anne's attitude here, was very disappointed.
The more I learn the more horrifying these videos of processed foods look.
I still think that McDonalds is a modern miracle.
But it will be very hard to eat there again.
I wonder if there is a neurological difference between people who think foods that look like other foods are neat and fun and people who think they're repulsive and inedible.
Is making desserts that look like a non dessert food a thing? I can see kids getting excited about a cake that looks like a train, car, animal or lots of other things, but it's heard to imagine kids squealing with joy when served a dessert that looks like a baked potato. As for adults, I'd think the reaction would be (regardless of class, education or any other category), "WTF?".
I loved Sandra Lee's show. It's the food I ate growing up, and the food that's easiest for me to cook now.
As for Althouse's take, I just assumed she was ignorant of Sandra Lee's background. The snobbery is not uncommon, or unexpected, from people in Althouse's peer group. Althouse was being a snob, not an asshole.
In a way, Althouse's reaction is kind of like Marie Antoinette's. Again, Antoinette wasn't being an asshole. She simply could not comprehend a reality in which people were too poor to eat. She had no experience with it, had never observed it. Why the very idea that someone could be too poor to eat was ridiculous! Look at all the wealth we are surrounded by! If we've run out of bread, let them eat cake instead until we bake more bread.
The reality is, for tens of millions of Americans, Sandra Lee type recipes are a daily feature of life, not self-ground whole wheat crackers.
Other than Tina Trent, everyone on this string sounds like a bunch of high school bully girls. Sandra Lee never pretended to be anything but what she is. I expected to see a lot more pushback to Anne's attitude here, was very disappointed.
I never heard of Sandra Lee until I read the Althouse's post and saw the videos. My criticism is not of SL as a person but the two recipes she showed on TV. I see nothing wrong in expressing my opinion about these two desserts even if she has produced lots of other good work or has overcome lots of adversity to get to where she is.
And I don't it's snobbery to view these desserts as ludicrous. Is there any neighborhood, aside from one where there is nothing else to eat, where that Kwanzaa Cake would be desirable?
Using a bunch of prepared foods makes cooking expensive. Cream of chicken soup is expensive. Apple filling is expensive. Buying jarred pasta sauce is expensive. It's cheaper and not time consuming to make it from scratch. It tastes better too.
Sorry you all had mothers that believed advertising and "bought in."
Two combination foods that work surprisingly well:
1. Nowadays the best way to make a flank steak is in a sous vide, where you can get it as tender as you please if you wait long enough. Back in the '50s and '60s, my mom would marinate a flank steak in French dressing for (I think) 24 hours. It came out tender, and (oddly) had no flavor of French dressing when broiled: it tasted like delicious broiled meat.
2. If anyone asks, I can dig out the details for this one. My mom had a recipe that was very simple. Make a chocolate cake with chocolate icing according to the instructions on the package, but at some point stir in an entire large can of cherry-pie filling. It comes out looking like a normal chocolate cake, but it's much heavier, moister, and is full of delicious cherries and cherry flavoring. Almost as good as the chocolate-covered cherries we used to have at holidays, along with the Whitman samplers. (Half cherries, half miscellaneous fillings, is the right ratio.)
See’s Candy sells Irish Potatoes that are neither Irish nor potatoes. I think they call them St. Patrick’s Day Potatoes now though.
They were a huge treat when my sister and I were little. I still remember the first time we got one I didn’t want to eat it.
It’s not like Sandra Lee is some real-life person you meet. It’s not like she’s a neighbor who came by with a gift of her home cooking. She went on TV. She’s presenting this stuff as good. If it’s bad, it deserves to be mocked. As a TV personality, she’s quite absurd. We’re supposed to be sympathetic? Give me a break. I can’t believe anybody watched her massaging that Saran-wrapped ice cream and didn’t laugh. What a sourpuss you must be!
She almost loses it at 2:00 when she says “just cover this completely up” about the lemon frosting “butter” for her ice cream baked potato.
Back in the day canned goods were cheaper than fresh produce and were shelf stable. I grew up eating poor man’s stroganoff. Browned hamburger meat from the freezer with sauce made from cream of mushroom soup thinned with a little evaporated milk served over rice.
Everything purchased with coupons and on sale.
My mom was a fantastic cook but she started married life using what she could afford to get and stretch the furthest.
Lady Lawyer Ca Ca Ca Cat Fight.
Professor Kingsfield vs Matlock
I am surprised that no one has mentioned Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. I lived off that when I was young and single and in school.
The gourmet version involved adding Parmesan, tuna and peas.
This turned into a much more interesting thread than I'd anticipated. I'm learning a lot.
It’s not like Sandra Lee is some real-life person you meet.
Actually she is. I know many people just like her, and she's probably the least fake cook on TV.
It’s not like she’s a neighbor who came by with a gift of her home cooking.
No, she's the neighbor sharing the fantastic recipe she tried last night.
She went on TV. She’s presenting this stuff as good.
It may not be "good", but for tens of millions it sure as Hell is normal.
It seems Dian Fossey still has things to learn about the gorillas.
Two weeks ago, I diced an onion and threw it in a skillet to brown. Then I took a pound of thawed 85% ground beef and threw it in the skillet to brown. Then I opened a can of corn and a can of green beans, and drained them both. I dumped half of each can into the skillet, and the other half of each can into the refrigerator. While the meat and veggies browned, I measured out 3 1/2 cups of warm water. I then opened a box of Hamburger Helper, opened the powdered sauce packet into the skillet, dumped the water into the skillet and stirred. Then I dumped in the pasta from the box and brought it up to a boil. I lowered the temp to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Ten minutes later I had a meal with enough leftovers for another meal and a half.
I'm not ashamed a bit.
Sara’s sister Sandra obviously chose the road less traveled...
Hamburger Helper cost too much in grad school, and I was still pretty clueless in a kitchen, but that changed. I'm remembering going through big bags of egg noodles w/ chicken base and seasonings (poverty noodles), onions/carrots/potatoes, lots of cans of veg bought in bulk on sale at that store that had the generic cans you see in the movie Repo Man. Fresh herbs in a window box. Everybody had a patch of tomatoes in any available plot of land - we canned them at our church kitchen. That second year was much better with the pasta sauce from those tomatoes. The girl next door made bread and taught me how she did it. We had four rooms sharing a kitchen, and there was always some Stone Soup going.
We had no idea how lucky and how rich we actually were. We thought we were too broke to pay attention, and I guess we were right.
Just think of me as the wretched and dispossessed.
This all takes me back to Green Lantern Coop, at 604 University in Madison. It was right next to the late lamented 602 Club.
"I never heard of Sandra Lee until I read the Althouse's post and saw the videos."
Me neither.
"Althouse was being a snob, not an asshole."
Maybe...can't mind-read. I can't be a snob about food like this because I had family members who lived in a trailer park : )
She’s not helping people on a budget. The choices are not money saving but quite wasteful. And it’s not time saving either. It’s just junk tv to watch. If you wanted to help people on a budget you would show the easy ways to cook delicious things with wholesome ingredients not have them using food coloring on pistachios and making funny shapes out of packaged frosting!
As for her humble background, she was Instagramming from Malibu and she dated the governor for 8 years. She’s in the elite. Why you’re choosing this lady to patronize, I really don’t know. Maybe some woman in your life indulges in low quality craftwork and you feel protective. Maybe it’s the pervasive gloom of The Era of That’s Not Funny.
Dr Weevil, your recipe #2 is Coal Miner's Cake where i am from. Here is a nice lady making it:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKLuiH2Le7A
Oh, and the ingredients for that cake came from Dollar General Store so i guess it's a recipe even for rural food deserts.
What ads ran on that show? Processed foods — the kind of food that is sold through advertising. The show is premised on maximizing the use of processed food. It’s cynical, not about helping. I’m sorry she got cancer but she made money off selling a way of eating that leads to obesity and other disorders.
Probably Sandra Lee got a nice divorce settlement from her fraudster-executive first husband.
Francisco,
You are entirely on point with your Mac & Cheese comment. I use cut up ham steaks and peas, with some fresh grated sharp cheddar. Was quite put out yesterday, as the grocery store was out of ham steaks (they were BOGO) but I'll go back later in the week after they restock. When the kids were young, and money tight, we convinced them that frozen peas (peasicles) were a popular desert, worked for a few years. I remember my father, and accountant, mathematically figuring out how many days a week we would have to eat hot dogs to afford a new car.
She’s not helping people on a budget. The choices are not money saving but quite wasteful.
Yup. Box foods are more expensive than making it yourself. My kids haven't had boxed mac and cheese in ages. It would take 4 boxes to satisfy them or about $2 for the off brand without the butter and milk, but a pound of elbow macaroni, a can of evaporated milk, butter and cheese is the same price.
Hamburger Helper is fine. But you could actually make it cheaper by buying the seasonings and noodles on your own. I do this all the time. Make my own taco meat with my own seasonings. I'm too cheap to even by a taco seasoning packet.
She’s not helping people on a budget. The choices are not money saving but quite wasteful. And it’s not time saving either.
Yes, and even worse the two dessert dishes look awful and wouldn't appeal to the palate of any demographic group I can think of.
Other than Tina Trent, everyone on this string sounds like a bunch of high school bully girls.
Reda Tina's blog, and you'll discover it's OK to dump on Amy Coney Barrett, but not Sandra Lee.
As for her humble background, she was Instagramming from Malibu and she dated the governor for 8 years. She’s in the elite. Why you’re choosing this lady to patronize, I really don’t know. Maybe some woman in your life indulges in low quality craftwork and you feel protective. Maybe it’s the pervasive gloom of The Era of That’s Not Funny.
+1
I'll freely admit that I used canned goods to make dishes. Is there something wrong with that?
And to build on my comment, I used to make Great Northern beans from scratch; e.g., dried beans. But there is no difference between dried beans and canned beans. So who is the fool here?
She isn’t quite Jacques Pepin, is she?
I recently watched a Jacques Pepin video where he combined Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup and a can of tuna served on rice made with canned green beans.
Unlike some, Jacques Pepin is not snooty.
Blogger rsbsail said...
And to build on my comment, I used to make Great Northern beans from scratch; e.g., dried beans. But there is no difference between dried beans and canned beans. So who is the fool here?
Respectfully, I would suggest that you might be doing it wrong if there is no difference.
What Old and slow said. Dried beans when cooked should have a creamy texture. I suggest soaking the dried beans over night and add salt to the water for a brine. Rinse the beans in a colander, put them in a large pot, add liquid (I use chicken stock), bring to a boil and then turn down to a simmer and let them cook for a couple of hours. Keep and eye on them and add more liquid as needed.
Here is a good video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRDL2C6M1_o
As for Sandra Lee, I always assumed she got the show because she was hot and had some family or school connection to somebody at the network.
Ann Althouse said...
I remember, back in the 70s, there was a women's-magazine fad for improving packaged cake mixes by adding packaged pudding mix.
It didn't take too long for the Betty Crocker and Duncan Hines people to start including that pudding mix in their boxed cake mixes and proclaiming it loudly on the front of the box. So that "life hack" (as they say now), which was really a "helpful household hint", really did work!
THEOLDMAN
I used to ♥ Sandra Lee coffee cakes, back before I was on low-carb. Remember:
♫ Nobody doesn't like Sandra Lee! ♪
I used to ♥ Sandra Lee coffee cakes, back before I was on low-carb. Remember:
♫ Nobody doesn't like Sandra Lee! ♪
I’m sorry she got cancer but she made money off selling a way of eating that leads to obesity and other disorders.
She would have had a huge challenge to outdo the US Department of Agriculture and the "Food Pyramid" in promoting obesity. When I wrote my medical history book in 1995, it was almost impossible to find an unbiased discussion of Dr Robert Atkins and his diet ideas. He was right and the others were all wrong, now being recognized too late.
Gee, Ann. Sorry you and your girl Ivy sorority sisters can't admit the fault in laughing at trailer trash adolescents raising their younger siblings on dented can food stamp purchases, that such trash isn't material for your late-night mash sessions as mommy and daddy send you to the next cotillion.
Before you pled ignorance. Now that you know the facts, what do you plead? You hold the line, dishonestly. You're a nasty piece of work on this topic, and deep down, you know it. You're cruelly mocking the poor for advancing the aesthetic aspirations of the poor. That is hollow and grotesque. Why not just apologize?
Also, Ann and others, processed generic foods like generic mushroom soup, is a staple in southern poor cooking and is, in fact, significantly cheaper than making mushroom soup out of either Campbell's or fresh mushrooms. Jesus, you people are showing some nasty, nasty, ignorant sides tonight.
Shame on all of you. Really, just shame. Have you never known actually poor people or how they eat? What a bunch of elite assholes you are. This entire thread is bullshit by fairies.
Had a supervisor years ago who's mom special dish was a casserole pan with mac n cheese base and slices of Spam standing upright throughout.
He likened it to a cemetery.
Hmm..being mostly orange, would be perfect for Halloween..
(insert Trump joke here)
RMc: I am standing up for the decades-long persecuted crime victim survivors nobody is acknowledging in their excessively cruel and cold statements. If you find that offensive, don't come crying to me when it happens to your politically uninteresting daughter, or mother, or sister, or wife. Capice, jerk?
A friend of my uncle's would come to gatherings with a mixture of Cool Whip, pistachio jello mix, crushed pineapple and mandarin oranges. It actually tasted good and was very low calorie. I think it may have come from Sandra Lee's show.
I was surprised at Andrew Cuomo's reputation for being a masher. I thought he and Sandra Lee had an Ed Koch and Bess Myerson vibe. His first wife ran off with a polo player.
Another recipe my mother-in-law made was a dessert. It was a can of crushed pineapple, a box of white cake mix and a 1/4 pound of butter cut in squares about 1/4 inch think. The butter pats were put on top of the white cake mix. I used to make it for my kids. Terrific.
Just for fun when I was at Vons today I priced Cream of Mushroom soup. Store brand was 99 cents Campbells was $1.39. (But you don’t buy Campbells without a coupon.) The cheapest mushrooms were the store brand white button, $2.49 for 8 oz. That doesn’t take into account the necessary butter, flour, cream, stock (veggie or beef), and maybe half an onion to make it from scratch.
I’m not saying canned is healthier or tastier but it is most definitely cheaper and in some recipes absolutely fantastic.
And almost foolproof.
I couldn't eat most pre-seasoned or restaurant foods in the 90's. Turned out I was allergic to my cats, and the combination did bad things to my digestion. Sure missed the convenience. The worst of it was the several years after the city opened a new reservoir--I even had to boil pasta in bottled water.
Semi-homemade? Why not? She was with someone who is almost semi-smart.Ok, maybe not even that...But semi-homemade sounds like mostly fake. Which, considering Cuomo, is about right.
"I see that Andrew, a Catholic in name only, never married Sandra Lee."
Good point. I would assume Cuomo is the only Catholic in the world who is living with someone out of wedlock.
You don't need to make mushroom soup if you're just using it to use as a base for something else. There's hardly any mushrooms in the canned crap anyway! Use butter, flour, broth and milk to make your base and add spices to get a similar flavor.
I love how I say I'm too cheap to buy cream soups and someone says I'm insulting poor Southerners. Ha, well I guess poor Mexicans are poorer than poor Southerners because all we ate was rice and beans.
One of these women is a NewAger, sending "Love and Light" to the others.
I don't trust her.
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