Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I just found this site and am glad I found other people who can't stand her show. I have only seen a few episodes but from what I've seen it's all tripe. When she does finish something she says "Your family will LOVE this!" but doesn't even taste her own food!! Every other food show I watch (and I am addicted to Food Network) the cook always tastes their cooking. The ONLY thing I've seen her taste is her drinks!

I've looked at her recipes and I have never tried them because they look and sound disgusting and when a cook can't even stand by their cooking to even taste it and pretend they're not trying to vomit, then why should I bother giving them ratings?

Oh you foodies are cracking me up right now!!!

I thought I would share a site I just found, www.FoodNetworkHumor.com - they are new but they dislike Sandra Lee as much as we all do.

Last week --- what was she smoking with all of those hot air balloons?!

Wow I thought I was the only one, I just cant the fact that she gets all dressed up and put together to cook at home, it almost looks as if she didnt belong in the kitchen, and lets not forget how annoying the decorations are, who has time for all that, its supposed to be time saving, money saving concept but everything looks really expensive starting with the recipes, I want to make chicken stew for example why do I need to buy 5 different little packets of soup mix, french onion soup mix I mean its ridiculous I cant imagine what it all tastes like when its done... I like Giada De Laurentiis's style she looks nice put together but always in a casual way which makes it look more realistic.. Rachael Ray is also starting to look like she doesnt belong in the kitchen.. Anyway, bottomline is I cant stand to watch Sandra Lee for 2 minutes, sometimes I try to watch when a recipe sounds good but as soon as she starts with all those ingredients I have to change the channel...

Oh! And every time she uses a word beginning with "L" you have to BE the table scape and have someone llllliiight your shot on fire!

@chiffonade - Yup, chiff, 'tis true; Sandy was a judge. Methinks she finagled a spot on the panel to give herself credibility.

Can't believe Jennifer got the boot. I thought it would be Aaron. I was a tad annoyed by the little stunt he pulled, telling the judges that his son ran away before the comp started - lame and majorly manipulative. Brotha lost points with me at least. Nipa needed to go, how can you be a chef or cook and not want to handle fish?

@Madelyn - Polenta is kind of like tofu, in the sense that it doesn't have much intrinsic flavor and has to be fairly highly seasoned in order to be interesting. I've found it needs more salt and more cheese than I think it should in order to taste good...so, it's not surprising that your blue cheese polenta turned out well. You might try the mushroom ragu again but season the polenta with a LOT of freshly grated Parmesan or Romano.

@prairie: Yeah. It did seem a bit hot in there.

@producestories: I found the service to be adequate, though once our communal bottle of water was tapped out, that was it. Would have been nice to get a refill on that.

@phillipjman: I think I'm going to have to go get that sandwich. Maybe a pre-work breakfast run ...

@lemons: Did you go on a weekday early?

count me in as a major polenta lover. i eat mine with sauteed garlic and parmesan, with a big salad on the side.

i used to make an elaborate casserole with sliced set polenta and a cream sauce mixed with tons of fresh and dried mushrooms, all topped with cheese and baked. it was delicious but the last time i made it i realized it was really too rich.

Chiarello did a "polenta party" on his show. He made a cauldron of bubbling, lava-like polenta and dumped it on a large cutting board set in the middle of his dinner guests. The guests sort of staked their claim to the area in front of them and then topped their portion with any of several concoctions he prepared for the event. It looked like a lot of fun and made for an interesting way to have polenta.

I love the stuff. It's Italian comfort food.

You can do lots with it. The Frugal Gourmet used to make plain polenta, pour it into a loaf pan and let it set. Fridge it overnight. Next morning, he'd slice it and throw it on a griddle, sizzling both sides until they were browned. Then serve with maple syrup. OMG.

A good way to cut your teeth on polenta is to make it with cheese - it makes a great side dish.

Plus she LIES.....one online interview claimed she had "intense training at Cordon Bleu". It was a two-week course and she stayed for three days! She also gives out misinformation about food; even a foodie virgin can sit and watch her and listen to her give out erroneous info.

Watch her "Slow Cooker" episode. Who in the hell slow cooks risotto? She slow-cooked some bread pudding that looked like a baby elephant took a dump in it. To make it worse, she added cream soda and Dream Whip to it - it makes no sense!!! And her slow-cooked Chicken Stew? She took an already-cooked rotisserie chicken, threw it in the crockpot with some broth, threw frozen veggies on top of it (they should go on the bottom) and SLOW COOKED it for FOUR HOURS. The chicken was already cooked!! Read the reviews on the FN site on her slow-cooked meatloaf - it looks like a tumor!

Semi-homemade is a good concept, but she's doing it WRONG. The worlds first snake-oil saleswoman.

Vito's is actually pretty good, I put it almost on par with Joe's. They have a white pie with pesto that's amazing. Sauce is a little bland, but the rest of it's pretty good. Of course, it helps that they're within walking distance of me.