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I used to watch a lot of FN back in the early days. I enjoyed Jack McDavid, Mario Batali, Sara Moulton. Now, I never watch FN. The turning point, for me, was when Rachel Ray became a "star" (gag).
Now if I want to learn something about cooking, I tune in PBS, and watch Jacques Pepin, Lidia, or the two ladies on America's Test Kitchen.

I have to agree with many comments here.I have studied culinary arts for years and these housewife cook wannabees do not know the difference between a good Veloute and a bowl of gravy.
Where does the food netwok find these people?
Sandra Lee gets so excited over her booze,you would think she was an alcoholic! Rachael Ray acts like the host of Sesame Street with her ignorant, goofy, childish sayings. Paula Dean serves so much fat in her food, it is more rich than her fake,overpronounced accent which is comparable to fingernails on a chalkboard.Giada dresses like a street walker and tries to sound italian with her fancy pronouncing og food.What happened to credible culinarians? are all we are left with are women's day readers like these four women who think they are teaching cooking? please!!!

My favorite is Ina and my very least favorite is Giada. Can Giada's tops get any lower without this show being rated as porn? I have nothing at all against showing some cleavage, but please...this is a cooking show, and if her cooking isn't good enough to stand on its own, they should take her off the air. Actually, I tried several of her recipes and thought they we just "okay". Her books are loaded with photos of her rather than of the food, and she is way too full of herself. She should stop the annoying Italian accent when she pronounces Italian food items. She was born and raised in California for goodness sakes!

I used to watch this channel frequently for info on cooking techniques, and good recipes; not on much anymore. Weekend getaways at $40 and such rot are a waste of time. I have no problem with the dumbed-down shows for the chef-boyardee crowd, but I have the travel channel, with Bourdain, for the other stuff.

Faves: Alton, Mario, Sara

Middling: Sandra, Giada [OK....just eye candy....no turtlenecks needed]. Flay....I like the genre, so I follow his recipes. Emeril....shelf life date gone by......he's now a shill on the "green network".....and, not convincingly so. Paula.....on the fast track to Emeril status.

Least: Ray Ray. Well, Sandra too...although S doesn't annoy me me nearly as much as does RR.

FAVE: jamie oliver -- i LOVE jamie at home. also nigella -- apparently i love brits.

LEAST FAVES: sandra lee, hands down. not even a competition!

Favorites: Paula Dean, her recipes I can make and have. Sandra Lee because her recipes are very doable. Why do so many dislike her? I love to watch her. I also like the fact that with Sandra Lee, you can take common packaged stuff and make something great. Alton Brown, definitely a fav of mine. I can't stand Emeril. His recipes are so complicated, why bother? Ina Garten's recipes are too complicated as well.
Least Favorite: Obviously Rachel Ray is an amature when it comes to cooking. Come on folks, I mean, my teenage son can concoct what she comes up with. Also, she is extremely irritating with all of her hand gestures and her EEVO and her rolling eyes. I deliberately turn off the FN when she is scheduled. I just don't get it. She's awful. BEST: Alton Brown WORST: Rachel Ray

You guys sound like a bunch a kids that got their toys taken away on the playground. The Bake Off Rules simply state - bring a recipe to the table and bake it! Your baked goods will be judged and the prize awarded. It doesn't say you have to "FORK & TINES” or that you can not use "premade shortcuts" or any of the other horrible things you guys have said. Shame on all of you!

I bake cookies with the kids across the street all of the time. When you are bake with 4 to 6 kids under the age of 7 they don't want to "FORK & TINES" they just want QUICK cookies and into the oven. Of course they want them to taste yummy at the end. As for the person that said "My only problem is the recipe didn't specify salted or unsalted peanuts; I made them with salt and the sweet/salty" maybe you should enter it next year who knows you might win. The gal or guy who wrote ... Off the top of my head I got: Listerine strips, Junior Mints, Sour patch kids, Andes mints (the free ones at Luby's), MSG, Flintstone vitamins, Grape Dimetapp, the same dough that you're wrapping it in, sunflower seeds, granola bar, assorted starbursts, maybe an air cookie, Rolos, sweet and sour duck sauce, and a tryptophan cookie...well that is just sick. I guess you think all of that was funny, but the funny was the "hiding a ball of peanut butter in a peanut butter cookie" But it DID WIN!

Where has our joy for the winner gone - the celebration of the ideas of the cooks? Regardless of how simple they might be. If you don't like the "hiding a ball of peanut butter in a peanut butter cookie" enter something yourself. Frankly for me - I'm to busy having fun baking cookies with the neighbors kids. Why not send a note simply saying have fun spending your $1,000,000.

I just had to tell all of you that I was very disappointed in your comments!

Remember all of us cooks have to stick together isn’t that what it is all about?

I can't believe she won for hiding a ball of peanut butter in a peanut butter cookie. They must be good... I might just have to run with her idea. Off the top of my head i got: Listerine strips, Junior Mints, Sour patch kids, Andes mints (the free ones at Luby's), MSG, Flintstone vitamins, Grape Dimetapp, the same dough that you're wrapping it in, sunflower seeds, granola bar, assorted starbursts, maybe an air cookie, Rolos, sweet and sour duck sauce, and a tryptophan cookie.... I'm sure they'll all taste horrible but one might be a winner!

First, it's a good thing I don't have to use proper grammatical rules here, because I'm not going to. I love mac and cheese with tuna and peas. Rice, tuna and frozen peas works well...of course it needs a sprinkling of cheese. French fries with honey...yum! Bananas with sour cream?...that is something I might enjoy. I can see the whole M&M and goldfish cracker thing working...too bad I can't eat goldfish anymore! Before I found gluten-free crackers and bread I liked, I would put the following on plain rice cakes...not all mixed together!...nutella, brown sugar and cinnamon swirl cream cheese, any flavor jelly or jam, peanut butter, a slice of cheese... Applesauce goes with everything. Sausage with maple syrup is a combination found everywhere. Frozen sausage with maple syrup is out there, the McGriddle, etc. Oh man, I used to love the McGriddle! Banana pudding with chocolate sprinkles...I never got into the peanut butter and mayo sandwich, but mayo and cheese work great between two slices of bread. This thread is quite interesting, and I look forward to reading more.

First of all I have to recover from laughing sooo hard at the remarks from:
Nance- re: Sandra Lee on the Kwanzaa cake (topping in with corn nuts) please tell me your joking, I don't know if you or Sandra's Kwazaa cake recipe want to kill ME. rotfl.
Jensings- your comment also made me roll off the couch, well put.
Alssa- same as above
Thanks y'all for a very good laugh.

Now who I like:
Alton - becuz he is silly and informative, I like that.
Emeril- becuz of due respect, but he needs to (or has) retire, his "bam" has gotten a little too old.
Ina- like her soft spoken demure and her recipes seem very good, but did she make a pact with the devil? Read her bio eveything thing she did she is successful at... hmmmmmm. That nervous laugh does get to me though.
Tyler- tried some of his stuff....really good.
Sara Moulton- like her alot, she is so relaxed, I like her cooking, she teaches, and she covers UP!! I miss her.
Cat Cora-total professional, she is very pretty but like all chefs ( iam one myself) cover's UP!! She wears a chef coat. I like her demure and professional knowledge.
Anthony Bourdain- Love his shows, they tell the real shit that goes on in cultures.
Mario- real authentic chef. Love his shows and his foods. Wll miss him too.
Duff-I like but other then his oux and Mary Alice many of his workers seem liike there on drugs.
Guy- I like him. his show makes me sick becuz my city has very few diner, drive-ins and dives anymore( I live in Seattle). His other show I only saw a few times, but I liked what he made so far. He's funny.
Symon- I like him. He's professional and his giggles crack me up. I like his food.
Flay- His actual shows bore me to sleep but I do respect his success and I 'm sure his food is good. I hear good reviews about his restaurants.
Ming Tsi- I miss him, he too is a Pro. and I loved his show. I made a dish of his for Mother's Day once and it turned out great but man, I almost had to hop a plane to Asia to get some of the ingreds. for it.

Now for my dislikes:
Paula Deen- I like her home program (she's somewhat mellow) but the shit she makes.......
Paula's party- That is enough to make my ears bleed. Is she drunk on that show? She is flirting, forgetting what they are doing she is hamming it up. Nooooooooo!!
Robin What her name- Boring.
Giada- I liked her pogram when it first aired, but now it is a joke. Yes that phoney accent, the Farrah Fawcett smile, yes the low cut shirts. Shit she is making Italian food (maybe), she should be professional and wear a chef coat. You get shit all over yourself making Italian food. It's food food porn.
Sandra Lee- Ah wtf is she doing on FN? Yes she has a concept for making things go easy in the kitchen, yes someone above wrote that some chefs use canned this and that for fresh and its true, and that is good, but she can at least come through with some dishes that are homemade 100% for the times one has day off or special occasions ect. Anyone can open a box or packet and just add shit to it, but I thought the FN was to educate people how to make real dishes.
Bobblehead aka Rach Ray- She is over the top of WHAT???? Yes I play a game with my boyfriend, everytime 30 mins. airs we get beers ready and when she says her imfamous words "EVOO, sammies, delish, garbage bowl, awesome, eyeball it, giggles, ect., we take a drink. Guaranteed your tipsy (if not drunk) in 30 minutes. FN needs to restructure what their goal is really quick. Do they want the true chefs that really show people methods, ideas of real cooking or do they want to have circus acts like they are airing?

A recipe, according to Webster's, is a set of instructions for making something from various ingredients. That makes this and other recipes calling for the use of convenience food ingredients "real." The contest is clearly designed to generate recipes using specific brand-name products. If that's not your thing, look elsewhere for your recipes.

oh geez, I was expecting a real recipe. =(

@ptrap - congratulations on making it to the finals! I used to enter the State Fair of Texas contests before moving to Arizona and there were a couple SFT ladies in the finals, too. One, Gwen Beauchamp, won the fan's favorite recipe (or whatever it was called).