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Sandra Lee Wants Everyone To "Lighten Up" About Her Terrible Cooking
By
Jaya Saxena
Published Apr 25, 2011
Modified Apr 25, 2011
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By
Jaya Saxena
Published Apr 25, 2011
Modified Apr 25, 2011
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It's pretty easy to harp on New York's Semi-First Lady, Sandra Lee, and her "Semi-Homemade" cooking. Even Governor Cuomo's mom is on board! But Sandra Lee says everyone needs to shut up about her recipes, like "Bat Wings with Goblin Dip." "I think everyone needs to lighten up," she told the Daily News. "Our job is to serve the overextended homemakers, our job is to make their life better." She also says, "My recipes are created from what people are buying at the grocery stores," which apparently involves acorns. Behold, the Kwanzaa Cake (video below)!
Sandra Lee started her career selling home decorating kits on infomercials before transitioning into the "semi-homemade" food business. And she's never made any apologies for not making things from scratch. She once told Gourmet magazine, "We go to the grocery store and we all feel guilty because we’re not doing it from scratch. Can I tell you something? These big kitchens buy the exact same product with a different flavor and they call it a commercial line. They’re not making bouillabaisse, either. They’re not. None of these guys are doing it. Not the most recognized chefs in the world." But where do you draw the line between cooking from scratch and stuffing marshmallows into a store-bought angel food cake and calling it cooking?
Lee just explains that she's going for a different crowd: "The food world is something I know, and something I know top to bottom. People think I just know how to open a box or can. For the food purist, that's bad, and from homemakers, that's applauded." We bet those food purists can't even decorate a plastic tree.
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Jaya Saxena
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