Mezzaluna - When I used to live in NYC and worked 8-4, I got home about 4:45 and I prepared a meal every night as well (GOD I miss those days!). I'd buy a veal shoulder chop, quick brown it, add a can of cut up whole peeled tomatoes, onions, garlic, wine, S&P, maybe some basil; simmer 1 hour - while I did some chore or caught up on news. How the heck did I know I'd pine for those days! I'd use leftover macaroni (or spaghetti) from Sunday and make a Pasta Pie (like a big macaroni fritatta) during the week. Leftover BBQ chix for a Chicken Salad.
Everything from scratch? Much as I'd love for that to be possible, I've scheduled myself out of most of my time. I live in a place where there is no other way to commute than driving.
I'm on the road one hour to work, one hour
fro.
There are plenty of great shortcuts or "plan ahead" type stuff one can do to eat decent food during the week. I usually buy some peppers and mushrooms and saute them off on Sunday for use during the week. I use leftover meat the same way - sometimes throwing together a quick quesadilla with chicken breast and veggies or a quick pasta dish using same.
I'm not even going to address that she recommends using these "techniques" for parties or holiday celebrations! (The horrible angel food cakes were used to commemorate Kwanzaa, Christmas and the mountain o'crap you mention was a DOUBLE DECKER monstrosity.)
As for her food being terrible - It's terrible for anyone who has a tastebud. The wretched combinations of a box of this mixed with a can of that - squeeze something out of a ziplock bag all over it and it's gourmet...Her whole schtick is downright comedic. (And we laugh every week
.)
As for her having a cooking show...Her husband's wallet probably had more to do with that than her cooking skill. She frequently misuses culinary terms, even at their most rudimentary. During one recent show she claimed "Italians eat
family style which means everyone eats in the kitchen." Family style means everything is served on platters instead of individually plated
Have you ever seen the way she holds a knife? With her pointer finger resting on the back of the blade.
When she prepares one of her concoctions (I refuse to call them recipes), the one she's working on looks nothing like the "display" model created by a production assistant. The display model might taste like garbage, but at least it looks good.
There are times I throw together something quick out of leftovers or frozen veggies, canned beans, etc. Nothing is fake and it doesn't take long (I'm ready to collapse by the time I get home most nights). There is more crap than anything else in her envelopes of sauce mix and chemical-laden boxed food - which she uses with reckless abandon.
Most anyone who has ever measured out a level cup of flour feels this woman is a hack on so many levels, it's hard to count them. Her "food" is not economical (which is one of her selling points). It will never measure up to anything prepared out of real ingredients, even if there are very few of them.
I guess I'm most disappointed in TVFN for airing such fluff crap. I remember when TVFN had some measure of credibility and now only about 40% of its content is anything usable. I categorize this show with "Unwrapped" and "Secret Life Of..." It's certainly not a cooking show.