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Semi-Homemade Desserts
Books: CookBooks: Desserts: Item 4
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Semi-Homemade Dessertsby Sandra Lee and Mary Hart
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123 of 154 people found the following review helpful: Don't waste your time or money!, October 3, 2003 Reviewer: A readerI checked this book out after reading an abysmal New York Times review of it--since there are so rarely such negative reviews, I wondered if, perhaps, the reviewer had just been in a bad mood. No such luck here. The book is, indeed, filled with recipes that are, on the whole, more expensive (and sometimes, it appears, more time-consuming) than a similar homemade recipe would be; almost every ingredient list is filled with specific brand name products, many of them laden with trans-fats, the latest "bad" food to make the FDA caution list. I didn't buy the book, and so didn't try any of the recipes, but I can't imagine they could be enough better than "made from scratch" (since when is that a taboo phrase??) versions of the same meals to justify making them instead. My family eats enough "convenience food" as it is--when we take the time to cook and sit down together, we want the meal to be healthy and wholesome, not just more processed food disguised as home-cooked. My personal favorite, though, remains the following quotation from the cookbook, included in the book review: "Making life easier can be so simple if you utilize disposable products. Paper plates, napkins, plastic utensils, baking dishes, serving bowls and platters are all readily available. Disposable items provide quick preparation and cleanup - you'll minimize your work while maximizing your leisure time." Good grief. Has our society detiorated so much that we're willing to throw environmental and health caution to the wind, all for a few extra minutes of television? Disposable products and prepared foods have their places--great for that potluck or PTA contribution, or for a quick dinner for the road. But if you're going to go to the trouble of hauling out a cookbook and shopping for ingredients, go with homemade, and use the real dishes. Joy of Cooking (Ethan Becker) and How to Cook Everything (Mark Bittman) are great places to start if you're not comfortable in the kitchen--many of their recipes are easily put together in half an hour or less, and use ingredients you can find easily and cheaply at your local grocer. Alternatively, if you really need the ten-minute meal but don't want tv dinners, chains like Trader Joe's carry excellent (and cheap) prepared food and desserts that you can throw together quickly for half the price of these recipes.
From Publishers Weekly
In this newest by Lee, author of the bestselling Semi-Homemade Cooking, a typical ingredients list reads like an index of advertising sponsors-Duncan Hines, Nestle, Carnation. According to Lee, that's the idea. Why buy fresh ingredients when you can buy mixes and prepared foods that allow you to skip a few steps? The gimmick-buy name-brand food items and transform them into glorious dishes-is a good one, but the results are often less than satisfactory. (One additional downside with this approach-aside from the chemical and additives involved-is that many of these dishes emphasize attitude rather than flavor.) Recipes such as Pastel Petit Fours, which are relatively time-intensive, look much better than they taste. This is less true of the Frozen Oreo Cake, but the Easter Bunny Cake (which requires eight name-brand ingredients) is not only overly sweet, but somewhat unattractive. Of course, some of the recipes appeal to the palate by virtue of the ingredients alone. Who doesn't like whipped topping, especially if it's mixed with fruit-flavored gelatin? For the reader who tends to purchase items like the ones used herein, these recipes are sure to appeal. Perhaps unnecessarily, headshots of television stars accompany many of the recipes, something that suggests the recipes either come from or are favorites of well-known people-e.g., there's Sex and the City's Kristin Davis's Savvy-Simple Limewhip Angel Food Cake and Katie Couric's Early Morning Raspberry Crescent Ring.
Copyright 2003 Reed business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
The New York Times
"great ideas for simple and quick dishes." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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