Rating: 
Summary: The Most Sinfully Delicious Chocolate Biscotti Ever
Review: "Sandra teaches us to have fun with dessert, to try something new, to pair the familiar with the unexpected. She shows us that it's not the grand gestures that impress, but the little touches-a sprinkle of sugared rose petals, a drizzle of warm honey, the cool elegance of fresh mint with lime." ~Mary HartI love reading cookbooks, so it took me a few months to try any of the recipes in this amazing book. My problem was that I simply could not decide which recipe to make first. But once I started trying the recipes, I could not stop. First, I tried the "Sherry Tea Cakes" which are the most delicate and dreamy cupcakes I've ever made. I loved the addition of nutmeg and how quickly you can make the icing. I did learn that you can't make this recipe in foil baking cups. There is a reason Sandra Lee uses the "paper" liners. Anyway, I was bored last night and had the most sinful desire for chocolate anything. I turned to page 73 and started to make "Eric McCormack's Amazing Chocolate Almond Biscotti." Of course I had purchased the ingredients a week or so earlier, but that is beside the point. The chocolate craving hit and here I was searching for the easiest recipe I could find. I soon realized this was the recipe I should have made "first." I made a few variations in the recipe, which just included substituting vanilla extract for the almond extract and I added 1/3 cup chocolate chips instead of the almonds. This recipe is actually faster than the instructions would lead you to believe. Once you have mixed up the cake mix and about 5 other ingredients, you press the dough onto a cookie sheet and bake for 35 minutes. Now, they say to cool for 35 minutes. They actually slice pretty well in their warm state. Then, I put the biscotti back into the oven for the 40 minutes to dry. So, I saved myself 35 minutes. I could go on and on about "just" this one recipe. Guess what I'm making for friends this next Christmas! I think the biscotti will be amazing drizzled with melted white chocolate. If I can find some strawberry nectar and fresh strawberries in February, I'm making the Strawberry Cake with Real Strawberry Frosting for Valentine's Day. The beauty of this particular book is the stylish presentations for Holidays. Not only can you find recipes for all the holidays (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year, Easter, Mother's Day, Valentine's Day, Fourth of July, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa), you can find wedding cakes, birthday cakes, baby shower ideas, garden party host ideas and there is even a Exotic Arabian Buffet. This book also has favorite recipes from Katie Couric, Anjelica Huston, Queen Latifah, Nathan Lane, Sharon Stone, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kristin Davis, Anthony Edwards and Julie Hagerty. All the recipes have huge pictures that are very tempting. The text is the perfect size and there are all sorts of little step-by-step pictures sprinkled through the book. The step-by-step instructions for the Pastel Petit Fours are especially helpful. Some of the recipes that I am going to have to try in the near future include: Frozen English Toffee Cake
Frozen Cookie Cake
Boston Cream Pie
Katie Couric's Early Morning Raspberry Crescent Ring
Caramel Parfaits
Buttery Honey Cake
White Chocolate Yule Log with Snow Frosting There are also recipes for the romantic. Imagine making "champagne perfume," "lip gloss," "body paint" or "pink linen dusting powder." Most of the recipes contain ingredients that you can find in the baking isle of your nearest grocery store. If you are hosting a party, a trip to a party store might be in order. Most of the recipes contain very affordable cake mixes, pie fillings and other items you might already have on your baking shelves. I found the recipes to be quite affordable. This book also has an extra helping of personality and Sandra Lee even signs her letter with a "Big Chocolate Kiss." Some of the recipes have a note from Sandra and the instructions are very easy to follow. I love Sandra Lee's creativity and her books are not only very collectable and readable, you can actually make the recipes in record time and feel like a pastry chef without spending all day in the kitchen. Buy this book for the Chocolate Biscotti Recipe! In the meantime, pick up a box of dark chocolate fudge or devil's food cake mix by Duncan Hines. "Semi-Homemade" Desserts is the perfect companion to Semi-Homemade Cooking. ~TheRebeccaReview.com
Rating: 
Summary: Run! Don't Walk away from this book
Review: Amazon really needs to let you give a negative rating. I've seen the "author" on Food Network and was amazed at what a horrible show she has. When I saw her book I had to check it out. It's just as bad. If you really don't have time to cook do yourself and your family a favor and find a good local bakery, or at least choose Sara Lee over Sandra Lee. P.S. If you think that Katie Couric really does her own cooking I have a some beachfront property in Oklahoma I'd love to sell you.
Rating:
Summary: Don't miss the boat.
Review: As someone who cooks everything from scratch, and is very health conscious, I think the negative reviewers are missing the boat. I am a real estate agent and entertain, not semi-regularly, but very regularly. I host many of these events at my home, so I often spend a day or two getting ready for these parties, sometimes I only have only a few hours notice. For instance, yesterday I was asked to host a cocktail party, great! As if my day wasn't full enough, where am I going to find the time to do everything, cleaning, shopping, plus I have to show homes until 4:00 P.M. This is allot to pack into one day.
Last year I had bought Sandra's first book, it was great, It sits on the counter with a myriad of other cookbooks, (I use them all). Most books are cooking from scratch type books but the One book that has helped me out of many a time tight jams is Semi-homemade. I will be using her new book tonight. Along with some of the appetizers from her first book, I will be making the Crispy Orange Coconut Balls as well as the Having it all Caramel Shortbread, both from her new dessert book.
I don't feed my family with semi-homemade dishes every night, but sometimes I just can't face a 2 hour cooking marathon, especially after a long day of work. Sandra's book has great Ideas, good food, it is easy to follow and looks good as well. I think people who put the book down are kidding themselves, all the products in her cook books are made with ingredients we all ready have in our kitchens. Keep up the good work Sandra I am looking forward to your next book. Your books have saved me hours of time, and the dishes always turn out fantastic!
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Time Saver for Busy Cooks!
Review: I absolutely loved this book! I have made several recipes form it and have had each one turn out as delicious as the next. I personally enjoy the brand name recommendations so that I can be sure to get the right product, although I will substitute from the store brand if possible, to save money. As I am not a creative person when it comes to cooking desserts, I love how fancy the finished products look. I get rave reviews from my husband and my children. And each one takes such a short time to prepare, it makes me feel almost guilty! Definately try this product if you are like me and love desserts, but don't want to spend all day making a fabulous one.
Rating: 
Summary: Mary Hart was right. These desserts are beautiful!
Review: I bought this book after seeing it on Entertainment Tonight. Mary Hart raved about it, so I thought I would check it out and see. I didn't buy Sandra Lee's first book, so while the whole concept of quick cooking is familiar to me, this particular author wasn't. I have to tell you, I'm impressed! The main reason I bought the book was that I was having a birthday party for a good friend and I wanted to bake a special cake, instead of picking one up at the bakery. I was looking for creative ideas that haven't been done a million times and don't take a pastry chef to create. Well, that's exactly what I got! I narrowed it down to about 4 recipes and finally chose Sharon Stone's recipe for Sexy Sweet Chocolate Layer Cake. (There is a special section with recipes from TV and movie stars, which is fun to browse through.) The cake looked like something you would order in an expensive restaurant, which was just what I was looking for. My friends couldn't believe that I actually made it myself! It looked that good. It only took about an hour and I have never made a torte cake before. Everybody loved it and now they all think I am this great cook, which couldn't be further from the truth! What I like best about this book is that most cookbooks, especially dessert books, seem to rehash the same old ideas, but this book really does offer some good ideas that I haven't seen before. And it offers lots of different ways to decorate plain desserts so they look special. So many times, a dessert might taste wonderful, but it just looks like a plain chocolate cake on a plain white plate. Sandra Lee clearly has an eye for presentation. She finds a way to make the desserts look as amazing as they taste. That alone is worth the price of the book. Personally, I love having her recommend brands in each recipe. I don't always know the best brands and if I prefer a different brand or can't find the one she suggests, I figure I can just swap it out. To me, it is just an extra service that the author provides that the reader can choose to use or not use. Looking through this book is a treat. The book is thoughtfully organized, with separate chapters for different kinds of desserts, like chocolate or kids desserts, and different kinds of occasions, like holidays or birthdays. You don't have to be a good or even experienced cook to turn out special desserts. I found myself dogearing pages of all the desserts I want to try. None of them look all that difficult and they all look gorgeous. You will definitely get your money's worth with this book, especially with the holidays coming up.
Rating:
Summary: Don't waste your time or money!
Review: I 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.
Rating:
Summary: Great help!
Review: I consider myself a good cook. I have several "specialties" that I am known for in my family: my potroast, my french toast, my chicken soup. But I never found my "signature" dessert. Now I have, thanks to this book! ANd it's so easy! I made the pound cake trifle, and my family LOVED it! And it looked so "professional". NOw they ask for "Mom's yummy bowl of cake" and I have something to make for holidays! Can't wait to try some of the other recipes, and add to my repetoire. Thanks for this book!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book! Rave Reviews.
Review: I don't know about other cooks, but I think this book is amazing. I have tried many of the recipes and found them delicious and easy to prepare. Yes, they do include prepackaged and canned food but get real. We do not all have time to cook from scratch and no you do not need to use paper plates. But let's face it we all have used them for a picnic now and then. By the way, I have made the Very Berry Cookie Cobbler and it's amazing. Way to go Sandra Lee.
Rating:
Summary: This book is so bad, it is funny
Review: I don't know why this was published because in my opinion, this is not a good book at all. I saw only a few recipes that might be worth making and one of them wasn't even hers. There is nothing else I can write about that is a positive in regards to this work.
Why didn't I like it? Well, for starters, the recipes seem very juvenille-like her kids made them up or something. The photos have the same look...they don't look professional. I have seen so much better in other books. She should of skipped the pictures altogether if she couldn't hire a decent food stylist.I know that her gimmick is semi-made dishes but that concept seems to carry over in the making of this book. I have never seen such sloppy work in a cookbook. For example, the blue frosting on her hanukkah cake appears to be loaded with tiny lumps-evidently the icing was not mixed completely. The naming of the white chocolate log was not accurate since this was not a white chocolate dessert as one might assume; rather, it was a rolled cake with a plain white frosting. Some of the recipe ideas were really lame. An example of this was the chocolate box with mousse. Who in their right mind is going to consume 1 1/2 large-sized chocolate bars for a dessert? This is how much chocolate was needed to construct a chocolate box to be filled with mousse for one person.The romantic recipes were so stupid that it is not even worth writing about them and there is this recipe for chocolate covered cherries that suggest serving them in a wine glass with the juice from the marachino cherry jar. Huh? The most obvious clunker in this disaster of a book was the crown cake. A cake was made and circled with a chocolate crown. It was a nice idea, but why did she have to have the crown made with the chocolate brushed-side outwards? Professional chefs always brush melted chocolate on molds so that the solid side will be shown to the viewer.
This whole book looked like something published for a church social-strictly amateur. Actually, I have seen local community cookbooks that looked better than this one.
I was very irritated with this book as readers will find obvious. The idea of semi-homeade recipes is a good one, but there were only 3 decent ones in the book that truly fit this profile. Of course, it is a matter of opinion but to me, it appears that there were more personal photos of the author, than good reliable recipes. This author seems to be a "Martha Stewart Wannabee".
I just have to stab at this monster of a book one more time. There are photos of elaborate room displays...again, nice addition but totally useless. The displays were overladen with stuff. No one could actually eat off a table with all the decorative accents put on them, never mind all the stringy things (crystals, beaded cords and the like) hanging from the ceiling all over the place.
I noted that this author even has her own magazine (just like you-know-who). I can't imagine... I recommend an excellent alternative publication if readers are looking for good recipes using boxed ingredients. Try "Taste of Home".
Rating:
Summary: I was SO disappointed!
Review: I happened to catch Sandra Lee's show on the Food Network and decided to try her book. I have never really been a baker and like so many of us, I don't have a lot of time to cook so the whole "quick cooking" idea sounded appealing. Unfortunately while Sandra Lee does offer the shortcuts she promises, the food just isn't very good. And the desserts are expensive to make, which is doubly disappointing. I am willing to pay extra for convenience but some of these recipes cost way too much. Maybe this is just me but not one dessert I tried looked like the picture on the page. The photos are coffee table pretty and this is one of the reasons I bought the book, but it would take you hours to accomplish the same thing at home, which pretty much defeats the whole purpose.
There seems to be a lot of shortcut cooking books out there. Rachael Ray and Gale Gand are on the Food Network too. I bought their books too and the recipes are easier and taste a lot better. If you're looking for a book on quick desserts, you'd probably be happier with either one of them. Sandra Lee's book is very disappointing. I'm sure she has some good recipes but they are not in this book.
|
