Tag: Video-TV

Tricia Yearwood’s New Cooking TV Show on Food Network

Tricia Yearwood has a new Food Network show called “Trisha’s Southern Kitchen” and I watched the “Girlfriends” episode today.

Okay, yeah, there’s typical Paula Deen-ish, way-too-much butter and sugar recipes, but I was pleasantly surprised to find Tricia’s personality really shined. I enjoyed watching the episode! There were many helpful cooking tips, plus little bits of Tricia’s personal life.

Her pecan pie and crockpot mac & cheese recipes are decadent, and are just waiting to give you a heart-attack, but at the same time, intriguing.

I don’t know if I’ll be a regular viewer, only because her recipes aren’t really my cup of tea, but I might sneak a peak if it’s on or if I remember to DVR her.

She’s very funny, charming, and adorable. I wish her luck on the new show! :)

Stuff Dieters Say – Too Funny!

Yeah, I’m sure I uttered a few of these when I was first starting out. This gave me some good giggles. Thanks Norma!

“If I don’t eat after 8” – that’s a real popular one. Never really followed that one. haha, I eat when I be hungry! ;)
“Starbursts are low fat” – hahaa
“Before I weigh in, let me take off my necklace…” – oh yeah, gotta be neked when you’re weighing in, even now!
“Does coffee count as water?” – now that is something I hear the newbies ask a lot!
“They say chocolate is really good for you”
“Baked cauliflower is exactly like mashed potatoes”

Too funny!

Good Housekeeping Drop 5 Lbs – New Cooking Channel Show

I was curious about the new show on Cooking Channel TV: Good Housekeeping Drop 5 Lbs (with Melissa d’Arabian), so I made sure to DVR it.

The first episode opens with the recipe, Chicken Breasts with Apple Curry Sauce and it looked scrumptious; I love the idea of sweet & savory for dinner.

But I was a little puzzled when she suggested topping the steamed broccoli with a tsp of margarine. MARGARINE? Do people still use margarine?

It was even funnier to look at the recipe online, and see they suggested, “trans fat margarine” – LOL. I assume they meant “trans fat-free margarine” but even still, to suggest margarine over a whole food like butter is silly.

trans fat margarine

For example, after googling “margarine brands”, I found Smart Balance Buttery Spread contains 80 calories per tablespoon, that’s 26 calories for 1 tsp. Organic Valley unsalted butter contains 100 calories per tablespoon, which equals out to 34 calories per tsp. That’s hardly enough of a difference to recommend margarine over butter!

Plus if you choose the butter, you’ll save yourself the consumption of icky ingredients like artificial flavors, monoglycerides, sorbitan ester of fatty acids, disodium EDTA, along with a dose of GMO (genetically modified) vegetable oils, plus all the pesticides and toxic fertilizers.

But getting back to the episode.

I whole-heartedly agree with the advice that you need to measure your portions; I think a kitchen scale is a more accurate way than a measuring cup though (I love to weigh in grams) but it’s better than eye-balling it. Two & half years later, I still weigh most of my food. It really does help keep your portions honest!

On the whole, I’m not a fan of Good Housekeeping, it’s a bloated ad-driven magazine, but at least the show seems like a fairly good idea. No, the tips and hints aren’t anything new, but if it helps inspire someone to begin a healthier lifestyle, then that’s all that matters.

I’ll continue to DVR the episodes, so we’ll see how it develops.

Food Network Rewards Obese Duff Goldman with New Sugar High Show

I just watched a promo for the new Food Network show “Sugar High” starring Duff Goldman, the guy from “Ace of Cakes” (a show I don’t think I’ve watched once)

Anyway, the promo commercial made me sick! They showed him gorging on cakes, pastries, cookies, and puddings. Every scene was him shoveling huge desserts into his mouth. With each new traveled location, I swear you were watching him gain another 10 pounds. His face looked fatter and more bloated after every bite.

It was extremely gross and unappealing, but it made me think!

Is this the type of show that Americans love?

It’s how we look and how we eat. Obese and addicted to sugar, feeding ourselves massive amounts of sweet sugary desserts, barely stopping to wipe the icing off our faces.

I am sorry if people think I’m being cruel, putting down someone (Duff Goldman) who clearly has a food addiction problem, but really, shouldn’t we be outraged at the Food Network, for contributing to his obesity? Is the Food Network glorifying and encouraging the obesity problem in America?

Take a look at an earlier promo photo of Duff Goldman. Yeah, he could lose a few pounds, but at least he has some muscle tone.
duff goldman promo shot for ace of cakes

Now look at a capture from the new Sugar High show. Duff has clearly gained weight, and I wonder what his health is like. Does he have type 2 diabetes? How is his cholesterol?

bloated and obese duff goldman from the new food network show sugar high

Is the Food Network partially responsible? Making profits by rewarding an obese spokesperson with a show on the same subject matter that is causing him to be obese? What has to happen before they finally open their eyes? A heart attack?

I know what it’s like to have a compulsive sugar addiction. but I have found ways to keep it under control. If the Food Network gave me lots of $$ to host a show called “Sugar High”, yeah, all control would be out the window, and I’d be 200 pounds again! Even watching a show like “Sugar High” can have unwanted repercussions.

The new “Sugar High” show premieres tonight on Food Network at 10:30pm, but I won’t be watching. It would be like watching the trainwreck that is America’s sugar addiction…

New Cooking Food TV Shows for Summer – Rants!

Wow, there has been a bunch of new cooking/food TV series….not very impressed though.

I watched Rocco’s Dinner Party on Bravo the other night and wow, when did Rocco DiSpirito become so narcissistic and arrogant? Very disappointing. His attitude (down to facial expressions) was incredibly pretentious and snotty – I’ve never watched his “Restaurant” series, but I have heard that he was pompous and arrogant on that show as well. How sad. He was so down-to-earth and unassuming on the old “Melting Pot” cooking show (currently seen on The Cooking Channel) – what a shame he takes himself all too seriously!

Just finished watching the first episode of Extreme Chef (Food Network) on my DVR. Lord, how boring was this show! It’s kind of a cross between Chopped and The Amazing Race, but not as interesting. Why do producers feel that the public wants to watch judges that think they are better than everyone else? It’s getting so old!

I am enjoying the “Next Food Network Star” on Food Network though. Even though the judges are also arrogant and impossible to please. I enjoy most of the contestants, except for bitchy Penny. I can’t imagine who would want to watch a new cooking show hosted by someone so mean spirited. She has a permanent scowl on her face, and is always putting down the other contestants. You know if Giada was a contestant, she’d hate her too! Ha! Yes, I’m sure there are a lot of TV chefs that have bad attitudes behind the scenes, but their actions aren’t usually broadcast on a reality TV series. I just don’t understand her game plan. Be the biggest bitch possible and hope that they will give you a cooking show? She can’t be that stupid, there must be ulterior motives. Perhaps her idol is Tabatha from Tabatha’s Takeover.

I did start watching the 2nd season of Gordan Ramsey’s Master Chef, but I sort of lost interest. We didn’t watch this week, but hopefully maybe next week, we’ll get back into it. Again, pompous arrogant judges that expect perfect outcomes from impossible situations. It’s just frustrating! But I haven’t given up on this show just yet. We’ll see.

Mark Bittman’s Rehashed The Minimalist on Cooking Channel

I was soo excited to begin watching the new Mark Bittman new cooking show, The Minimalist on the Cooking Channel.

I dvr’d it this AM and just sat down to watch it. It begins with “Here we are again, spring time means softshell crabs” – he then refers the viewer to watch last seasons’ video for info on cleaning soft shell crabs yourself, and then the previously recorded clip plays. Hmm. It sounded a little awkward for a first show; then I noticed that the video quality didn’t look as “polished” as most TV cooking shows. It immediately made me think of his Minimalist video podcast.

So, I googled and found his old pasta with soft shell crab video on the NY Times:

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2008/05/27/dining/1194817098569/pasta-with-soft-shell-crabs.html

So, FYI everyone, I love Mark Bittman, but his new show the Minimalist is not NEW, it’s just rehashed and re-edited old videos from the NY Times. Not that that is a bad thing, it’s just that it shouldn’t be confused with a brand new production.

Truthfully, the old Minimalist videos are great, so it’s actually a wonderful idea to recycle them so they can now been seen by a wider audience! I like that multiple videos are edited together to form a episode theme. First show is Pasta, then Asian, Steak, Latin, and lastly seafood.

I’m a huge Mark Bittman fan, and I admit I’m disappointed that the show is not a new production, but I will continue to watch his Cooking Channel show. The instruction is detailed but easy to understand, and there is a lot to learn from him. I never really thought about soft shell crab, and I was intrigued to find out that they can be eaten whole!

PS. Mark Bittman has a new(ish) book “The Food Matters Cookbook: 500 Revolutionary Recipes for Better Living” along with other wonderfully simple and healthy books! Check ’em out at your local library!

Cynthia Kereluk Everyday Workout

I have been trying to concentrate more on aerobics lately. I have been watching a couple of cable OnDemand aerobics shows but I also found all of my old fitness VHS tapes and have been converting to DVD.

So I made a couple of DVDs containing some shows from Cynthia Kereluk Everyday Workout (originally on Lifetime TV). Oh what memories she brought back!

I officially played one of her shows last night and it kicked my butt! It’s amazing how poor my aerobic endurance is! It is a little discouraging but at the same time, I am motivated to do better!

But getting back to Cynthia Kereluk! I just love her! I loved her years ago and it’s so good to be using her fitness shows again! She’s an inspiration and gives me a boost of confidence!

The other day, I googled her name to see if I could find current info on her, but came up empty! I was hoping that she would have a fitness web site somewhere, but the latest info I found was that she married Paul Rodgers from Bad Company back in 2007.

I wish I could tell her how much she means to me, both now and then! And that she’s a big inspiration for my fitness goals! I am lucky to have saved a bunch of her workout shows, and now I can enjoy them once again. They are timeless!

Yoga Journal’s Beginning Yoga Step By Step DVD Review

I found the #1 DVD from the Yoga Journal’s: Beginning Yoga Step by Step Session 1-3 at the library this week.

I watched it last night. Yes, it’s a wonderful yoga DVD, but no, it is certainly NOT for beginners.

I found it funny to read the positive reviews on Amazon, stating that it’s great for those beginning yoga; at the same time they also said that they either had prior yoga experience or were already very athletic. How could they possibly know how a true beginner feels? They are several steps above someone with not as much fitness ability.

Well I am not very athletic (yet) and I don’t have a whole heck of a lot of flexibility and upper body strength (yet), so it does qualify me a true Yoga beginner. I wanted to love this DVD. I really want to do yoga! But for now, this DVD is way ahead of my abilities.

I was frustrated because I was trying to do the poses, and at the same time, cranking my neck to look at the TV. She suggested that less flexible beginners should “watch Jason” but the problem was, Jason was rarely in the shot when she was initially demonstrating the poses. He was way off to the side. It would have been so much easier to actually see him in the shot, so I could see the modifications.

When she specifically show Jason’s demo, it was always AFTER I had already tried it myself; by that time, I was feeling a bit confused and lost. I tried to keep up, but it was frustrating because I wasn’t sure if I was doing the poses correctly.

After a few minutes, I restarted the DVD, and tried to follow along a second time. I really loved the initial pose, but by the time I got to Downward Dog and Cobra, etc. I just didn’t feel very confident.

So, I don’t think this DVD is for me, at this point in my life, but I will keep trying. I won’t give up on yoga. I found a set of old VHS videos on really simple yoga and I might try that next. Then once I gain more upper body strength and flexibilty, then I will revisit the Yoga Journal’s: Beginning Yoga Step by Step DVD and see how much I have improved.