I knew I shouldn't trust Sandra Lee's cooking show
340307
I saw Sandra Lee use this on one of her shows (maybe not this brand, but this had the highest reviews). Popped in an onion, pressed, and chop! Done!

But no, I could do a better rough chop with an actual knife in 20 seconds and rinse that knife in 20 more. This thing is bulky, dull, and really doesn't cut onions well. Also, it takes forever to actually clean the pieces out of it. Also, be aware that you need to use teeny onions because the actual blade part is so small. Even half a large onion wouldn't fit. I'd give it one star, but at least part of my onion did get awkwardly chopped, so technically it is a "chopper".
2786823
Was not typical dinner recipes, a bit too much gourmet and a bit complicated. I've always enjoyed watching their show and trying their recipes. So I was very disappointed in this book.
2510907
I bought this book at the grocery store not knowing anything about it.
Please do not read any more of this review if you don't want to have the book spoiled for you.
So - Julie ends up with a cooking show on the Oprah network, a huge lottery ticket win, and a billion dollar business - after the guy is killed how - by getting hit by lightning.  From there, she joins up with the gang helping her get vengeance and they do what - clamp electrical wires on the guys genitals, burn his head, blast him with a fire hose, and we won't discuss what they do to the woman.  Then, they put them in an ambulance to go where and not contact the cops?  I was very sorry that I read the whole book.  I was getting into it but the twists and turns were so STUPID and the conclusion so UNREALISTIC that I threw the book away to prevent anyone else from reading it.  I read lots of mysteries - this one is very near if not at the top of the worst I have ever read.  It amazes me that we humans have such different tastes that so many would rate this as a 5 star but each to their own.
I would give it a "0" star if I could.
4369906
You know, I feel so guilty that I had been feeding this crap to my dog for 3+ years and I admit the only reason I did was because I didn't know any better and it was affordable. Why did I not put 2 and 2 together when he stared getting very dry, flaky skin, itchy paws, hot spots, red crusty sores and on top of all that - ear infections? When I started learning about the ingredients in dog food it really opened up my eyes. This food is a sham. They want you to believe it's chock full of beef and vegetables but it's not - it is full of corn (which is a an allergen), flours, fillers, artificial ingredients, fats and sugar with a little bit of beef and veg thrown in at the end. No wonder my dog was having so many problems with his health! I have since switched to higher quality foods with chicken, lamb or fish meal as it's first ingredient. I highly recommend these brands if you want your dog to thrive on healthy whole foods full of nutrients and flavor: California Natural, Innova, Canidae (the old formula), Merrick and Wellness Core. See [...] to research all brands of dog food.
4357628
The author included recipes in this book to help you along. This was a nice touch but the recipes were written so poorly that I lost faith in the entire book. I don't know if I can trust an author who expects me to cook pieces of eggs. Unless they are hard-boiled, this is impossible. The author calls for 0.5 pieces head of cabbage. I'm sure he means half a head of cabbage but if he was careless when he wrote the recipes I assume he was careless with the rest of the book. The plural of zucchini is zucchini, not zucchinis. In order to type zucchinis, I have to override my spell check. How did the author write a book without an editor or even spell check to correct the sloppy grammar. The author lost credibility when he included so many errors in this book. Look for another book to battle sugar addiction, I doubt this author knows what he is doing.
147161
This book was written before Robin's diagnosis of cancer.  Now she conveniently is "cured" of cancer at the precise moment that her book tour begins.  Robin used her celebrity and wealth to get advanced medical care that the average individual would not be able to get.  That is what caused her to be cancer free at the moment, not these recipes and diet.  This book release has the same scent of a scam that her bosses constant shilling for the abysmally rated North Shore Animal League does.
4142547
I had high hopes for this book. I love her blog and her ideas and food presentation. I like her philosophy.
Then I bought her cookbook. I held off writing a review for several months after I bought it because, frankly, her Sanctimommy attitude in the introduction really rubbed me the wrong way. I'm a good cook and put a lot of thought of effort into what I feed my children. To hear McCord prattle on about "sneaky chef" type cooking, you'd think I was a horrible mom who is setting her kids up for culinary and health failure in a few decades rather than a mom who has tried everything, and keeps trying, everything under the sun to make sure her children are getting a well-rounded diet. And hello? Hypocritical much? Parsnip muffins? How is that not being "sneaky"?
So I waited until I wouldn't writing a scathing review and had a chance to test several of the recipes (without modifications). Here we go:
The Teething Cookie: 11 month old took two bites and spit it out. I tried three separate cookies over three days. Same result. My toddler straight THREW UP when he tried it.
Breakfast quesadilla: Why is this even in here?? What a waste of space. Toddler wouldn't touch it.
Baby frittatas: Toddler took two bites and declared he was done.
Oatmeal on the go bars: Toddler touched it and decided it was gross. I tried toasting it in the toaster oven the next day. He did take three bites and then refused to try it ever again. My husband wasn't a big fan either.
Brown rice and veggie casserole: Toddler hated it. My husband and I thought it was just all right.
Baked Zucchini Coins: I loved them. Toddler? Not so much.
"Fried" green beans with honey mustard - all around epic fail. NOBODY liked these.
So, look, my kid is definitely in the picky eater stage. He used to be a great eater, now not so much. If you listen to the author, "all you have to do is..." blah blah blah and you'll have a great eater on your hands. Right. IF ONLY it were really, truly that simple. Don't believe the hype.
I'll keep trying the recipes for ideas because I do think that turning your child into a good eater takes effort. She just makes it seem like it's so easy and that bugs me.
511777
I really was looking forward to this book because I love step by step cook books. The reason why is I have learned how to cook from cook books so following instructions to a t is very comfortable for me. This was a big learning moment for me because you shouldnt always trust what someone published in a giant book. My point is: I made the macarons and followed every instruction. I even ground almonds rather than buying almond flour. But the one direction I should have questioned: using wax paper for baking. After I ruined two sheets of pain in the butt cookies and a quick google search, I will never make that mistake again. However, why is it written repeatedly in every variation of this recipe??? I take responsibility but I am more than a little bit upset.
4157212
I just discovered I've been poisoning my Jack Russell Terrier with this Paw Biotics product which contains Hydrolized Vegetable Protein, which is really misleadingly-dishonest and devilishly-deceptive code-talk for the neurotoxin, MSG. I think this is absolutely reprehensible. I would NEVER have paid nearly $36.00 to poison my pet with MSG! I became suspicious, after giving this to my JRT, and -- soon thereafter -- she started gaining weight and getting fatter and fatter by the day, and also eating waaay more than she's ever eaten before!  These are classic symptoms of obese people on an MSG-infested diet, and its no different for dogs. MSG makes people (and dogs) hungry for MORE! MSG is addictive! When I finally woke up and read what's hidden in the "INACTIVE INGREDIENTS" section of the label, sure enough, there was "Hydrolized Vegetable Protein," and I immediately got angry at myself (and then, ever MORE mad at the company) for POISONING MY DOG WITH THE NEURO-TOXIN MSG!!! I think that is deplorable. All one has to do is look on the internet for "hydrolized vegetable protein" in a simple Google search and it becomes immediately apparent that's a deceptive way to push toxic MSG on humans and animals -- [...] -- Shame on you Paw Biotics . . . and shame on ME for not being more circumspect and discerning by scrutinizing the label more closely!
THESE LIARS FALSELY ADVERTISE "NO MSG" RIGHT HERE ON AMAZON, TOO:
"Important Information
Ingredients Beneficial bacteria including soil based
organisms, Enzymes for improved nutrient absorption. Yeast based
bacteria- the good kind- helps with yeast infections

Ingredients
Vitamin E

Ingredients
No MSG"
1273772
After reading the book just for few minutes I already have found the major mistakes in the book. The information about foods is so horrible that I had to stop reading immediately. Every midwife and nurse or doctor will tell you to avoid certain foods that can harm your baby. Not this book though. If I was going to follow this books instructions, I'd not be having happy ending of my pregnancy for sure. This book tells you to eat feta, deli meats, unprocessed foods. Welcome listeria, hooray salmonella. Who cares about health of unborn babies, main thing this book makes a profit for the author!!! Please avoid this book. Get something more accurate and actually based of long years of research.
2888168
The first recipe I made in this book was an absolute disaster. My first clue that it was not going to turn out well was when I mixed all the ingredients together and it made a powder. The next step on the list was "pour batter." Are you kidding me? I double and triple checked the recipe and had to conclude that there must be a typo with the amount of rice flour. Trying to salvage the recipe, I added three times as much lemonade. This then made some sort of grainy paste. Never one to give up, I baked it anyway. The result was a gritty and near tasteless cake that actually made me physically ill after eating a small amount. I'm not sure if this was just lazy publishing, editing, or if the recipe is just truly horrible. Either way, it's unacceptable and I won't be trusting a single one of these recipes. The most disappointing thing is that I LOVE the Enjoy Life brand of foods. That they would put their name and stamp of approval on such a shoddy product is very disheartening. Those of us with multiple and severe food allergies don't have many options when it comes to desserts and snack foods. You would think that a company that claims to cater to those needs would take more care and pride in a book like this.
1848163
They changed  the recipe to include a whole bunch of ingredients that are not Paleo friendly.
The most disgusting  thing I've ever tried they new recipe. What a shame will no longer buy again
4488699
My kitty can only have Lamb and Rice in the mornings.  I've ordered this a couple of times now. With this last order I found out the hard way that they mixed in cans of beef pate and cheated me our of about 8 cans of the lamb and rice.  Shame on you for cheating your customers and putting pets in danger. Check your purchases closely to make sure you have not been cheated.
This system made me give at least 1 star.  They don't deserve any stars!
536344
Some recipes have an unusual combination of ingredients that I would never use together.
3929367
I avoided buying this book years ago simply because I'd already read another review that said the "secret" was not disclosed.  Now, I felt prepared to handle that and what I read was a "look at how great my show and I are!" book.  She's apparently more able to be manipulated than she'd like to admit, because for some reason she believes an awful lot of what Saldivar told her; things that common sense don't dictate to be true.  She states in her book that her show "Primer Impacto" has been criticized for "smacking of sensationalism" and now I know why - and I've never seen the show!  "Between the lines" she insinuates that Selena was having an affair with her plastic surgeon and was about to move to Mexico and that that's why Yolanda shot her - to prevent her from causing harm to herself.  PUHLEEZ!!!!  I couldn't rate this book with negative stars, but if I could've that's what this book would've gotten from me.
3204322
I checked this book out from the library, and I was glad that I didn't purchase it.

It wasn't the worst cookbook in the world - don't get me wrong. I just wasn't what I was looking for. The recipes themselves where not bad ideas - I like easy meals for one that are semi-homemade. The types where what bothered me. The author name bombed brands so much she had to add a starting disclaimed on the copyright page saying she wasn't paid to drop that many brand names. She claimed it was just because the recipe only worked if you used those brands - yeah....that isn't how the world works brands aren't that important.

Again, her ideas where just fine - as an outline to a recipe, but they didn't really rock my palette. I mean, it was all diet recipes. I didn't think that was what I was getting into. I knew healthy was coming, and some light on the calories - but I was shocked. She used so many store bought items high in sodium and fake sugars - so yeah, you don't get calories from the fake sugar, but that isn't healthy. I felt so miss lead - it isn't guilt free is you feel upset to your tummy from too many chemicals.

The design of the book just wasn't for me either. It was mostly in purple (which happens to be my favorite color) but the type was so light against the white paper that I had a hard time reading it without my glasses. Sad, I shouldn't have to fight that hard when just doing the opening skim (during the hard read I could understand glasses.)

The pictures where dull, mostly just "cartoons" that looked like clip art. I felt like the listed artist in the credits page just used free images from his own computer. I was disappointed. The pictures didn't line up with recipes, she had to list on pages with a picture of the item where to see the picture. The publisher really failed on hiring a designer for this book.

I don't think I will read it again, and if I read another by Lisa Lillien it would be solely to update her contents, credit's page, and first sentence to shelfari. I wouldn't even read past those pages :(

I wouldn't suggest it to a friend either - I don't like to spread the use of fake.
4091712
I LOVE grilled food and am gluten-intolerant, so I jumped on this book right away when I saw it. Oh boy, was I ever disappointed!!

I have two big problems with this book. The first one is a health issue: Some of these recipes are only gluten-free if you have gluten-free versions of the ingredients!!! For example, various brands of soya sauce, buffalo sauce, Worcestershire sauce and tartar sauce contain gluten. The author doesn't spend any time discussing this fact nor does she talk about brands that are gluten free and therefore safe. This is a BIG DEAL considering the book is supposedly written for people who need gluten-free recipes. Someone new to a gluten-free diet or living with celiacs could get sick trusting that these recipes are safe as is.

My second big issue with this book is that it's very obvious it was slapped together with very little effort. It is riddled with ridiculous spelling, punctuation, and grammar errors in every single paragraph. I'm guessing the author dictated this and then didn't read it before publishing. Otherwise, she would have noticed her document was filled with blatant mistakes in her "word class recopies" such as; "levees" (leaves), "severe" (serve), "Brest" (breast), "sward fish" (sword fish), "backing dish" (baking dish), and recipe titles such as "ORANGY CHIKEN GRILLED DRUPSTICK RECEPIE". An editor or beta-reader would have caught the fact that the reader is instructed to "deep" their chicken legs, season with "salt and paper", and "lace the lemon".

It may sound like I'm picking on the author, but let me be clear: This isn't a book with a few errors scattered throughout. It is a book with a LOT of spelling/wrong-word errors, no punctuation, and missing information in **every paragraph**. This made the instructions hard to follow. Seriously, readers shouldn't have to decode a recipe to follow it. It was frustrating to have to constantly decipher what the author meant to say.
Here is a direct quote from the book:

"In this book I will give you all the gluten free recopies which are not only tasty or mouth watering but it also give you combination of healthy and ketogenick so what else you can ask for I have read so many book and try to find out gluten recopies but most of the time I did not get what I want In those recopies." (See the photo I included with the review.)

If that doesn't steer you away from this book, you can expect to not know the actual name of some recipes, have no clue what ingredient is called for, and/or what amount is needed. (What the heck is a "sibter"? And, where would I find "ground rock flower" to make a Grilled Saleman dish??)

As for the actual recipes and information, I can say: I like that the author includes nice photos of what each dish should look like. However, I would prefer that the pictures be at the start of the recipe instead of at the end of it. I found that confusing.

I appreciate that the author mentions using a charcoal grill for chicken, but I wish she would have mentioned it at the front of the book where she talks about grilling and not as a random comment mid-way through the book. I also think it would have been valuable for her to tell the reader WHY it is better with charcoal.

In most cases, the recipes that are decipherable call for ingredients that most people would have readily on hand or that are easy and inexpensive to get. There are a few exceptions, like sword fish which is very costly and asafetida; I don't know anyone that would have that on hand or where I would get it locally.