Menu Plan Monday

Monday: Butternut Squash Soup with Sweet and Spicy Pecans

Tuesday: Breakfast for Dinner Pancakes

Wednesday: Spicy Peanut Chicken and brown rice

Thursday: Kale and Sausage Ragu with Garlic Bread

Friday: Leftovers

Menu Plan Monday

Monday: Autumn Golden Vegetable Lasagna and garlic bread

Tuesday: Leftovers

Wednesday: Turkey Tetrazzini and green salad

Thursday:  Chicken and Gravy Sandwiches and Warm Potato Salad with Camembert

Friday: Toasted-Bread Salad with Salami

Why the Magazine Industry is Like High School

It's amazing to me how the magazine world is full of adults acting like gossiping little teenage girls!  Over the course of the last several days, magazine blogs and newspapers have been breathlessly reporting the breakup of Every Day with Rachael Ray and its owner, Reader's Digest.  Right after that news was announced, Meredith announced that it was acquiring the magazine.  Then Reader's Digest said, no no no, not so fast!  They say they have only agreed in principle to sell the magazine to Meredith.

So what's the source of all the drama?  Apparently, Reader's Digest isn't happy that Rachael Ray wants control of her image and brand.  Okay, that was a pretty biased way to characterize it, but heck, the blog is called Everything Rachael Ray, right?  The way the teenage girls say it is:

Keep in mind that this is only a rumor, but according to Adweek, the biggest reason for Reader’s Digest Association (RDA) selling Every Day with Rachael Ray to Meredith yesterday was that Rachael Ray wanted more money. One source claimed that Ray was never happy with the amount of money she was getting from the magazine, and another said, “Rachael wanted a better deal, and they [RDA] [weren't] prepared to do it.

Another problem was RDA’s contract with Ray, which kept the company from growing the title. “Because our agreement limited our participation to producing just a magazine, we were unable to expand the brand and its content across multiple platforms,” RDA’s CEO, Robert Guth, admitted. “Going forward, it was not a fit with our master brand strategy.”

So where does that leave us?  I have no clue.  Meredith publishes Better Homes and Gardens, Fitness, and American Baby, so we at least know they have their act together.  I'll keep an eye out for any more news, but I am excited about the new changes that might come along with the change in ownership.

Menu Plan Monday

I know some people don't believe me when I say I only make Rachael Ray's recipes, but I swear these are my real menu plans and they are usually 100 percent RR.  Every once in awhile I'll have some random stuff to use up so I'll go outside my comfort zone.  But it doesn't happen very often.  There are just so many Rachael Ray recipes out there to try that I can't stop making them!

Monday: Eggplant Rollups and Garlic Bread from Every Day with Rachael Ray

Tuesday:  Cashew! God Bless You Chicken (from 30 Minute Meals)

Wednesday: My Sister Ria's Lazy Chicken (from 30 Minute Meals)

Thursday: Pumpkin Cheddar Mac & Cheese and green salad

Friday: Leftovers

I Should Just Let These Articles Go, But I Can't Help Myself

Can Rachael Ray cook her recipes in 30 minutes?  Someone else, this time a math professor at Tennessee Tech University, has joined the growing list of people who thought it would be fun to test this eternal question. This is one of those articles that drive me crazy and therefore make me feel silly for how worked up I get. But I really can't help myself, maybe because of how much I appreciate Rachael Ray's recipes and the big changes they made in my life by getting me to actually eat real food! I don't want the misinformation out there to prevent someone from trying her recipes and learning how to love cooking like I did! So, here are my thoughts on the article:

They tested 10 recipes - Do you know how many freaking recipes Rachael Ray has created? Between her 14 cookbooks, monthly magazine, and talk show, I have no idea how many there are, but it must be close to a gazillion. So how can someone take 10 of those recipes and draw any conclusions about the other gazillion? That kind of reasoning makes me worry about the future of science.

Expensive - The 10 recipe ridiculousness affects this issue, too, but I can promise you that you can find a RR recipe that is ridiculously expensive, just as you can find a whole bunch that are super cheap. When we were a two income family (before I decided to stay home with the little ones), I would choose any recipe that struck my fancy, regardless of price. These days, I choose based on shorter ingredient lists or a list with less expensive ingredients. And while RR does use a bunch of spices, she uses the same ones over and over again (specifically cumin, chili powder, smoked paprika), so you won't be buying a whole bunch of new ones all the time, in my experience.

Prep time - On her Food Network show, Rach says that she washes all produce before putting it away on her big shopping day. Other than that, all of her meals include the prep time of things like cutting veggies. On that show, she even grabs things out of the fridge and carries them to her cutting board, then opens packages.

Rach has proven it herself - In connection with her latest cookbook (which I adore, by the way, and I think it might be one of the best), Rachael posted videos showing her making a selection of the recipes from Look + Cook within 30 minutes, without commercial interruptions. I have watched a bunch of them and don't see any gimmicks that help her do it!  If these videos don't put these silly tests to rest, I don't know what will.

I have a feeling that Rachael doesn't get out a timer when she writes a meal. The idea is to make something from fresh ingredients in a short amount of time. It's not about racing the clock.

Image from Every Day with Rachael Ray