Sandra Lee is busy today.
With a vacation slate that features three recent specials on QVC and two recent shows, not to say her recent selection to the White House Historical Association’s national council, it’s a wonder she still has time to cook.
Fox News Digital spoke with Lee during a break in her schedule to listen to about her favorite fall foods, what she’s cooking this Thanksgiving and where she’s spending the vacations.
The 58-year-old California native is back in her home state, where she’s been recording episodes of “Blue Ribbon Baking Championship,” a recent Netflix show.
A former blue-ribbon winner herself on the LA County Fair, Lee said she crafted the concept for the series and pitched it to the Food Network (it turned her down).
But she didn’t surrender on the concept and took it to Netflix — which debuted the eight-episode series earlier this yr.
Lee also launched “Dinner Budget Showdown,” which she co-hosts, on the Roku Channel.
The truth show challenges contestants to give you revolutionary budget-friendly cooking techniques that test their culinary skills.
Also, Lee’s “Aunt Sandy Claus” collection shall be featured during three one-hour shows she’s hosting on QVC in November.
After that, she’ll be spending Thanksgiving in Latest York together with her best friend Alexandra Stanton.
And what is going to she be making?
“I’m doing whatever Alex tells me to do,” Lee said to Fox News Digital.
Whatever it’s, it’ll likely include one in every of Lee’s favorite side dishes.
“You could have to have a great mashed potato, right?” she said.
Lee uses sour cream as a substitute of milk or buttermilk to make her mashed potatoes, “which makes it thicker,” she said.
“I prefer it slightly bit lumpy.”
However the mashed potatoes aren’t complete without the gravy, Lee identified.
“I really like gravy,” she said, saying her family refers to her because the “gravy queen.”
“Not the gravy train,” she added with amusing.
“The gravy queen. I assume I’m each in my family.”
Lee revealed how she makes her gravy.
“I prefer to do a flour and an oil roux, and I make it nice and dark,” she said.
“And I take advantage of the giblets from the turkey. Boil it in water. Simmer it for a protracted, long, long, very long time – like a day – after which let it type of sit, so that you get a very beautiful flavor in your stock that you simply make.”
Lee said she also uses the drippings from the turkey.
She prepares a cornbread stuffing with celery, green onions, Campbell’s chicken with rice soup, butter and poultry seasoning.
“I do two small birds,” she added.
“I don’t do one big one.”
She prefers the smaller 10-to-12-pound turkeys “which might be really stuffed with flavor.”
Said Lee, “Doing a giant turkey takes a protracted, long, very long time and will be hit-and-miss.”
Other favorite Thanksgiving side dishes of Lee’s include sweet potatoes (she is keen on the canned yams), green beans or steamed broccoli (she’s skipping the green bean casserole this yr) and cranberry chutney that she serves with baked brie, she said.
“So, you may double down on that recipe, which is the fresh cranberries and the orange juice and the seasoning and the sweetness,” she said.
“I also just like the pre-made canned cranberry sauce. That’s the jelly form that you simply slice and serve. A mixture of the 2 might be great. So, you slice the cranberries out after which you might put the chutney on top should you desired to.”
After Thanksgiving, Lee said she’ll be turning her attention to Christmas, her television endeavors and a visit to Latest Orleans in February to attend the Super Bowl together with her brother, who has accompanied her to each since their first together in 2011.
“We’re already making our reservations for restaurants, although neither of our teams are going obviously,” Lee said.
Sandra Lee is busy today.
With a vacation slate that features three recent specials on QVC and two recent shows, not to say her recent selection to the White House Historical Association’s national council, it’s a wonder she still has time to cook.
Fox News Digital spoke with Lee during a break in her schedule to listen to about her favorite fall foods, what she’s cooking this Thanksgiving and where she’s spending the vacations.
The 58-year-old California native is back in her home state, where she’s been recording episodes of “Blue Ribbon Baking Championship,” a recent Netflix show.
A former blue-ribbon winner herself on the LA County Fair, Lee said she crafted the concept for the series and pitched it to the Food Network (it turned her down).
But she didn’t surrender on the concept and took it to Netflix — which debuted the eight-episode series earlier this yr.
Lee also launched “Dinner Budget Showdown,” which she co-hosts, on the Roku Channel.
The truth show challenges contestants to give you revolutionary budget-friendly cooking techniques that test their culinary skills.
Also, Lee’s “Aunt Sandy Claus” collection shall be featured during three one-hour shows she’s hosting on QVC in November.
After that, she’ll be spending Thanksgiving in Latest York together with her best friend Alexandra Stanton.
And what is going to she be making?
“I’m doing whatever Alex tells me to do,” Lee said to Fox News Digital.
Whatever it’s, it’ll likely include one in every of Lee’s favorite side dishes.
“You could have to have a great mashed potato, right?” she said.
Lee uses sour cream as a substitute of milk or buttermilk to make her mashed potatoes, “which makes it thicker,” she said.
“I prefer it slightly bit lumpy.”
However the mashed potatoes aren’t complete without the gravy, Lee identified.
“I really like gravy,” she said, saying her family refers to her because the “gravy queen.”
“Not the gravy train,” she added with amusing.
“The gravy queen. I assume I’m each in my family.”
Lee revealed how she makes her gravy.
“I prefer to do a flour and an oil roux, and I make it nice and dark,” she said.
“And I take advantage of the giblets from the turkey. Boil it in water. Simmer it for a protracted, long, long, very long time – like a day – after which let it type of sit, so that you get a very beautiful flavor in your stock that you simply make.”
Lee said she also uses the drippings from the turkey.
She prepares a cornbread stuffing with celery, green onions, Campbell’s chicken with rice soup, butter and poultry seasoning.
“I do two small birds,” she added.
“I don’t do one big one.”
She prefers the smaller 10-to-12-pound turkeys “which might be really stuffed with flavor.”
Said Lee, “Doing a giant turkey takes a protracted, long, very long time and will be hit-and-miss.”
Other favorite Thanksgiving side dishes of Lee’s include sweet potatoes (she is keen on the canned yams), green beans or steamed broccoli (she’s skipping the green bean casserole this yr) and cranberry chutney that she serves with baked brie, she said.
“So, you may double down on that recipe, which is the fresh cranberries and the orange juice and the seasoning and the sweetness,” she said.
“I also just like the pre-made canned cranberry sauce. That’s the jelly form that you simply slice and serve. A mixture of the 2 might be great. So, you slice the cranberries out after which you might put the chutney on top should you desired to.”
After Thanksgiving, Lee said she’ll be turning her attention to Christmas, her television endeavors and a visit to Latest Orleans in February to attend the Super Bowl together with her brother, who has accompanied her to each since their first together in 2011.
“We’re already making our reservations for restaurants, although neither of our teams are going obviously,” Lee said.
