DVD Review: Meals on DVD: Shop, Watch, Cook!

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While most average cooks are content to follow a recipe and create a limitless array of healthy, fresh meals; the process is not without its problems. Some recipes can be hard to follow, missing key ingredients or lack important detail altogether.

For those of you content to heat boxes of heavily processed foods in the microwave or emptying cans into pots, the process of preparing fresh meals can seem rather daunting. With life in the fast lane; fresh, hot prepared meals are becoming a thing of the past.

Now thanks to Food TV and Sony Pidctures Home Entertainment, you can get the best of both worlds. They are releasing 12 wonderful DVD’s full of delectable recipes and demonstrations selectively edited from your favorite Food TV shows ready to buy at your local grocery store. The ingredients are conveniently listed on the back so you’ll be fully prepared to start the culinary masterpiece listed by host or theme.

It’s a feast for your eyes as well as your soul. Featuring popular Food TV chefs such as Alton Brown, Giada De Laurentis, Michael Chiarello, Paula Deen, Rachael Ray and Ina Garten among many others; the DVD’s provide easy to follow directions with text screen recaps and ingredient lists. No TV in your kitchen? Fear not. There are even printable versions on the dvd’s for such an eventuality but at least you’ll remember how the bubbles should look like on the red wine reduction in the Blue cheese vinaigrette and how exactly to layer the ingredients for the lasagna rolls. The direction and camera work is so perfect and detailed that you can almost smell the cinnamon on the doughnut rolls.

Most of the recipes are simple, quick to prepare and very well chosen. They vary from the healthy to “heart attack on a plate”. Southern chef Paula Deen lays on the fat and calories on pretty thick. While cooking her Swiss steak she mentions she’s going to add the butter “just ‘cause I saw the butter sitting back here. Can’t resist it.” Okay so she doesn’t spare the fat and calories nor does she spare the butter in her Peach Cobbler or cans of soup in her creamy Macaroni and Cheese slow cooker recipes but she is entertaining and like all the chefs take you step by step through the recipes to a perfect finish line. There are also helpful tips for seasoned chefs such as freezing blue cheese in order to make it easier to grate on salads.

All the discs have a theme. There’s the Slow Cookin’, the Elegant Entertaining with full course meal of “Loin of Pork with Fennel”, “Salad with Blue Cheese Port Wine vinaigrette”, “Banana Chocolate Hazelnut Crepes”, “Pea Whipped Potatoes” and “Chive Biscuits.”. Pastas From Giada present simple pastas anyone can prepare such as “Lasagna rolls” and delectable “Italian Doughnuts” which can be made with prepared pizza dough.

Regardless of how well you cook, the Meals on DVD: Shop, Watch, Cook! DVDs will have you cooking like a pro in no time. Do you want to make more friends? Be sure to check out these wonderful titles and impress your friends with your new found culinary skills.

The discs come with full ingredient list and retail for a suggested list price of $7.99 each. They are be available in grocery stores now.


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