Rachael Ray

My husband James and I just had our one-year anniversary, and I’ve been reflecting on how we’ve influenced each other’s eating habits. James and I come from different sides of the diet spectrum. He is a “normal” American male, with a taste for pizza, pasta, burgers, and ice cream. I, however, am a diehard health foodie. Although these days I eat meat in moderation, at varying times in my life I have been vegan, vegetarian, macrobiotic, raw, and “pescatarian” (a vegetarian who eats fish). Talk about bringing two worlds together. . . At the start, neither of us knew how devoted the other person was to his or her eating habits. James is a working musician who plays lead guitar in [...]...

It’s not everyday that I get to meet a figure skating legend, let alone make a sandwich with one of them. A few weeks back on a blissfully beautiful summer day, I stumbled across Brian Boitano who helped me pull together a rockin’ romantic picnic in minutes for me and Stephen. Check out the video here: I couldn’t believe I was able to hang with a skating master, and I also couldn’t believe how incredibly delicious his food was. Apparently he can hold his own in the kitchen as well as he does on the ice. But can he do both at the same time?? Hmm, maybe that’s a challenge for another time. Brian’s Fancy Prosciutto & Green Apple Sandwich Ingredients: - 2 sesame rolls, or [...]...

Last week I conquered a big fear that I didn’t even know that I had! I conquered my fear of the trapeze, and I did it with the style and panache I have rarely seen in myself. It was one of those days when I thought to myself, you know what, “I am pretty damn cool”. We all need those days. TD Bank, my bank, and America’s Most Convenient bank “(seriously, it is). Threw this event at New York Trapeze School to promote their checking accounts. If you sign up for an account and do 8 debit card transactions and 2 bill pays and you get a FREE FLIP CAMERA. Not too shabby. So I went to the event to try out [...]...

So, it was my dear friend Deanne who called to tell me the news. For one of the very first times in my life since the 5th grade spelling B, I had won something! The Soup had nominated our crazy Halloween Ewok segment for a 2010 Soup Award (their version of the Oscars) for “Most Traumatic Today Show Moment.” The competition was stiff, but Joel McHale announced us as the winners! Woo Hoo! Problem is, I never received the award, a really nifty can. I have nothing to show for one of the proudest moments in my life, no Award Can to collect my tears of joy. And that segment wouldn’t have been half as traumatic, or a tenth as [...]...

As a rule I try to leave my kids at home or in the grocery store child care while food shopping. This makes for quicker shopping and less requests for items off my list (I live by the list). My oldest has aged out of the child care and due to a variety of other circumstances, I had my 9 year old daughter and 5 year old son with me for a big grocery shop earlier this week. I had to stock up on a lot of staples and needed to prepare for packing lunches for upcoming day camps - soooooo I needed to hit the chip, snack, and cookie aisles otherwise known as the danger zones. I am all [...]...

We all know how much Rach loves her rescued dog Isaboo, and if you have read my blog about the Chihuahua races you know how I feel about my shelter pup Baloo (or The Loo as she’s called her for short)… This is the letter Baloo wrote to President-Elect Obama encouraging him to adopt a shelter or rescue dog for his family upon moving into the White House. Baloo says feel free to copy it and forward it on. Here is Obama’s contact info. Via email you can send this important message to: http://change.gov/page/s/yourvision Or http://change.gov/page/s/yourstory Dear Barack Obama, It’s not much of an exaggeration to say the whole world is watching as your family chooses it’s newest member. Please, as you make your choice, don’t forget the [...]...

Winter is not the time for your water heater to go kaput…The other day my contractor friend, Mike, dropped by my place to borrow a couple of tools. When I opened my storage closet, I heard a gasp of horror behind me. I thought he was going to lecture me about the mess, which didn’t seem fair, as I’d cleaned it only months and months ago, so I was shocked to hear: “Is that really your hot water heater?” But not as shocked as I was when I saw what he was talking about. The poor thing was terminal. Rust spots poked right through the enamel like zits on a prepubescent Transformer, but I [...]...

I laughed out loud when I read Last Minute Lady’s post on her Italian family’s Thanksgiving. Growing up, my best friend came from a very similar family - it was just as Last Minute Lady described. I am lucky enough to come from a family in which much of the family resides in the same city. Each year, my family would have Thanksgiving “lunch” with my dad’s side (calling this meal “lunch” merely reflects the time of day - there was nothing lunch-like about this full-on Thanksgiving spread, complete with turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, squash, salad, sweet potatoes, and mincemeat and pumpkin pies with ice cream, all washed down with Manhattans by the adults - and this was merely Thanksgiving meal round one!).  [...]...

Ok so Halloween has come and gone…and this year I really tried to get out and enjoy myself more than ever. I had a mini Halloween party, because my boyfriend’s sister, Betsy, was in town, then we headed to the Halloween Parade – in my humble opinion one of New York’s finest holiday parades. I dressed as a Socialist Revolutionary, complete with 9 o’clock shadow…here’s how I accomplished it…easy as pie! Betsy happened to have had her hair cut while she was in town, 15 inches – all of which she donated to locks of love. Before we sent it out to them, I trimmed off some hair and cut it up into tiny pieces, and spread it out [...]...