Valerie's Home Cooking - General Discussion

[Meredith Quill]

A place to discuss particular episodes, arcs and moments from the show's run. Please remember this isn't a complete catch-all topic -- check out the forum for character topics and other places for show-related talk.

[Vixenstud]

Been a Valerie fan since ODAAT/TV Movies of the Week, so really enjoying the show.

 

The quiche in the first eppy looked really good, I'm sure she will make her famous gumbo or lasagna in future eppies.

 

Her hubby Tom is a hottie!

[pandora spocks]

Been a Valerie fan since ODAAT/TV Movies of the Week, so really enjoying the show.

 

The quiche in the first eppy looked really good, I'm sure she will make her famous gumbo or lasagna in future eppies.

 

Her hubby Tom is a hottie!

 

 

Valerie had an ease and lack of phoniness (take that, Ree and Giada!) that made watching her cook enjoyable. I'm looking forward to seeing another episode.  Valerie and Tom are cute together--hoping their relationship lasts.

[cooksdelight]

I looked at her menu for the next show airing Saturday: personal pizzas, kale chips, pesto sauce, lemon-blueberry cheesecake parfaits, watermelon spritz.

[LiveenLetLive]

This is a very pleasant show--the cooking is...er...'basic.' I have to ask, how in the world did 2 tiny people like Valerie and Eddie produce a giant like Wolfgang, LOL?

[cooksdelight]

I really like this show. As you say, it's basic cooking without a lot of fancy techniques or weird ingredients most people don't have access to.

[Vixenstud]

Wolfie's been husky most of his life, from previous pictures....hell, if my moms cooked like Val I'd be heftier too!

 

Great description guys concerning her cooking...basic, but easy to make and I bet it is delicious.  If I wasn't so intimidated by flour/yeast I'd try to make the homemade pizza dough.  The sneaky salad had me drooling, just substitute romaine lettuce, as that's the only lettuce I'll eat.

[Snarklepuss]

I'm warming up to this show.  I originally thought it was too simple for me but Valerie is a pleasure to watch and I have gotten a few ideas from her already.  She's a natural at a cooking program.

[Qoass]

I just saw a little piece of an episode but I'll be coming back for more.  I've loved VB from her ODAAT days onward and her joyous embrace of food and family seems refreshingly sincere.  So long, Ree Drummond-- I've got a new show to enjoy!

Edited August 24, 2015 by Qoass

[parrotlover]

I like Valerie a lot and the kinds of recipes she's doing sound wonderful - I would love to be able to watch this show but can't - Saturdays I'm always running around doing a lot of errands. Sundays at 9:30 I have church. Not everyone has a DVR and it's not on On Demand either. I really hope this show will be successful and that Food Network will move it to a different time slot. Until then, I will come here! Of course FN can show Guy Fieri's multiple shows dozens and dozens of times a week, but naturally a show I really want to see is only being aired twice a week at inconvenient times for me.

Edited August 24, 2015 by parrotlover

[Hollyhock]

Watched the first two episodes last night.  I've always thought Valerie Bertinelli seemed like a pleasant person and was interested to see her show.  Overall it's tolerable though some of the recipes seem unnecessarily complicated -- the lemon cheesecake parfait, for example.  The pizza dough demonstration was useful.

 

She clearly is following the "food network star" script of inserting a personal anecdote here, a quick kitchen tip there as she works.  A little too obvious.  And I hope she tones down the cutesy-poo; as my watching companion said, "She's acting just a bit too precious..."   Also the editing seems really choppy as we jump from skillet to a head shot to a long shot to a bowl.... compared to shows like Barefoot Contessa. 

 

In general though it's a nice addition to the line-up. 

[ariel]

So far, so good.  I’m glad she’s showing home cooks that an easy, tasty meal can be made from scratch using fresh ingredients.  No need for a lot of jarred/ bottled/processed crap .

Edited August 25, 2015 by ariel

[pandora spocks]

Of course FN can show Guy Fieri's multiple shows dozens and dozens of times a week, but naturally a show I really want to see is only being aired twice a week at inconvenient times for me.

 

It gets so tiresome to see Guy's porcupine hair when I only want to see something fresh and different.  Thank God, Valerie doesn't resort to annoying phrasing such as little guy  or ooey gooey a la Damaris Philips or sprinky dink a la Anne Burrell.  Don't get me started on Giada's nauseating overuse of yummy!

Edited August 25, 2015 by pandora spocks

[cooksdelight]

**I moved the dough discussion to Small Talk so we can discuss it there.**

[Vixenstud]

Claude Have Mercy, Cooksdelight!  Saw the finished product, I must have pizza.

[BusyOctober]

I like VB as a personality, but this show is meh.  She hasn't made anything I haven't done before.  That said, she is waaay more pleasant and relatable and watchable than Giada or Ree or whoever that farmhouse, not-Paula Dean, woman is.

[Vixenstud]

Her butter lettuce salad w/blue cheese, eggs, bacon and hazelnuts had me whimpering today, as did her pasta arribiatta(sp?)....I didn't know you could get crushed tomatoes in a box, been reading about Pomi Tomatoes all day and will have to try them for my next batch of spaghetti sauce.

 

BTW, I've been jonesing for her salsa and this is from someone who hates raw tomatoes!

[Qoass]

I was puzzled that she completed the pasta dish then let it sit while they socialized and then had the salad.  Did it need time to "rest"?  Something like lasagne benefits from a delay but other recipes will just get cold and soggy.

 

I just put her cookbook on hold at my local library.  It's from several years ago so I don't know if there will be another one featuring recipes specifically from this show.  

[Automne]

I don't know. I feel like this show is far too basic for my tastes. She's bragging about making homemade bread for a "last-minute" dinner with company on today's show, but it was a quick bread. Nothing that involved yeast, proofing, or shaping.

 

And the dessert was almost laughable. It was fresh berries with a shot of limoncello (which is apparently an "unexpected twist," as if she didn't pour a shot of crème de menthe on top of ice cream a couple of episodes ago). Nothing against quick and simple, but even Ina Garten spruced up a bowl of berries by freezing them first and putting a homemade white chocolate sauce on top. She could have made a limoncello crème anglaise or loose curd to pour on top; it's quick and simple, but not elementary.

[cooksdelight]

Maybe her creative juices just weren't flowing today. :)

[pandora spocks]

Val's cauliflower steaks looked interesting and this is from somebody who doesn't care much about cauliflower.  I agree with Automne about the berries with limoncello, the unexpected twist.   It smacks of mediocrity.

 

Spare me from BF or other relation shopping segments.  Tom went shopping for salmon.  Blech.  Great.  Now I have to worry about whether Valerie gets her fish in time for dinner.  She did mention that the traffic was bad.  Will the BF end up in a 10 car pileup because he wanted to deliver that all-important fish?  If he's late, will she have to cook fish sticks drizzled with pesto and garnished with parsley? 

 

This is a personal quirk of mine but I always despised people traipsing in the kitchen while I do last minute preparations.  Bitch, if you show up in my kitchen, expect to pitch in and help!  The conventional trope of dinner guests oohing and aahing over the dishes gets stale so fast.  What ever happened to cooking shows where the hosts simply cooked?

[Snarklepuss]

Hubbie and I are wondering if she hasn't already run out of creative ideas because we've found her last two episodes underwhelming.  I liked the cauliflower ideas because I'm always looking for more simple and creative ways to serve veggies,  but everything else is becoming the kind of stuff I either don't need or want a show to tell me how to do.  Low fat mayo?  You have to really search to find that vile stuff at the supermarket.  And I'm tired of the constant dinner guests already.  The show is becoming more about them than the food.  The fake conversation.....ugh.

[pandora spocks]

And I'm tired of the constant dinner guests already.  The show is becoming more about them than the food.  The fake conversation.....ugh.

 

There was one of her friends from the "book club" whom I wanted to slap senseless (a blonde with glasses).  She seemed to be aspiring for open mike night at Zany's. 

 

Valerie:  This salad has bacon in it.

Bitch Guest:  Well, bacon's my middle name!

 

My sides are still hurting from laughing so hard at her bon mots.  *eye roll* If I had this woman for a friend, I'd be on trial for murder because I was ready to throttle her after five minutes.  Cutesy-poo is okay when you're five, not when you're 55.

 

I realized that Valerie made biscotti (labor intensive) but the deal with pouring hot espresso over ice cream seems underwhelming.  Ina Garten has also done this.  The notion of being pressured to finish dessert before the ice cream melts sucks all the fun out of it.  Personally, I would prefer biscotti served with ice cream minus the espresso.

[Vixenstud]

The point of the show is for her to cook for her family and friends....I don't mind them but, you know the rest, lol.

 

The one where she made three different deviled eggs were freaky....one with carrots, one with capers and one with ginger.

 

 

[cooksdelight]

Ginger and egg just don't go together for me personally. Capers.... maybe. But I tend to stick to my granny's recipe that has a little pickle relish in it.

[pandora spocks]

The point of the show is for her to cook for her family and friends....I don't mind them but, you know the rest, lol

 

I missed the good ole days when cooking shows didn't have a storyline.  I never remembered Julia Child having to cook for her book club or family football game.  She merely cooked while we watched in amazement. 

[cooksdelight]

Julia Child was a classicly trained cook. Valerie is.... an actress who likes to cook.

If you've got the wild talent, you don't need props or stories. If you are basically a decent cook and your family likes your food... and you've got good camera prescence... you get a show.

I am not trying to take anything away from Valerie, as I like her and some of her recipes are fun. Just like I like Rachael, Ina, Bobby Flay, etc.

The more flash there is on the screen, the less there is in the pan.

[DuckyinKy]

New season yesterday - is that the same kitchen? 

I love it when these actors/actresses say "people come to my house because I cook all the time." No, people come to your house because you're a celebrity - they tolerate your cooking. 

[Qoass]

It's definitely a new or vastly renovated cooking space.  The oven used to be on the other wall.

 

And if someone was willing to entertain me with home cooked meals, I'd be there every time (but certainly not if it was on camera!).

[Treehugger]

Valerie appeared on The Chew today and made sure to get in a lot of plugs for her show.  She's such a delight that the selling was fine.  I wish that I could do a better job of remembering to catch Valerie on FN, and I agree with all of you that we need more Valerie and less Guy.

[peacheslatour]

^^^^Less Ree Drummond too, although she isn't as ubiquitous as Guy.  I was watching Valerie and thinking about how young and fresh she comes off compared to Ree, which I thought would not be hard to do since she is so much younger.  Nope, Valerie is nine years older than Ree.  Huh.

[Snarklepuss]

It's definitely a new or vastly renovated cooking space.  The oven used to be on the other wall.

 

After a couple of episodes, I'm convinced it's a completely different house.  The other one had a long kitchen overlooking a golf course.  This one looks smaller and like the house is in a more populated area.

[Giselle]

Valerie's show is Pioneer Woman with fresher ingredients.

It's the same shit Food Network has been trotting out since they decided to go the entertainment route with cooking as an afterthought rather than teaching the hows, whys, ins and outs of cooking. They have become The Mickey Mouse Club. Same faces, same stories, same tired recipies with this year's trendy ingredient, same shtick year in and year out.

Valerie's show is just another episode on the "Micky Mouse Club" channel and we all know what's on the menu.

[DuckyinKy]

So today's show, she was back in the old kitchen. Everything is pretty meh though. 

[imjagain]

I have watched maybe 3 episodes of Valerie's show. I can see her being likable and yeah, her food isn't anything exciting but it is real and fresh. For the most part Valerie comes off pretty good. Except for her Christmas /holiday show. She was working my nerves big time. Even her mom looked like she was thinking have a seat dear lol. He constant harping on her mother if she liked her recipe better, the ott giggling. When her friend talked about the sausage balls taking him back, she screeches "am I now known as the sausage ball lady!?" uhm no woman he's saying obviously his own family made them when he was a kid... Duh! Then going on and on about her dad liking the Italian cookies, well of course he does, you told us your mom made them at the holidays. Oh, that's right, you wanted him to say yours were better.

Her lasagna looked good basic but good. I haven't had lasagna in forever so that really had me drooling. And I'm laying in the hospital and haven't had any real solid food in a few days, I'm sure that had something to do with the drooling.

[parrotlover]

I haven't seen many episodes of Valerie's show due to when it airs and no DVR, but I caught the Christmas episode and seriously wanted to throttle her. And for the most part I like her and she seems like a nice person. But agreed imjagain - she was working my last nerve too. I'm Italian and my mother was a great cook. She had so many amazing recipes and could do it all from Italian food to Louisiana/Southern cooking, and all the desserts in between. People who can cook well do not care for someone changing their tried and true recipes. And they especially don't want you to change the recipe then beg for compliments that what they changed is better. Everytime Valerie asked her mom if her recipe was better than her mom it was all I could do not to change the channel. Valerie seemed clueless to keep trying to get her mom to say her recipes were better.

 

Her lasagna did look really good, but I'm a traditionalist and I love my Ricotta and my mom's recipe. Valerie really needed to chill.

[Lucygirl2]

I actually liked Valerie before the cooking show & now not so much, she is constantly tooting her own horn (I don't have a better way to describe it) & I find it annoying (I feel the same way about Tiffani Theissen's show BTW). 

[anneofcleves]

I actually liked Valerie before the cooking show & now not so much, she is constantly tooting her own horn (I don't have a better way to describe it) & I find it annoying (I feel the same way about Tiffani Theissen's show BTW). 

I still like Valerie, but I think it's mostly because of my attachment to her when she was a kid on OD@AT.  She was like everyone's sister, and I cling to that memory.

 

This show just doesn't keep my attention, though, and I agree that she can come off as kind of irritating.  I'm sure she's a good cook, but I'm over the trend at FN where pretty much everyone but actual chefs get cooking shows.  I can cook as well (OK, a lot better) than the actresses, country singers, bloggers (especially the bloggers), and the competition champions.

Edited January 31, 2016 by anneofcleves

[ariel]

The last thing Wolfie needs is pudding.  I guess the good news is that Wolfie doesn't appear to share his father's  former fondness of coke.

Edited February 7, 2016 by ariel

[roughing it]

Quote

trend at FN where pretty much everyone but actual chefs get cooking shows.

I think it's because actors are already comfortable on camera, and if they can cook, it's a winning formula.  It's much harder to get a trained chef to be comfortable on camera.  (Kind of like the new "live" musicals they're producing - the first one they had Carrie Underwood in the role of Maria in The Sound of Music, and it didn't go well.  They found it's much easier to use an actor who can sing, rather than a singer who doesn't know how to act.)

Edited January 3, 2017 by roughing it

[annzeepark914]

On 1/3/2017 at 3:30 PM, roughing it said:

I think it's because actors are already comfortable on camera, and if they can cook, it's a winning formula.  It's much harder to get a trained chef to be comfortable on camera.  (Kind of like the new "live" musicals they're producing - the first one they had Carrie Underwood in the role of Maria in The Sound of Music, and it didn't go well.  They found it's much easier to use an actor who can sing, rather than a singer who doesn't know how to act.)

So why are the "judges" on NFNS so critical of the contestants?  If they prefer having actors hosting cooking shows because they're so comfortable on camera, why bother with these amateurs (who really CAN cook!)?  

[Snarklepuss]

This show annoys me because it keeps changing location.  This season it's the same as last but the decorating is different.  Plus I get tired of every show being about her umpteen thousand friends.  Not that it isn't nice that she has friends but in almost every episode?  Ugh.  And the food is just meh most of the time.  Also, someone should tell her that wearing those baggy tops only makes her look heavier.  Her hair this season looks like she wanted to go back to the 80s.  WTF?  Plus something is different about her face.  Rejuvenation procedure, perhaps?  Different makeup or lighting?

[Qoass]

I love this show and don't mind the friends setup because she doesn't repeat it every other sentence like one of her channel-mates.  As for her looks, she can't be forever 21 and she's not trying to be.

[Calibabydolly]

I noticed her face too and think it's her lips! Too pouty and full. I also think the hair looks very dated and her eyes look tight and lifted above her lids??? It's not flattering, I think she looked better last season.

[Snarklepuss]

On 3/7/2017 at 10:19 PM, Calibabydolly said:

I noticed her face too and think it's her lips! Too pouty and full. I also think the hair looks very dated and her eyes look tight and lifted above her lids??? It's not flattering, I think she looked better last season.

Thanks, I noticed all the same things.  I hate it when women plump up their lips, it just looks so off and unnatural.  Plus the 80s called and wants its Farrah Fawcett hairdo back.  I love Valerie, I do, but I liked her look better last season too.

[parrotlover]

I haven't watched the show in awhile and now my Saturday schedule has changed so I've been watching for the past few weeks. I dont know If she's had cosmetic surgery but has she gained a lot of weight? Not having seen her in awhile it looked to me like she is almost back where she was pre Jenny Craig? On today's episode she had a top that was not flattering and made her look very big so maybe that was part of the problem.. I know doing a cooking show is not conducive to losing or even maintaining weight because I'm sure there's a lot of practice testing out of recipes. I don't mean to be critical because I like Valerie and also struggle with weight so I totally understand. She always says she loves to eat and I relate to that too. It's also got to be hard to lose a lot of weight publicly and then gain it back as Oprah, Kirstie Alley, etc. did. 

Edited March 26, 2017 by parrotlover

[Westiepeach]

17 hours ago, parrotlover said:

I haven't watched the show in awhile and now my Saturday schedule has changed so I've been watching for the past few weeks. I dont know If she's had cosmetic surgery but has she gained a lot of weight? Not having seen her in awhile it looked to me like she is almost back where she was pre Jenny Craig? On today's episode she had a top that was not flattering and made her look very big so maybe that was part of the problem.. I know doing a cooking show is not conducive to losing or even maintaining weight because I'm sure there's a lot of practice testing out of recipes. I don't mean to be critical because I like Valerie and also struggle with weight so I totally understand. She always says she loves to eat and I relate to that too. It's also got to be hard to lose a lot of weight publicly and then gain it back as Oprah, Kirstie Alley, etc. did. 

I cannot fault her for that. I am a Weight Watcher failure. I was a success story, then I was a leader ... then they pissed me off ... and I showed them. So Valerie can do no wrong IMHO.

[parrotlover]

Quote

4 hours ago, Westiepeach said:

I cannot fault her for that. I am a Weight Watcher failure. I was a success story, then I was a leader ... then they pissed me off ... and I showed them. So Valerie can do no wrong IMHO.

 

Not faulting her either. I like her and the show. As I said it's hard when you love to cook and eat. And I'm currently doing Weight Watchers for the third time in my life so I totally understand how difficult it is.

[Qoass]

She's looking more and more like her mom.  There are worse things in life!

[Snarklepuss]

On 3/26/2017 at 9:31 PM, parrotlover said:

Not faulting her either. I like her and the show. As I said it's hard when you love to cook and eat. And I'm currently doing Weight Watchers for the third time in my life so I totally understand how difficult it is.

I can't fault her either.  At her/my age it's not as easy to stay slim especially if one likes to cook!  Although I do think her choice of tops only makes her look heavier.  It's the classic "What Not to Wear" mistake where women with a "midsection" issue think they're hiding it by wearing a baggy top, when in reality it only makes them look heavier.  It's tricky but possible to strike a balance and find a figure-skimming top that doesn't accentuate any bulges but also doesn't add weight.