I haven’t yet been able to sit through an entire episode of Sandra Lee’s Semi-Homemade show on the Food Network. There’s something about it that gets under my skin. I’m sure she’s a great person with homemaking skills I’ll never have, but where’s her edge? Why does every show involve frilly cupcake frosting? Does she not have one gram of badass Bourdain in her at all? Well, I digress.

Her 70/30 approach—I must admit—is brilliant. Recognizing that it’s hard to throw meals and parties together from scratch in this day and age, she advocates using 70 percent ready-made products, and the rest fresh so you have more time to do other things—work out, have coffee with friends, sleep, play with your kids, whatever. Since I teach about 10 group fitness classes a week on top of my full-time job, I need all the help I can get!



Lately, I’ve been spending Sunday nights at home with dinner and a movie. One Sunday, after an especially busy weekend, we stopped at Whole Foods and picked up a whole rotisserie chicken. To go with it, we decided to roast a bunch of vegetables—sweet potatoes, broccoli, mushrooms and carrots. While it was no Zuni Café’s chicken for two over Tuscan bread salad, it hit the spot—filling and nutritious, not much clean up and plenty of time for Entourage Season Three.

P.S. For more recipes and local shops where you can find some of SF’s best ready-made food, read Jessica’s article, Semi-Homemade SF.