Sandra Drops the Ball... Again

This week's cookbook is Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade 20 Minute Meals. I'm not really a big fan of Sandra, and honestly didn't realize I had this cookbook. I found it shoved to the very bottom of my stack of cookbooks... where did you come from?

So I thought I'd give her a shot and I made Spicy Peanut Noodles and Five-Spice Eggplant. The results:

I ran into some troubles with the noodles. The recipe calls for soba noodles and I honestly couldn't find them anywhere. So, I used egg noodles... because they are also sold in the asian food section... and I have a whole bag in my kitchen. I was also supposed to use Thai seasoning, but couldn't find it anywhere. Penzey's, who sells nothing but spices, didn't even have Thai seasoning. The nice lady suggested I use lemon grass instead. I think it was the lemon grass that gave this dish a funky wang. Plus it definitely could have used some chicken in there. Other than that, not awful.

The eggplant was another story. I bought the Five Spice from Penzey's, but I just don't think it was my cup of tea. The recipe was really just roasted eggplant with seasoning sprinkled on top. It doesn't hold a candle to eggplant my favorite way: parmesan! I guess everything is better fried and covered in cheese! I don't know where she found her eggplant, but mine looks nothing like it!
Here's my beef with Sandra Lee; these aren't recipes. You can't really cook in 20 minutes. You need at least 30, right Rachael Ray? The noodle recipe was pretty much: cook noodles, add sauce. Eggplant: Cut eggplant, sprinkle with seasoning, roast. Duh.

I'd choose Rachael over Sandra any day of the week.