I was a bit harsh on the first season of 10 Dollar Dinners… if by harsh I mean “really annoyed by the $10 concept that isn’t real.” So, with the second season, I decided to give it a second look. On initial viewing, I’d have to assume that the first season was enjoyed immensely by the suburban mom demo. The new set is gloriously suburban, featuring a giant living room with a picture window looking out in to a neighborhood with the occasional car going by, an enormous pantry set nine miles from the stove, three or four different cutting boards, and a kids’ playroom behind the kitchen. The general layout of the kitchen is the same but thankfully gone are the bathroom blue tiles in the background.
I originally thought they were going to go for a full on Robin Miller vibe with her, but they seem to have drawn back from that. She still is sticking with the straight up $10 for an appetizer, entree, and dessert. The set is Robin Miller but the cooking is Sandra Lee. I have no idea where they’re filming it, so it’s not going to keep me up at nights.
My singular complaint with this show remains the same. The $10 concept is nonsense. One of her recipes uses “a touch of white wine” which she, of course, has waiting in the refrigerator. It also uses Kalamata olives which, as mentioned in the first post, go for over $10/lb. She always has the handy open bottle of wine or half full box of chicken stock to fill out her recipes. I understand that they’re always half-opened to further the whole “use what you have laying around” mood of the show, but I also find it frustrating that all these meals are “under $10” only if the viewer goes out one day and spends $200 on ingredients. Balsamic vinegar, for instance, is at least $10 itself. Within the first two episodes of the second season, she’s already hedging her bets with things like “well, this pork shoulder is really cheap as long as you find it on sale” or “these bell peppers ($2.99/lb) or heavy cream ($3.49/pt) can be great if you find them on sale.”
The worst offender, I think, is probably this recipe for tuna bread salad. She specifically says to use a “specialty Italian tuna packed in oil” and balsamic vinegar, then makes the stunning revelation that she’s built the salad for “about $5.” The specialty tuna itself is probably more than five bucks. When she says it’s only “pennies more”, I suppose it’s technically true because 250 or 300 is, in fact, some number of pennies more. She then exclaims that she can’t even believe that price. There’s a reason.
And I suppose there’s something to be said for her ability to talk about penny-pinching in one breath and then reminding everyone of her years living in Paris (you know, the most expensive city in the damn world) or her husband’s excursions to West Africa in the next but, as Alton Brown says, that’s another show.
