Spotlight On Sandra Lee.  The Queen of The Food Network

Photography by Joe Schildhorn for PATRICK MCMULLAN COMPANY

Food Network personality Sandra Lee is having lunch with us long distance-style. En route to the Wine and Food Festival in Cleveland, she eats a quick bite (yes, America, she eats!) of spaghetti and meatballs with some Italian bread before heading to the airport. While I sit in my Long Island office drinking my third cup of coffee of the day, I listen intently to the story Lee is about to tell me and the rest of The Boulevard readers – a story that, she says, she has never told anyone before.

 In May, Lee was in Wisconsin to get an honorary degree from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse—the first one the school has given out in its 100-year history. She went out to lunch with her former high school guidance counselor, Karen, whom she had not seen in close to 30 years. During lunch, Karen looked Sandra in the eye and said, “Sandy, honey … you know there are some girls who walk in your office and they have a sparkle in their eye and a skip in their step and you just know that they are going to go somewhere and that they are going to go far?” “Yes,” responded Lee enthusiastically. “I don’t get it,” said the counselor. “That was so not you. You wanted to be like wallpaper. You wanted to fade into the background and you didn’t want anybody to know who you were.”

The comment, remembers Lee, almost made her fall on the floor. “She was so sweet and innocent when she said that, too … like ‘Honey, I just don’t get it.’ I literally laughed out loud.”

Lee, in fact, is just full of surprises. Beyond the beauty is one smart lady.

Since 2003, she has hosted her own Food Network television series, Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee. Unlike other cooking programs that show viewers how to prepare dishes the traditional “from scratch,” way, Lee’s show is based on her trademark 70/30 philosophy that combines 70 percent ready-made products with 30 percent fresh touches. The idea for the show, she says, came from a cookbook she had written. “The Food Network came to me and asked me if I wanted to bring the cookbook to life in television. I certainly wasn’t shopping a television show,” she says. Her show became an overnight success and one of the highest-rated show launches in the network’s history. In 2008, Lee celebrated the 200th episode of Semi-Homemade. In May, she launched a second Food Network series, Sandra’s Money Saving Meals. The premise of the show is to save viewers 39 to 50 percent on every grocery bill.  And in the fall, Lee became the first crossover talent on the Scripps Network, with HGTV’s Sandra Lee Celebrates, a show that focuses on Lee’s gardening, decorating and entertaining skills.

Like media powerhouses Oprah Winfrey, Martha Stewart and Rachel Ray, Lee has her own multimedia enterprise.  In between filming, Lee runs her own company – SLSH (Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade) Enterprises and is editor in chief of Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade magazine. She also has written 20 books, many of which have been on The New York Times bestseller list – including a memoir, Made From Scratch. In the fall, she started her own imprint, SL Books, which released three new titles:  Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade Weeknight Wonders, Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade Cocktail Time and Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade Money Saving Slow Cooking.

Lee started the imprint when she joined forces with her publishers – Meredith Publishing (the publisher of her first 17 books) and Wiley Publishing, her publisher and distribution partner, to create a hybrid imprint brand that would allow her full editorial control, creative direction and content creation. Currently, the Food Network star is working on her next four books, slated for release throughout 2010. The first will be a home and garden how-to collection.

With all her fame and fortune, Lee remains very friendly and down-to-earth. “I am just like everybody else … trying to get it done … trying to make it happen and trying to be smart.”

Ten years before she became a star on the Food Network, Lee was already a successful entrepreneur. She had invented a line of patented home, garden and craft products that she sold to Target, Wal-Mart, QVC-USA, Michaels - The Arts & Crafts Store and Lillian Vernon, among other retailers. Lee was generating revenue in the tens of millions and was on fire. Kurtain Kraft was her first invention – a wire rack with fabric attached to it that she originally created for her apartment when she was living in California. Floral Kraft followed and an at-home garden line called Growing Garden. Her product lines were so successful that she was asked to anchor the on-air launch of the home, garden and craft categories for QVC-United Kingdom and QVC-Germany. “When I started my own company, QVC did not want the company spokesperson, Florence Henderson – they wanted the product inventor on camera. At the time I was 26 and felt I looked too young. I didn’t think that anyone would believe I did this. They really taught me how to be on television.”

The success also motivated her to produce the first Do-It Yourself home improvement video series, which sold over a million copies in its debut.  Her product lines – she has invented 157 products to date – have garnered numerous industry awards. Her cooking endeavors soon followed with Lee attending one of the world’s leading culinary art institutes, Le Cordon Bleu. She learned how to apply her Semi-Homemade philosophy and shortcuts to gourmet recipes that viewers can do at home in less time and at a fraction of the cost.

As a young girl, Lee had always enjoyed doing crafts, whether it was as a hobby or to earn extra money. “I was never a relaxed kind of kid. I was always doing, making or taking care of whatever needed to get done.”

Today, she encourages others to be creative whether they are in their kitchen, their garden or their home. “My job is to make your life easier and then figure out how to communicate that so it is palatable and doable. It is not just cooking, decorating and gardening. A lot of it is crafting and being creative. It is about dreaming about something that never existed that all of a sudden is there.”

One of the most rewarding parts of her job, she says, is having foresight. “I am good at anticipating what is to come – focusing on areas where people aren’t thinking yet and making things happen that are timely and meaningful. Money Saving Meals is a perfect example. Kurtain Kraft was another example and so was Semi-Homemade. “

Lee believes one needs to be fearless, smart and have conviction in order to pursue their dreams. A spiritual person, Lee is grateful for all her good fortune and says she often goes to St. Patrick’s Cathedral to light candles. “I have a lot of faith and spend a lot of time praying. There is no way I can possibly do this on my own. Sometimes I just look up and say, ‘Please … please.’”

 Lee has reason to be thankful, particularly since the early days of her life weren’t so easy. Born in Santa Monica, California, Lee relocated to Washington State when she was 6 years old. At 16, she moved to Wisconsin and at 22 settled down with her aunt and uncle in Los Angeles. Growing up, her family was on welfare and food stamps. Her father lived out-of-state and her mother was sick, so Lee took on the role of caretaker to her four younger siblings. The experience, she says, made her more mature and capable and helped her become the person she is today. “I would never be able to handle what I handle if not for that upbringing. I would never have the capacity for this volume because what I do is volume. Between the three television shows, all the books, the magazines and then my own life … that is just volume.  I always said I was never going to let my life live me; I was going to live it. And I am. I am riding my life as if it were a beautiful stallion.”

When she is not working, Lee donates a good deal of her time to charity and philanthropic organizations. She is the spokesperson for Share Our Strength and is the face of their Great American Bake Sale and their Operation Frontline Classroom initiative, two programs focused on ending childhood hunger in America. “Our food banks are suffering because of the economy. People are not giving and more people are in need than ever before,” says Lee, who encourages the public to donate canned items and boxed food that are not perishable. “You don’t have to go shopping. If you have five cake mixes at home, pull out one and donate it.”

 Lee has had numerous honors bestowed upon her, including the President’s Volunteer Service Award for her involvement with charitable organizations and the Ellis Island Medal of Honor by the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate for contributions made to society.

 One of the people who influenced her along the way was her Grandma Lorraine. “She was a good person. She spent her whole life running community service [and] giving back while being really present with us and paying attention.” Other women she admired and feels a connection to were the sitcom mothers of her day:  Carol Brady (The Brady Bunch) and Samantha Stevens (Bewitched).

“The women of the Food Network have become like those women to the new, younger viewing generation,” says Lee, who is so passionate about helping her viewers simplify their lives that she wouldn’t mind if her fans call her “Aunt Sandy,” or “Auntie Sandy,” as her nieces and nephews like to call her.  “Kids are watching the Food Network. They are crazy for it. Little kids know they can watch me in the afternoon and they can go into the pantry and make themselves a beautiful little snack or early supper and be okay. To them, I am Samantha Stevens of Bewitched.”

 Another role she relishes is being a semi-homemade mom to the children of her boyfriend, New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who has three daughters. “I am really happy to say that my sweetheart and I spend a ton of time in our house with the kids, just being normal,” she says. “We absolutely make family time. It is important. We have the kids 50 percent of the time. We enjoy them and we enjoy doing things for them.”

 For the holidays, Lee is looking forward to settling into her new home in Westchester (earlier this year she moved from Los Angeles to New York State, permanently). So far, she has no travel plans. No book signings to attend. And no plans (yet) to appear as a guest on national television demonstrating how to whip up a festive treat, semi-homemade style. She just wants to be Sandy. “ I just want to stay home and do nothing,” she laughs.     Sandra, for some reason we are not convinced that will last too long…

Sandra Lee’s Apple-Pecan Bread Pudding

PAM canola oil cooking spray
116-ounce loaf cinnamon bread, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 21-ounce can apple pie filling
1½ cups chopped pecans
112-ounce can evaporated milk
1½ cups heavy cream
¾ cup Egg Beaters
¾ cup packed brown sugar
½ teaspoon ground allspice
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons butter, cut into tiny pieces
¾ cup caramel topping
2 tablespoons bourbon
Whipped dessert topping, thawed (optional)

Coat 5-quart slow cooker with cooking spray. In large bowl, stir bread, pie filling and pecans until combined.
In medium bowl, whisk together evaporated milk, cream, Egg Beaters, brown sugar, allspice and salt until combined. Pour over bread mixture and stir gently until bread is saturated. Pour into slow cooker and dot with butter.
Cover and cook on low heat for three to four hours.
In small microwave-safe bowl, stir together caramel topping and bourbon. Cover and microwave on high (100 percent power) for 1 to 2 minutes or until warm. Serve bread pudding topped with caramel-bourbon sauce and whipped topping (optional).

Yields 6 servings