Seventy percent store-bought, ready-made plus 30 percent fresh allows you to take 100 percent of the credit.

My audience knows me, and I wear beautiful clothes as a badge of honor. They remember where I came from.

I'm not sure that some of the food purists are in touch with what really goes on in American households.

I'm the only girl on The Food Network who grills - I have two bestselling grilling books. I try to really focus on what men and women can do outside together out on the grill. I think it's really fun to have men and women out there together, having fun, working and enjoying themselves.

Give yourself permission to get the most out of your life. If you're spending all your time scrubbing corners with a toothbrush, you're kind of missing the point. Taking shortcuts doesn't mean shortcutting the end result.

As a kid, I thought John Denver was the perfect Prince Charming.

Baking is how you start kids at cooking in the kitchen. It's fun whether it's baking bread or cookies. With baking, you have to be exact when it comes to ingredients.