Watching Rachael Ray

Rachael’s friends are back again today with a ton of good do it yourself tips for wardrobe and small spaces both! Kristan Cunningham works her magic on the dressing rooms for the show, where guests always had good food, but in pretty drab rooms - not anymore! Kristan shows Rachael how some small changes make big impacts in four of the rooms! Then there’s some easy to follow tips for making the best of small spaces.

Pick a canopy bed to help create a wall, and hang a curtain behind the headboard to create division between living and bed room for tiny apartments. The second tip - furniture that does double duty. Tables that work as night stands, and can move room to room, plus shelves that you can divide the room with and access from both sides. The shelves create a divider, plus a ton of storage. Also - in a living room, choose a daybed instead of a sofa and your living room now doubles as a guest room. Sliding curtains that hang from the ceiling are a great idea too help create privacy and separate living spaces too!

Not to be outdone, Gretta is on hand to help a family with four daughters turn their hand-me-downs into new, unique articles for their new owners! Simple tips like gluing jewels and iron ons, plus feathers and beads can make all the difference and pull that dated outfit back up to modern standards.

In the kitchen, Rachael gives us some ideas for Lunchbox favorites to help the kids eat healthy instead of bartering for those sweets and chips at the lunch table! Among the ideas, Lunchbox Chicken Tender Salad, and a Lunch Fun-due! What’s for dinner? Pork Chops & Applesauce.

Don’t forget to check out the new Rachael Ray Forums and share your Lunchbox ideas!

Monday’s show got off to a rollicking start with various tuna salad recipes in the kitchen. First Rachael showed us her favorite, French tuna melt, with brie cheese melted over the top. It looked pretty darn good, actually, though I’ve never had brie myself. Must try this! Afterwards, Rachael’s friend stopped by to trade recipes – Jenna Bush! Her tuna salad includes humus and avocado on a tortilla for a tuna wrap. Eh. Whatever floats her boat, I suppose.

Talk went all over the place, from Tuna, Secret Service, if Jenna or her twin were the first first daughter, to her recent engagement. To the story of making a pumpkin pie from scratch and being beat out by a libby pie.

Jenna also talks about her book, Ana’s Story the story of a girl she met while living in Latin America and working for Unicef, and how they inspired her to tell their stories of lives lived with AIDS and in poverty, yet how they still have such a zest for life. It is not a sickness, one child told her, it is her life. Included in the book are ways for everyone to help, especially children, and Jenna urges us to let the kids trick or treat for Unicef this year.

Then, some of the cutest kids ever joined Rachael on stage, where Trey Laird from GAP announced the nation wide search for the cutest baby and kid in America for their next ad campaign. The kids totally upstaged Rachael – it was too cute! The winners will be announced on the show in January, and they are looking for entrants now! I’m so glad I don’t have to judge – those kids were SERIOUSLY cute, and I know it’d get only harder with every entrant!

And the cuteness just didn’t stop! Two year old Lily showed her geography skills and earned her family a trip to Hawaii for being the cutest smart little girl on the stage!

Then the giveaway! Oreck will donate $50 for every pink vacuum bought to fight breast cancer, and every one in the audience got one! I’ve never seen so many women excited about vacuuming – cept maybe on Oprah. Her protégée is doing well.

What’s for dinner? French Dip Soup. This one is a must try for the Lessa Household!

Monday - Jenna Bush

America’s first daughter Jenna Bush is swapping recipes with Rach, talking about her inspiring travels, and sharing the news about the man in her life and their wedding plans. Then, meet a 2-year-old who may know more about geography than you do, and watch Rach take a classic soup and sandwich meal to a whole new place.

Tuesday - New Lunchbox Ideas

Rachael has new lunchbox meals your kids will love, Gretta’s got the goods on how to make old back-to-school clothes look new, and Kristan gives our green rooms an incredible makeover! And for dinner? It’s pork chops and apple sauce.

Wednesday - Minnie Driver

How do you know when it’s time for your parents to stop driving… and then how do you tell them? See what happens when a daughter asks her mom to hand over her car keys live in our studio! Plus, Minnie Driver is hanging with Rach and singing for us, and for dinner it’s a hearty stew all the way from Sicily.

Thursday - Tina Fey

It’s the “Fey Ray” show when 30 Rock star Tina Fey comes by! She’s showing off her 2-year-old’s art, reminiscing about her SNL days, and sharing stories from her hit show. Then, is the struggle to look young getting old? Our beauty pro has five easy makeup tricks that can take years off your face. And don’t miss Rach’s recipe ideas for one of fall’s greatest treats!

Friday - Nicollette Sheridan

The sexy Desperate Housewives star is sharing the scoop on her co-stars and her life at home with fiancé Michael Bolton. Then, Lara Spencer has the latest celebrity dish, and Rachael has a classic German dish with a new twist!

Today, Lara Spenser is back with more Dish! We love the dish! From Brittany Spears, to Cate Adaire bags - she’s the designer for Desperate Housewives! They are gorgeous bags. Spendy, of course, but that’s to be expected. The Joey Junior pursemate is really clever - great for those big bags that you lose all your little things in. 24 things every woman needs in the “Shemergency kit” is too cute - and Sticks and Stones are signs made by photographs of found letters! Awesome gift ideas, and all are linked on the website! Rachael capped off the Dish segment by showing pictures of her anniversary trip with John to Italy. That blue dress she was wearing in the first one was stunning!

The Dangerous book for Boys is fantastic! I love the whole premise of it, as I’ve got a son, and the complete overkill for health and safety coupled with the couch potato gamers is something I’ve fought against for a long time. I let my boy be a boy - including a broken leg at 3, and two sets of stitches before he was four. Of course, the broken leg was because he slipped in the bathroom - but the OTHERS were totally boy-like mishaps!

In the words of the author:

Iggulden: In a word, fathers. I am one myself and I think we’ve become aware that the whole “health and safety” overprotective culture isn’t doing our sons any favors. Boys need to learn about risk. They need to fall off things occasionally, or–and this is the important bit–they’ll take worse risks on their own. If we do away with challenging playgrounds and cancel school trips for fear of being sued, we don’t end up with safer boys–we end up with them walking on train tracks. In the long run, it’s not safe at all to keep our boys in the house with a Playstation. It’s not good for their health or their safety.

You only have to push a boy on a swing to see how much enjoys the thrill of danger. It’s hard-wired. Remove any opportunity to test his courage and they’ll find ways to test themselves that will be seriously dangerous for everyone around them.

The whole premise behind The Dangerous Book for Boys is that boys especially need that kind of interaction, using their imaginations to make go carts and sensor plates, and all sorts of really nifty things! The book tells them how to do all of that, and Justin Kredible puts it to the test with a bunch of gamer boys. The boys succumbed to the lure of the gocart eventually (Like there was any doubt!) and a good time was had by all. I do think, however, that girls should get the book too! Why boys should have all the fun?!

Celebrity Stylist June Ambrose stops by to tell us how to use accessories to work with your body type. Her first look was a TOTAL miss with that awful belt, but other then that, she had some pretty good tips.

What’s for dinner? Halibut with Corn Chowder gravy and Sour Cream and Chive Mashed potatoes. Oh yeah - the Knork? It matches the spork, but is a knife and a fork, instead of a spoon and a fork. *grin*

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Oh I love Potluck Thursday! Today’s choice was between two kinds of Macaroni and Cheese. Rachael Ray thought it would be close, but it was another landslide. New York Style Mac and Cheese won over Cubano Mac and Cheese, but a definite majority of the audience - I’m pretty sure it was the breadcrumbs that put her over the top. So that’s what’s for dinner tonight - the Cubano went to help feed the homeless in New York City.

Time for another episode of Who Wears it Better! This time Kimora Lee Simmons is here to judge - am I the only person on earth who doesn’t know who this woman is? And why she has her own show “life in the fab lane” on cable? And the whole run on in a bad mood and diet pills that don’t work monolog from her show? Lord have mercy, I don’t think I’d have been able to be quiet. Apparently she has a clothing line… Baby Phat… was she a model? Someone clue me in? I feel hopelessly out of touch.

Anyway, a mother/daughter pair are always fighting over who wears it better, and Kimora sides with mom, mostly because mom wears the dress with heels, and daughter wore some ugly ass silver flats. I’d have to agree with that one, though I do think the jacket was too short, or too red or something. Other pairings were best friends, and even two guys. Those two pairs, I think Kimora was right on.

Next, a visit to the World’s LONGEST Yard Sale. Now I thought that meant it’d just been going on forever - not so! It’s actually 600 miles long and crosses four states! Awesome! Kristan Cunningham checks it out and brings back some tips and treasures. Enter online to win a surprise package of some of the items she came back with!

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Today was Rachael’s first Oktoberfest show, and she went all out to transition her loud Italian ways into loud German ways with a variety of successes - and an astonishing FOUR dinners! Things get off to a rollicking start as two audience members compete in a beer stein holding contest - where one guy gave up WAY too easy. Wuss. Not even five minutes!

Heidi Klum popped in via video clip to say she will NOT yodel, but does a little anyway, and she’s never experienced Oktoberfest. Still, Heidi is always beautiful and perfect and fun to have around however briefly!

Taylor Ware, America’s Got Talent finalist, gives Rachael and the audience a yodeling lesson, and then John joins her so that Matt and Elaine from Staten Island can ATTEMPT to teach them to polka. We also checked in with Rachael’s favorite places to get German fare - including a shot of the world’s largest cuckoo clock - and Michel Nischan shows us how to make Grilled Italian Heirloom Broad Beans with Baby Leeks & Garden Salsa. What does that has to do with Oktoberfest? I have NO idea…

Rachael explained the differences between the wursts! Silly me - I thought a wurst was a wurst, but Rachael knows best - and put four different kinds into four different meals for dinner!

Knockwurst is a combination of beef and pork, and tastes most like a large juicy hot dog, and Rachael used it in a Knockwurst Stoup.

Bratwusrt is a spicier version of the knockwurst - beef, pork with more spices and used in Bratwurst Reubens.

Bauerwurst is beef and pork as well, but with a totally different flavor, very mild and surprising.

And Bockwurst is white in color, and is a combination of pork and veal. Rachael cooked that up in Veal Bockwurst in a Creamy Mustard Sauce with Smashed Potatoes and Broccolini.

Also made? German Cheese and Beer Fondue, with two types of wurst added to veges and bread for the dipping!

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Well, that’s not exactly how the show went, but for my part, AAO is certainly better then botox, or just about anything else, too! RAWR! (..dance with me? Yup, I’d ask too!)

Have to say it - Rachael’s shirt today? Not so good a pick. Cute, but could be better. Love the necklace though!

In the “Things that are better with age” category, we’ve got a couple cheap wine picks that taste good, excellent quality, that Rachael brought back from Argentina. Wine doesn’t have to be pricey, some are meant to be had when they’re young - thus costing less! Altos - Malbec, good with salty meats, etc - under $15. Pick number two, Spanish Rioja, red or white, good with spicy foods and won’t break your budget.

Today’s show started out talking about Botox, as a reader talks with Rachael and Dr. Nicholas Perricone who gives his recommendation for foods that make you look younger! Suzanne isn’t wanting to stop the aging process, she just wants to be a “good looking old lady”! Don’t we all? Dr. Perricone, of course, promotes health, and beauty from the inside out. He says that Botox can cause atrophy in the face, as the fastest way to lose muscle mass is to freeze that muscle, which is what Botox does. Short term strategy, maybe, long term, not so much. At $400 a treatment, and lasting only 2-3 months, I think increasing the muscle mass, going for health is the way to go, for sure!

Losing muscle mass makes us look older, giving us those wrinkles - do it the right way, the healthy way, without inflaming the muscles. The Notox way includes these foods: Green Olives, sardines, and guacamole. Rice cakes are out (YAY!) - rapid rise in blood sugar, spot inflammation, goes flat creates winkles look old. You get puffy, you put on weight, you wrinkle. Yuck.

I love this man “No fat diet is ruining the health of America. Low-fat diets came in with prozac for a reason. We’re all depressed.” We need fat to burn fat. Good fats - fish oil big in Omega 3s helps turn off the aging process. Guess I better lean to love the sardines… fish oils will also help muscle tone in the face - helps reshape the face! Creams and potions are positive helps for the face too.

Rachael made some surprise viewers, one who’s getting married on Rachael’s birthday, and the other who shares the same name. Wedding presents, and fun with photo-shopped magazine covers, and there’s two happy viewers!

And then, of course, APOLO ANTON ONO! RAAAAAAAWR! The Reigning Dancing with the Stars champion (Oh yeah, and he’s an Olympian medallist too!) joined Rachael on her stoop. They spoke of his fame from the show and dancing with grandma’s in diners (”You can’t say no to grandma!”), and his favorite picks for this season. He’s pulling for his buddy, who happens to be paired with his partner from last year, Julienne and race car driver Helio Castroneves.

Last but not least - what’s for dinner, straight from Tasty Travels in Argentina: Bife De Chorizo with hearts of Palm Salad, Criolla Sauce, Green Olive Chimichurri Sauce, Herb Chimichurri Sauce, Ciabatta with Tomato & Serrano Ham.

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Another jam-packed show today, folks! We got started right away in the kitchen, where Rachael got started on our first Double Duty Dinner for season two! Two ground turkey stuffing meatloaves, the first with potatoes and gravy, the second rolled over into an enchil-lazagna! While the meatloaves were cooking, we moved right on into our first guest, Emily Procter from CSI: Miami!

Among her talents, six seasons of CSI has made Emily into an action hero! She can shoot a compound bow, a spear gun, any firearm - and? She can do the 50 yard dash in high heels! All of that, and Emily is an active supporter of Purina’s ProPlan Rally to Rescue, a program aimed at promoting animal rescue and adoption across the country.

To go along with the Double Duty theme, Deanna joined Rachael to show how her family makes their waffle maker do Double Duty! Omlets, Burgers, quesadillas - nothing’s sacred! George Forman has got NOTHING on Deanna and her waffle maker!

Then, our favorite Doctor Brantley gives up some food fixes, with five wonder foods that will help (but not COMPLETELY cancel out!) us feel better about falling off the food wagon.

1. Potassium-rich foods like avocado can counteract the effects of salty foods - tomatoes are good too, as they have a done of fiber and potassium and are great for the skin. Chips and guacamole anyone?

2. Before eating high sugar foods, eat good fats and proteins - almonds and salmon. It slows down the release of sugars, and you don’t have the rollercoaster effect. Salmon oil is also excellent for your heart - almonds build brains and bones.

3. High fiber foods like black beans help the body digest greasy foods. 1 cup of Black beans gives 15 grams of fiber, and we need at least 35 grams a day to keep the intestinal track healthy. It’ll help what went in, go right on back out.

And an Alcohol tip - if you want to slow down the absorption and reduce the cravings, eat more protein before you drink.

Don’t forget to check THIS out!

Though it’s a couple days after it was promised, the new design at RachaelRay.com is up and live! It’s clean and fresh without losing any of the easy access goodies! Be sure to wander over, and sign up for the newsletters, get travel and restaurant suggestions, learn to cook with kids, submit your own recipes and talk with Rach’s friends!

All that AND at long last - the message boards are finally open! Join the RRClub today and chat with fans from all over the US!

CSI: Miami’s Emily Procter

Sexy star Emily Procter shares the behind-the-scenes gossip from CSI: Miami including her latest love interests and the cast’s off-camera pranks. Then, Dr. Brantley reveals the five wonder foods that can actually counteract your guilty pleasures, viewers share their double-duty secrets, and Rachael’s got two meals in one!

Better Than Botox

Dancing with the Stars champ Apolo Anton Ohno is sharing his favorites for the new season and his secret plan for the next Olympics! Then, anti-aging expert Dr. Perricone reveals the three foods he claims are better than Botox, and Rach has a hearty and healthy meal straight from Argentina.

Oktoberfest

It’s our first-ever Oktoberfest in New York City! Heidi Klum is yodeling, Rach and John are polka dancing, and get the best of the “wurst” with sausage four different ways!

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Kimora Lee Simmons

It’s mother vs. daughter in a real-life “Who Wears It Better?” challenge with the always chic Kimora Lee Simmons settling the score. Then, when Kristan Cunningham hits the world’s longest yard sale, she shares her tips for finding the ultimate bargains. And what’s better than a mouth-watering recipe for mac & cheese? Two of ‘em!

Couch Potato Kids

Can’t pry your kids away from their video games? Want to inspire them to enjoy the great outdoors? Justin Kredible is putting the best-selling Dangerous Book for Boys to the test! Then, are your accessories making you look fabulous or fat? Our stylist to the stars reveals how to get the best out of your body, and Lara Spencer has the latest celeb dish.