Watching Rachael Ray

We start out on the couch today, where we start out with a favorite - Save vs. Splurge with Gretchen. But first - Rachael plugs her new cards from Yum-o! and Tiny Prints, which will help raise money for Yum-o!

And now it’s Save vs. Splurge, the holiday edition! It’s glamorous looks for little price. Casual looks are first - the designer version is $2040 and the other is $167. The differences are in fabric, and investment pieces, but I’m with Rachael - who would spend the 2 grand?! “It’s fashion, they’re gonna change it next year anyway!” Rachael does guess the splurge outfit, and is 1 for 1.

Next up is the cocktail look, all shiny and glittery. One is $1365, and the other is $165 - and that was including the shoes. They’re all wrong this time! They picked the cheaper one as the spludge, which makes Gretchen giddy. Rock the faux leather - people can’t tell!

Formal event gowns are next, both dresses are stunning. She reminds us to buy things that can be re-used - the dresses can be fantastic cut down to 3/4 length, with a jacket, etc. They have a lot of lives, though one was $1775, the other $497. They guess it correctly, and it’s time to move on to decorations. Christmas wreaths, Trees, table settings, and so much more. Check it out here!

We’re in the kitchen early today, to start the double duty dinner - Briased (chuck) Roast Beef, and Beef and Barley Stoup with Fontina Grilled Cheese. A taste tester gets to try out the braised Roast beef, an gets all bigeyed and thrilled and chows down. Heh.

Before we see how to make it all, though, it’s time for an iCarly Christmas! Miranda Cosgrove has two Christmas specials coming up in the next weeks. HEY! She was the bandmanager in Jack Black’s School of Rock! I didn’t know that! But first off, she has an iCarly Christmas, wishing her brother was normal, and it turns out she doesn’t like it so much. The other is Merry Christmas Drake and Josh, which airs this week, where they try to help some foster kids, and her job is to keep the parole officer off their back. Ha!

She says she’s a horrible cook, but her mom is awesome so maybe she’ll start taking some lessons. Her family isn’t one that puts up the Christmas tree weeks ahead of time - but maybe a week. She loves the Christmas carols, but sings them wrong.

Its hard to believe she’s only 15, she’s been on tv for so long. She says Drake and Josh are her psuedo brothers, as she’s an only child, and they ask her who she’s dating and grill the boys she locks and such. They talk again about School of Rock - and apparently there’s going to be a School of Rock 2, and she did start playing guitar because of her roll with Jack Black. Check out the giveaway button for your chance at the first season of iCarly.

After a Double-Duty holiday tips, and then it’s back into the kitchen to finish off what’s for dinner.