Abstract
The purpose of this project was to determine whether 2 Food Network shows, Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee and 30-Minute Meals with Rachael Ray, provide healthful recipes that can be created in 30 minutes. The recipe content (n = 204) was coded into 2 recipe categories, entree and side dish, and then coded into meat, fish and legumes, fruits/vegetables, and grains. A Healthy Recipe Index was designed to score the recipes. A score of 10 was considered healthful. The scores ranged from -6.7 to 22. Semi-Homemade Cooking had a mean score of 3, and 30-Minute Meals with Rachael Ray had a mean score of 4. On average, all recipes were less than healthful. For a 2300-calorie-per-day diet, recipes, on average, provided excess amounts of saturated fat, sodium, and energy. The recipes on these shows can be revised with modifications to provide a healthier alternative. Thus, the Food Network could be a tool for dietitians to use to demonstrate recipe adaptation when counseling patients.