Ina Garten Quotes

I like almonds as a snack - keeps your energy up but doesn't fill you up.

Anyone who tries to make brownies without butter should be arrested.

Grilled cheese and tomato soup is the ultimate comfort meal.

Creme Brulee is the ultimate 'guy' dessert. Make it and he'll follow you anywhere.

People have more fun if they don't eat so much they have to be taken home in an ambulance.

You can be miserable before you have a cookie and you can be miserable after you eat a cookie but you can't be miserable while you are eating a cookie.

Fun is the most important. If you do stuff for money, it never works out.

Food is not about impressing people. It's about making them feel comfortable.

Every once in a while, a cookbook comes along that simply knocks me out.

Instead of going out to dinner, buy good food. Cooking at home shows such affection. In a bad economy, it's more important to make yourself feel good.

I try to greet my friends with a drink in my hand, a warm smile on my face, and great music in the background, because that's what gets a dinner party off to a fun start.

If you think about a Thanksgiving dinner, it's really like making a large chicken.

One of the great gifts that you can give people is to cook for them.

Never let 'em see you sweat. Guests feel guilty if they think you've worked too hard to make dinner for them - which of course you have!

I've taught myself how to use good, fresh ingredients and to prepare them as simply as possible by cooking only to enhance their intrinsic flavors.

When I wrote 'Barefoot in Paris,' I wanted to make simple recipes that you could make at home that tasted like French classics.

The most overrated tool: a pasta maker. Why make it when you can buy it? It's a lot of work!

My extravagance is my garden - it's the first thing I look at every morning when I wake up. It gives me so much pleasure.

I absolutely adore Thanksgiving. It's the only holiday I insist on making myself.

I've lived in the Hamptons since 1978, when I first bought my store Barefoot Contessa.

I love Alton Brown's show 'Good Eats,' about the chemistry of food. It's really thoughtful.

You don't have to do everything from scratch. Nobody wants to make puff pastry!

I don't like sitting at a table that's too large, where everyone is too far apart. That's a party killer.

All my life I dreamed of an apartment in Paris where I could cook, and now I have one, on the Left Bank.

I love to take something ordinary and make it really special.

I use other cookbooks for inspiration. I must say I tend to cook from my own cookbooks for parties.

When I thought my professional career was over, it hadn't even started yet.

I measure everything, because I always think that if I've spent so much time making sure this recipe was exactly the way I want it, why would I want to throw things into a pot?

The planning is everything. Deciding which dishes you're going to prepare can turn into the make-or-break decision five days later, when you actually serve the meal.

I think the best shortcut is to choose really simple recipes. Because I think you can make simple recipes that are as delicious as complicated ones.

I time everything. I'm a scientist at heart.

I always like to have flowers on the table. I think they make it look special.

I get up every day, do the best that I can do, and go home and have a good time.

It's so important that you don't put the stuffing in the bird, where in order for the stuffing to get cooked you have to overcook the turkey. It's better to do it on the side.