In 2007 MacLeod was satirized by Liberal strategist Warren Kinsella when she was mockingly portrayed in a spoofed picture suggesting she would rather be at home baking cookies than attending a political event with then PC Leader John Tory. Kinsella later removed the posting and apologized to MacLeod. Following the incident MacLeod wrote a cookbook called "I'd Rather Be Baking Cookies: A Collection of Recipes from Lisa MacLeod and Friends". MacLeod said, "Why not play off that experience, make a cookbook and poke fun at the absurdity of it?" The money raised from the sale of the cookbooks went to her election campaign. In 2019, Kinsella told "Globe and Mail" described her as the sister he never had.