Thursday, July 2, 2009

Hot Fun in the Summertime!

That's what it is ... plenty of hot fun in the Food Network kitchens this summer. I just began the pre-production stages for my next 13 shows and these debut this coming winter, so although sorbet and gazpacho sound refreshing ... I'm dining on soup and roasts these days. Pretty heavy and calorie laden. I don't mind because although I love to dine out on seasonal fare, there are plenty of times I find myself making a very heavy meal during the summer or a light meal when it's freezing outside. What gets a bit tricky is finding winter ingredients during the summer. Blood oranges in July?? Hard to come by ... people willing to eat hot soup in June/July?? Not so much. So, I work on what I can ... Here's a bird's eye view of my first day back in the kitchens with my culinary team.

We are still in compost-mode and I am loving it! Makes me feel not so bad about not doing it at home yet. I said yet :-). Check the remains in the blurry bowl and then the rest is kinda top-secret-like teeheehee. Not really, but a hint? I've named the episode that this recipe is in "Easy Peasy". Boy was it good and comforting and I can't wait to share the recipe with ya. Ok, this is just the start. More pics are on the way from recipe testing. I'm off to the Essence Festival in my old stompin' grounds of New Orleans this weekend. First stop, Mother's Restaurant. Boy, do I miss this place! I used to visit regularly when I lived there and hated when city events happened because tourists would make the already long lines longer and now ... here I am about to be one of those tourists. Hope it lives up to the memory!

4 comments:

Jay said...

Hey Sunny,

First time commenter here. I've just got done with a Cooking For Real Marathon (Series Recording=LOVE) and I'm definitely making the Breakfast Fajitas. Thanx for the recipe. And I always love a good bowl of Chili in say...August,lol. Can't wait for the new shows (Easy Peasy eh? I'm thinking Pea themed?)...have a safe trip to Nawlins.

P.S. That pretzel and chocolate pudding dish is to DIE FOR :)

JOYCE COLON said...

Hey Sunny, I can so relate to you. I am an ex military wife and am a very adventurous person. I am Puerto Rican and was raised around many different cultures. I love cooking ethnic foods and putting my own spin on them. I enjoy watching you because you remind me of me cooking. Thanks for sharing....Joyce Colon

Mary | Deep South Dish said...

Looks like split pea to me!

Sherri Shepherd from The View was tweeting about being in New Orleans and talking about all these different entertainers - now I know why! She was making fun that John Legend was in all leather in this heat and humidity, and I know you remember what it is like in this kind of humidity!! How could one forget that!

Enjoy Mother's - hope it's not too crowded!

Sunny Anderson said...

jay, thanks so much for watching and dvr-ing meee! i know how much space that can take up in a hard drive! glad you found the blog as well. and omg, i've had about a thousand hot bowls of soup this summer planning for the winter shows lol! so glad you like the pretzels! they are soooo good. i saw a review of the recipe on the website and some said they were black and yucky ... i'm thinking, maybe they need to check their oven or timer, because omg .. they are good and i can't take credit. that' my mom's thing. she used them in so many desserts. i have another one on the way using pretzels ... hope you like it!!! jay, thanks so much for the support! i can't do it all by myself.

joyce colon, hey former military spouse!!! congrats on doing one of the toughest things ever ... being the support of a military fam. i hope you got to travel plenty! thanks for catching the shows and i'm so glad you see some of yourself in me and vice versa ... i just love to eat, so i feed my addiction by cooking. :-)

mary at my new 30, girl, it was 90 degrees at 2am this morning. no joke ... and a humid one. john legend was alllll leathered out, i took pics, gonna post some up today i think... and mother's ... omg.u have no idea. there was a line i tackled, but i'll explain the real mother's dilemma in my post ... happy 4th!!!