Catch me on Paula's Best Dishes today!!

After a little schedule snafu a couple of months ago .... it looks like today is the day!!! Catch me and Paula Deen on Paula's Best Dishes!! I visited the beauty that is Savannah last year and chronicled the trip here on the blog in a post called "Just Got Back from Savannah"

I can't even begin to tell you how much fun we had. I often tell the story of when she asked me to come on the show with her. Said it was going to be an episode completely to do with butter ... LOL. I was like, uhhhhh, isn't that every episode?!? LOL and then, I got clarity, not only was it gonna be butter laden, but we were gonna discuss it and make it the star. Again, that's not every episode?!? Teeheehee, just kidding. Let me tell you, I look up to Paula and when we hung out, she felt like an extra grandma. I do believe, she'd fit right into my North Carolina family. Such a spitfire and such a cook! Can't wait for you to see us together!!! A special thanks to her production team as well, they are hard at work producing The Chew!!

Paula's Best Dishes ... "Butterlicious" ... yes "Butterlicious" ... Today, Saturday @ 1030AM and Monday at 5PM!!!

Paula's Butter Braised Shrimp

Paula's Buttery Stone-Ground Grits

Paula's Sour Cream Butter Biscuits

My Compound Butter and Radishes (can't find a link or the recipe, but it's on the show)

My Butter Pecan Ice Cream

My Buttery Bananas

Tell a friend, enjoy the fun!!!

New Cooking for Real Saturday!! Carving Out Some Fun 8:30AM!

Hey there!! It's been a couple of weeks since a new Cooking for Real, but the weather is perfect for chili now so...Tomorrow (Saturday), catch a new episode I call "Carving Out Some Fun"!! This was a pretty easy menu for me to come up with. I always consider chili to be alone unless there are some kind of tortilla strips, chips or something along for the ride. So, one day I had some squash sitting around, It was cold and I felt like hooking the tortilla strips up with some easy warm flavors.

First I really beefed this chili up. It uses both ground chuck and chuck cubes! Meaty is an understatement!! I really like the texture and the chew, plus the slight sweetness and creamy texture of the squash really work here. If you are a chili person like me, this one is pretty hefty and great for foot ball watching. Pumpkin Spice is one of the things I buy and then try to use up. It's really versatile and goes well on sweet or savory dishes. So, it's in the chili aaaaaand on the tortilla chips. Don't worry, it's not an overload, but the right amount to be tasty and use up more of that spice that never seems to make it past pie.

Then, the shake. Have it loose, have it thick ... but the goal is to kill that box of sugary kiddie cereal!! Gives you permission to go buy another, eh? If you are in the Atlanta area, you have to go by Flip Burger and try the Capn Crunch Shake. It's a problem!!


Ok, here are the menu links!!

Beefy Butternut Squash Chili
Baked Pumpkin Spiced Tortilla Chips
Cereal Killer Shake


Tell a friend (we usually only share what we don't like, gossip about me and share :-). Tell a food friend)

Cooking for Real - Carving Out Some Fun - Saturday @ 830AM!!!

Stay tuned for details about the Food Network Live! event this holiday season!!

Catch me on Nate Berkus today!!

Hey there! A couple of weeks ago I got myself together and headed to the city to cook with Nate Berkus. It was my 3rd time being asked, but I finally said yes ... wanna know why? It was a chance to make something yummy and not say it was "healthy". I feel like I'm still finding healthy ways to eat and don't want to be a spokesperson for it. Last year I was asked to do a national show and discuss healthy options, the hosts were skinnier than me!! I'm thinkin can they tell me something?!?!? LOL

So, when they asked me to come on Nate's show and talk about healthy eating ... well, I declined... 3 times. Just feels silly. I love to eat and I love to cook! I'm here to be myself, not to catch all the money and all the press. I'm no nutritionist, but I LOVE to eat and cook and I do all the bad stuff in moderation, but taking health advice from me ... I'm a size 12. lol. I'm pretty average. Not the stick figure people are trying to figure out how to be. So, anyway, how cool is it when I finally decide to say I don't feel comfy talking health, but love the show that they still invite me to come on? Love Nate! He's so sweet!! The staff is really nice and they even gave me a chance to talk about working with Scope and Crest! I hope I get to go back and make something tasty again! Ok ...

Check us out today on his show, if a video is produced, I'll link or embed it here. Until then, check your listings! In NYC its on at 2pm on WNBC-4 :-) ...

I Carve a Meeeean Pumpkin...

Hey there! Did you pick up the October issue of Food Network Magazine yet? I got mine in the mail a couple of weeks ago and immediately turned to the pages showing who is where and found my pumpkin carving. Take a look ...

I've had a few people ask if I actually carved this myself. I've always loved art work and did pretty well in those courses when I was in school. Yes, I sure did :-). There was a room full of us all hacking into our pumpkins. Mine started the day before as a picture. I printed it, then shaded in the dark areas and made a stencil. Here's my starting picture ...
Then I put it over the pumpkin and secured it with tape. Then, I traced the stencil with little pricks from the tip of an Exacto-knife. Next I used carving tools to remove the blank areas of the stencil. If you look in the bottom right of this picture, you can see the finished stencil.
It's actually easier than you think! At first I just carved out the skin to recess the design into the flesh, but when I was done the finishing touch was to run the direction of the carving with the flow of the picture. So, forehead lines across and in the nose area, I followed the contour of the outline. Really helps it look good close up. Shout out to my girl Arti! If you are wondering what she's doing in the background, take a look at the blog I posted last year when we carved these, I called it Carving Out Time for Pumpkin/Burger Time...
That's after I used black ink (that was impromptu and someone went to buy it when I decided it would look better. I rolled most of the ink on, then used a brush to cover the smaller areas. Here's a close up...
Then I decided the pumpkin needed more action all the way around...
This is a long shot ...
Finally when I was done, I took it across the room for it's close up. That's Levi Brown making my pumpkin look it's best!

I did my best to stay out of the way, but knew I'd want to blog about it, so I stepped in between a few shots for a close up under all the lights. Check one side of the pumpkin you won't see in the magazine because of space ...
I took this carving idea from the movie The Shining. I've seen a few pumpkins out there with similar ideas. In the magazine it says I'm a huge movie fan, but actually I'm really a Stephen King fan. He was the first author I bought every book from without question. I've moved on now to other authors, but I love his stories. I fall asleep on a movie in the first 30 minutes if it doesn't grab me lol.

Alright, hope that solves the question of whether I actually carved it or not. Teeheehee, very flattered a couple of people have questioned if I actually did it! Halloween is on the way and I'm working on pumpkin vodka!!

NYC Wine & Food Festival 2011: Burger Bash!

Hey there ... I have a busy day and woke up a bit late from a burger coma! LOL I ended up fitting in 5 burgers, 3 milk shakes, 2 orders of tots, 1 Pepsi & 2 waters. I'm sluggish teeheehee ... Ok here are some highlights ...I ran into the some of the Scotto's again! That's Marion, John and then next to him is Marty Markowitz. Marty is the Brooklyn Borough President. He is pretty cool, every time I see him on the news, he brings great personality and represents the vibe of Brooklyn so well. He works really hard. He also called me when I moved to Brooklyn to make sure I was registered to vote in this area. Gotta love it!! Ok, then there's Rosanna and City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn. Christine is just such an advocate for the people here in NYC, looking forward to a possible mayoral run ... people are talking! Ok, I had their burger and had to get out of the way! It was busy and the blur in the next photo shows how fast her team was working to feed the crowd...
Then I headed towards another area and kept hearing about some "White Castle-like" burger. I totally am into that (don't judge me, it's a once or twice a year thing and I savor it!) So, I got in line and the first thing I saw was ...
TOTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG SWEET POTATO TOTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG SEE THE SALT???!!!!!!!!!
And then they DRIZZZLED SAUCE?!?!?!?! JALAPENO HONEY SAUCE?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? Who are these people?!?!?
Oh. Bill's Bar & Burger. Note to self, track down and make an RSVP soon. Here's a pic of the full offering, White Castle-like burger included...
I don't know if this is a compliment or not, but it did taste reminiscent of a burger from that fast food chain. Obviously, it was on a different level, but gee ... pretty darn good. I really want to eat here now. Soon. I went back for tots halfway through the night lol.
It was only after I walked away that I took my first bite of the burger and took notice of his genius. It was soooooo good. Just perfect. Then, because they were just so hot and crispy and soft inside and salted to perfection with just the right amount of sauce drizzled ... let's give some love to the tot makers ....
Yaaaaay!!!! Thanks for hustling tots all night!!!! Everyone was talking about them! Then, I headed over to see blue eyes himself ...
Bobby Flay!!! Again, it was Crunchified which made it bonafide and tasti-fied, totally not a word, but neither is "crunchified" and it works ;-), There was slaw involved and it was juicy! I made some rounds and had a burger I ate so fast it didn't get a close up picture and it was so crowded. There was a ton of white sesame seeds on the bun, it was cut in quarters and everything was so pillowy!! Here's a pic of the man serving that up...Then I moved under the tent only to find a HUGE circular display for Duff! Take a look ...
First person I saw was Geoff with a G, that's how I address him, he's so nice!! They were serving 5 shakes and pie to go with. I said to Duff, "This is crazy!!!" and he said "Yeah, I do more than cake!!!" Love it!! Here we are with silly Geoff looking in, I think it's the first ever photo bombing by someone that was supposed to be in the picture in the first place lol!!! Too funny!! Look at Geoff!!
That was a bacon-topped maple shake I'm holding. Then, he brought me a churro shake ...
It was good and crunchy! There was also a mint julep shake and then this shake I fell in love with ...
It was deceptively strong!!! Gooooooo team Duff and Geoff!!! This is a look at the main tent ...
It started to rain and everyone did their best to crowd in, some people either feeling the effects of the wine and drink ;-), or not afraid of the rain, hung out side. No biggie, the night was almost over when the rain kicked in high gear. I headed home and that's the best thing about the NYCWFF. People always ask me to compare this one to the one in Miami and I think they are apples and oranges and both spectacular for different reasons. The best thing about the one in NYC though, is I get to go home to this ...
I was trying to read the paper, sometimes it happens at the end of the day. Cheddar wasn't havin' it.

Ok, here's a link to more pictures from the events. I'm at the Grand Tasting Village tomorrow for a cooking demo!! Mine starts at 5:30pm and a ticket gets you all the tasting and sipping you can handle. Click here for a schedule of cooking demonstrations tomorrow and to buy tickets!!

Ok, hope you are enjoying the weekend!!