New Cooking for Real Saturday!! Sugar, Pumpkin Pie Spice and Everything Nice

Hey there! I was thinking this morning how busy it's been and how I haven't been able to blog as much. I really miss it and I'm going to try to do more in the coming months. If you missed me on GMA a couple of days ago, I'll post the video at the end of this blog.

Just wanted to let you know, in plenty of time for the big day, my holiday episode of Cooking for Real airs tomorrow morning at 8:30, then runs again Monday at 3:00pm.

I titled it Sugar, Pumpkin Pie Spice and Everything Nice and it's just that! I have a nice amount of sugar going on, another way to use up that pumpkin pie spice you may have left over from Halloween and Thanksgiving and a new twist on the green bean casserole! It's a really easy menu and the thing I love the most about it is dessert. Now, let's talk about that dessert ....

Sometimes things get cut for time and it's always really hard to pick what doesn't make it. It was REEEEEEEALLY hard for me to part with the topping that goes on the bread pudding, so...only here on my blog will you get the way to truly bring this dish home!! Now, don't get me wrong, it's great without it, but there is just something about the texture you get when you top it this way that I just suggest you try :-). I mean look at the texture ...
Crazy. Okay, so here goes addition to the recipe for my Double Chocolate Bread Pudding with Bourbon Whipped Cream:

Follow the recipe as is, but before you put it in the oven make the topping:

6 tablespoons butter, cold and cut into small cubes

2 tablespoons flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup pecans, chopped

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon maldon salt

In a medium bowl combine butter and toss with flour to coat all sides of the butter. Then add brown sugar, pecans, cinnamon and salt. Mix together with your hands to get butter to blend into all the ingredients. Sprinkle evenly over the top of the dish.

Then, continue with the recipe as is, baking it and topping it with the Bourbon Whipped Cream! See, you really get some inside stuff here :-). I taped this episode earlier this year, so I cannot remember if I even allude to the missing topping, but there it is for you and I really, REALLY suggest you try it :-)!!

Ok, please spread the news!! It's the last new ep of the year and I wanna go out with a bang! :-)

Cooking for Real!!! Sugar, Pumpkin Pie Spice and Everything Nice!!

Saturday at 8:30AM and Monday at 3PM

Ok, now here I go on GMA ... a quick note, it's live TV so I accidentally said Mother's in New Orleans puts

fruit "juice" in their bread pudding, I meant to say fruit "cocktail". :-)

Ok, here goes... several things are in the video, but the star was my Cinnamon Toast Pudding!

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!!

New Cooking for Real Saturday!! Seeing Red

Hey there!! Happy Saturday! Is it wishful thinking that you are even up this early on a Saturday? I could be really organized and type this up at another time, but sometimes I like to wake up and write something fresh on the day I post it. I can count on 1 hand the times I've pre-written a blog post and then put it up when it worked for me. So anyway ... I'm up! Looks like it's gonna be a nice day in Brooklyn and I hope you start it off where you are by joining me for another episode of Cooking for Real.

This week I call it "Seeing Red". I've mentioned here before that it's really one of the neat things that comes along with having the show, I get to plan menus and even have fun with the titles. It's a very small part, naming the shows, but I get so much joy from it. Obviously the color red play a big part today...

Ok, here's the menu:

Radish Salad - When I started Cooking for Real a few years back, this was the only ingredient I really didn't favor. I mean, I would eat it, but I didn't look for it on the menu. It shamed me lol. I thought, how can I love food and have this thing in my way? So, I kept buying them and finding ways I liked them, radishes that is. I love them for crunch and texture in a soft taco and that got me thinking one day about making a radish salsa kinda, enter ... my Radish Salad. The pic is above. Tastes good today, even better tomorrow when the colors start to bleed!!

Ok, then to stay with the red theme, I marinate some red meat in red wine and red pomegranate juice then let cipollini onions soak up some of the red too in a recipe I call Red Wine and Pomegranate Hangar Steak with Cipollini Onions. I thought about this after a trip to Boston (my memory is bad, the city was actually Providence, RI and the spot was called Al Forno) for an event with a co-worker. His parents took us out for dinner and I had a steak with a charred molasses, red wine flavor. It was super charred lol and I loved it. Thing is, my steak here isn't charred because it's indoors, but feel free to char away, with discretion :-)

And cut it right! It's easy. Just look at the meat, see which way the muscles run and then across, perpendicular, against the grain or flow of the muscles. This helps it tear easier when you chew. Sounds so barbaric, huh? I know ... I love meat. Sorry to the vegans. I really am. There's nothing better than a steak sometimes. When I did this master cleanse diet a few years back, it took me months to get my steak craving back. It scared me! lol. Ok, here's a quick dessert you can whip together ... and I do mean "whip"...
It's my Strawberry Fool! It's so simple and I love the way if feels when you take a big scoop that's way too big for the capacity of your mouth. It's so smooth from the whip and sweet and tangy from the strawberries. It's also so simple I can't believe I haven't planned to share this recipe sooner. Sometimes things are so simple it's hard to even call them a recipe and that's how I feel about this. I mean, some berries, some honey, some heavy cream and a few other typical kitchen ingredients and there's some dessert on the table. Love it!! Hope you do too!!!

Cooking for Real!! Season 10 @ 1o!!! Today on Food Network and Monday at 3pm as well!!!

Tell a friend. It's natural to tell people when you don't like something, but if you do like something, it's sometimes hard to share ... share my recipes and share a smile with me!

New Cooking for Real Saturday!! Fun with the Fam

Hey there! Just in case you haven't noticed, I've begun to link the main page for the episode to the title of the blog post. If you ever watch a show and want all the recipes, just click on the title of the blog post above and it will take you to the Food Network page for that episode, which has all the recipe links. :-)

Ok, I'm excited to share with you more recipes and fun in the next episode of Cooking for Real! I call it Fun with the Fam because I have a crew of guys aka stomachs, that I call Fam. They aren't related, but they come over and eat like family and hang out like family, so why not call them that? Sometimes the hardest thing during recipe testing is having an abundance of food you can't possibly eat without calling in for back up. I'm thankful to have eating partners, because otherwise it could feel wasteful! So, for this episode, I invited two people that I consider friends, but have actually never come over to eat! Imagine that! The first is my girl Betsy Karetnick. She co-hosts a show on Martha Stewart's Sirius/XM channel. It's called Morning Living and I've been on a few times and I think Betsy is so funny and witty and just fun to be around. We all went out to eat last night for a girl's night out and had such a great time! Ok, then the next guest is my friend 9th Wonder, he does so much. Runs Jamla Records (warning-music plays on click), he produces music and is also a professor at Duke University. Tune in tomorrow to hear who he's worked with, it's quite an impressive list!

Ok, so for the show I put together a menu you can make for you and your "Fam" as well, related or not :-). Especially with football season kicking in, it's time to think about good food for stuff like that, even for the US Open watchers. I've been catching it a bit and if you are throwing watching parties at home for anything, these are some good ideas to add to the menu. First, I share my newest favorite and I mean it, I LOVE this recipe (pictured above). They are my BBQ Chip Wings. So, sometimes I am happy that my brain is just totally devoted to thinking about food sometimes because it was on one of my food daydreams that I cooked up this idea. I was eating chips and licking my fingers, sorry. I sometimes think the best part of the bag is the very end with the little bits and the flavor crystals all stuck on the side. It's a bonanza for me! I admit to sometimes crushing some of the bigger chips down to bits to further increase the excitement of this moment. Silly, yes, but it's true and that's when I thought "boy, it's finger lickin' good". Because I was raised when that was actually a slogan that was used my brain immediately thought, chicken. Then I thought ... what if I could get a chicken wing to taste like the end of a bag of BBQ chips?!?!? And then I immediately got my notepad out and started to write down flavors I tasted, spices, heat, sweet, etc. I had a working idea of what I wanted to use, then I just went to work. Trial and error, got me something I am reeeeeeeally happy with. If you love the way the powder tastes at the end of a bag of chips, if you like dry wings with out all kinds of sauce, this is something you really should try!! When I got the flavors where I wanted them I shared them at various gatherings at my house and every time someone left with a few. Who takes home wings?! I'm tryin to tell ya! lol, ok then ...
That's my Peas and Pasta Salad. I make variations of this throughout the year. The key here is admitting that sometimes I like Miracle Whip, this is not an advertisement. I actually like both that and mayo. Time and place for everything. Plus, this dressing has some flavor from Worcestershire sauce and my mom used to always have chunks of cheese in her mac salad growing up. I make it easier with just adding shredded cheese. It's worth a try! My secret to always having pasta salad as an option at home is sometimes I take a whole pound of pasta and boil it al dente. Then I drain it, cool it on a baking sheet, then store it in the refrigerator in an air-tight container. The pasta lasts for a week and I end up having fast pasta salads and quick hot dishes as well. I'll make a quick sauce and throw in the pasta and be done in half the time. Think about it if you have 12 minutes one day, boil some pasta and put it in the fridge ... saves time!

Then, when I have guests over it's only right to offer a drink. This time around I share what I call a Spa-ocktail. Can you see the big game on in the back ground of the picture? I really love to serve this at a game party! Every time I've ever been to a spa, they offer a drink of something that faintly tastes like what they say it is. Like if they say cucumber water, it's as if they just waved a piece of cucumber over the pitcher of water and it smells more like cucumber than tastes like it. This is not a complaint, sometimes I actually like it when your palate has to work for the flavor instead of being bombarded with it. So, this drink is in honor of that. It's light and crisp like at the spa, but then I decided to ahem, make it adult like a cocktail. Hence the name. So there's some tequila. I know, I know, you're thinking all of that crisp and light talk and then you add tequila?!?! I balance it out nicely and it really ends up being one of those drinks with a light touch. Give it a try if you like to play with drinks at home. I do!

Ok, set your DVR!!! Go to sleep tonight with Food Network on so you only have one button to push in the morning :-). It's going to be easy, fun and tasty!

Cooking for Real - Fun with the Fam - Saturday September 3rd, 10am eastern! Food Network!! Season 10 @ 10!!

If you miss it or want to catch it again because you don't have DVR, reruns air Mondays at 3pm eastern!

New Cooking for Real Saturday!! Taco Dinner, Taco Lunch

Hey there! Well today's episode started with this picture above. I made chicken tacos at home on a whim and realized quickly that I hadn't done it yet on the show and it was a quick way to get dinner on the table, or lunch. Which is what the taco above was. Many times the recipes I develop from the show happen at lunch time because I'm developing them during my workday, other times the recipes come late at night, after the work is done, but my creative juices are still working. After putting this recipe together, I decided to streamline it even further and push the tomatoes that you see here sprinkled on top, right into the sour cream mixture. It removes a step and then I said to myself "that's close to a creamy salsa". So, I moved things around more and it's a pretty tasty and creamy version of salsa we are used to. It would be great on anything you put salsa on!!!

The next recipe I share is a dessert you can make today if you are stocked up properly for the hurricane :-). No, really even if you aren't stocked up, the recipe was built from my pantry, and my pantry isn't fancy, just the typical pantry items. So, I bet if you like the way they look, you can make em today from your pantry as well!! Ok, Here are the recipe links ...

Ground Chicken Tacos with Creamy Salsa

My Pantry Bars

Only two recipes?? That's not alot, eh? Well, today's show has a guest!! A returning one at that!! Please tune in to hang with my blog-friend Darius Williams again!! We had so much fun cooking and chatting last season, that I invited him back for more. He runs a cupcake shop and a pie truck in Chicago, he's an entrepreneur that left one career field (not by choice, but by design), then landed where his heart and mind could flourish. Here are his links ...

Cupcake Gallery

Uptown Pie Company

Ok, enjoy the show and please tell a friend!! You are supporting two dreamers today :-) not just me!! We need extra love. If you've ever had a tiny dream and left it behind, if it's still a tiny nugget in your head ... think about chasing it. This is the only chance you'll get in this skin. I'm asked all the time why I am so happy and positive and there are so many reasons, but it starts with waking up knowing that it's possible. What's possible? "It" is and that's all I need to know. Happy to be here, and you the person reading this, I'm happy you are here too. Not just at the blog ... but here. Means plenty you take time to hang, I don't take it lightly at all. If you meet me, that's what the hug is for, the whisper in the ear, the direct look in the eye. I thank you. Ok, before I get too sappy ... enjoy the new show!!!

Cooking for Real today!! Season 10 @ 10!!! Taco Dinner, Taco Lunch!! 10am Food Network!!

Don't forget the repeat on Monday at 3pm!!! And catch seasons of Cooking for Real you may have missed the rest of the week at 3pm on Food Network!!

Ever want to look at the full catalogue? Click Sunny Anderson recipes by season

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Annnnnnd I'm working on my website! SunnyAnderson.com

New Cooking for Real Saturday!! Quick and Easy!

Hey there! There's a new Cooking for Real on the way, but really quick let me show you what's in the pipeline and do a lil backspin to the AC Food and Wine festival! Yup, it's been weeks but it's still on my brain because I thought I took more pics but couldn't find them, until I remembered they were in my other phone :-) ..That's DJ Sonatra, he has killed my Sunset Sliders party two years in a row, and I mean the good kinda kill :-). Then I went from one great crowd motivator at the pool to the next ...
That's DJ Ed Smooth. He had the crowd dancing on the stage after the fashion show at Sweet &n Stylish. And he did it all with just music, no hyping on the mic, nothing crazy, just killed it!!! Again, the good kill :-).

Here I am at the step-and-repeat at my Sunset Sliders party. The funny thing is it just sat there most of the party because I was walking around saying hi and taking pics, then I said to myself "hmm, maybe people want a pic of me against the step and repeat?" So, I walked over to it, and I got my repeat-on :-). Soon after a line formed and people with candids, also walked off with pics that looked a bit more official...
Then, the next morning there was a lunch I went to for some clients that do business with Food Network. Breakfast and drinks were served, but the best part was meeting an un-crowned sandwich king aka Jeff Mauro. He's now the winner of the latest Food Network Star and his show starts this Sunday at 1130am!! Tune in, he is HILARIOUS!! I couldn't stop giggling and he was only on the microphone for like 5 minutes. I also saw some clips of his show while I was at the network for meetings this week ... looks real cool. Not just in the studio stuff! Here he is striking a pose...
Really happy for him, met his wife too, she's a sweetie! Yaaaay!! Jeff Mauro the Sandwich King!!! Also around for the weekend were other contestants from the show, this is my fave to pick on ...
It's Chris and he's a handful!! I pick on him cuz I love him, as you could see from the judges on the show, there is a quality about him that makes you wanna get him in line like a little kid, but to me it's part of his charm. Wish him much success! Ok, then some friends I met right here on the blog came out for all the fun ...
That's Jen on my left and her girl with the red hair (totally forget your name!! but I know you will remind me in comments :-) ) and the 3 ladies on my right, I just met that night! We took this pic at Guy's Cheesesteak battle. Check out my favorite one from the purveyors...
It was meaty, it was spicy, it was juicy, it was cheesey and I was tipsy. lol. So, I can't remember where I got it from. Very upset cuz I have a Philly visit on the way and would totally revisit this place. I hope to learn in comments from someone reminding me the name of the place lol. Can you tell I had plenty of wine? Actually there was a drink infused with jalapenos at that event and I had a few. Ok ... back to the biz at hand ... a new Cooking for Real is on tomorrow morning (unless you are reading this late and it's today, Saturday. Orrrrr, you are reading it really late and you missed it, in that case it reruns this Monday at 3pm) :-) Ok ...

I call it Quick and Easy and it is truly just that. Everything on the menu has minimal ingredients and prep, starting with my Baked Zucchini. Just zucchini, an herb, some bread crumbs, a spice, cheese, olive oil, salt n pepa :-). Then on the other side of the plate is my Grilled Sweet Potato Wedges with Maple Butter. Seriously, this one is all about the compound butter. It's great on pancakes, biscuits, to saute fruit for ice cream. If you don't have allspice, cinnamon or nutmeg or both work. Seriously good and easy. For the main, my favorite thing to do to grapefruit, the once diet fruit of my youth ... meaning my mom was on the diet and I had to figure out how to make it work for me as a snack. I always start with brown sugar :-). I kept it savory this time and marinated some chicken then grilled it for my Grapefruit Grilled Chicken. It's the pic from the top of the post :-). The marinating part is the longest, the chicken grills up in 2-3 minutes on each side. See, quick and easy :-). Then I wash it all down with a drink we had at this year's AC Food &Wine Festival, my Bourbon Cider Twist. People ask all the time how I come up with things, for the drink. Well, I took a swig of the bourbon and it burned lol. That started the party, but I decided I'd like to sip it. So I added some apple cider from the fridge door. It was a bit sweet, so I added a twist of lime. Quick and easy ... truly what I do at home. I cook and drink, for real :-). So tune in tomorrow morning!!

Cooking for Real!!! Season 10 @ 10am!!! Food Network!! Quick and Easy!! Tell a friend. Turn the TV to Food Network before you go to sleep so you can wake up with food :-). Ok, I leave you with a sign of things to come from my test kitchen ....Those are my Banana Beer Fritters, someone on twitter suggested I call them Drunken Monkey Fritters ... I kinda like it, but I'm a sucker for alliteration and I like the word "beer" so .... Then I made a Zucchini and Roasted Tomatillo Soup.
It was great hot and now on the 5th day in the fridge, it still tastes great and passes the "slurp test". Really hard to do when fat is involved, has to be just enough to roast, but not so much that a could soup will tighten, you know? So anyway, it passes the test and will hopefully make it on a future show!! If you are new to the blog, look around at some of the food pics, they start here and you see them eventually on the show :-).

Ok, don't forget ... new Cooking for Real Saturday mornin' 10am Food Network!

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New Cooking for Real Saturday!! Beefin' with Pork!

Hey there! I'm very proud to announce another new episode of Cooking for Real today on Food Network!! First, how was your week?!? Mine zoomed by and I cooked plenty, for real :-) Here's a pic of my latest faves...

That's a quick ice cream topping I made using pumpkin pie spice. It is becoming one of my favorite spice blends in the kitchen. Great for sweet and savory cooking. I still have some of the topping upstairs, gonna put it in some pastry and fry it soon. Then the fist pics are an Italian flavored sandwich stacked with flavor, and although it's not a classic muffaletta, I stacked it like one and it has the curb appeal of one when topped. It all came together in my freezer, the round par-baked focaccia simply looked better than the white pullman loaf. I can't wait to share the recipe and the inspiration with you. Kinda like today's new episode of Cooking for Real ...I call it "Beefin with Pork". What's Beef? Well, you can ask Talib Kweli and Mos Def aka Blackstar or take it back a little further and listen to Notorius BIG. But "beef" is just a way to express distaste with something or someone. So, with my love of words, the title popped in my head when I got a request from a friend for BBQ that had a distaste for Pork. Well, they were beefin and so was I, I like pork :-). So today, I have a menu based on some friends coming over for a bite and had to make everyone happy. Those are my Honey BBQ Oven Short Ribs up there before the ride in the oven. I can't express enough how easy it is to make these and the payoff is exponential based on the work you put in. Great weekend eating :-). I always take pics of recipes as I develop them, for fun and for work. Sometimes I see ingredients in pics I forget to add to the recipe, so it's good for checks and balances. Here's a preview of the Quick Bacon-Cheddar Biscuits ...

I promise, if you've never made a successful biscuit from scratch ... YOU CAN DO THIS! I promise. I don't wanna say it's fool-proof, cuz smart people make biscuits, but ... it's reeeeeally easy. Give it a try and add ingredients the next time around if you want! Now here's the other side dish ... my Creamy Potato and Proscuitto Salad.

The potato salad was a perfect compromise, I served it with the proscuitto on the side for the people beefin' with pork that day :-). Anyway, I take these pictures and hold on to them for my reference when I'm going over my recipes, but I also use these pictures on the set to assist the culinary staff. Usually for the sake of time many of my recipes are prepped in advance by the team, some times parts and sometimes in the case of things that take hours like a slow roast, the whole thing is done because we can't wait hours for it to finish while we are taping. The recipes, the photos and my verbal instruction get the team on the same page as I am in my home kitchen. It's such a team effort to make everything on Cooking for Real authentic to my home process and it's ease. Just a lil behind the scenes :-)

Thanks for watching! Tell a friend or tweet a friend :-)

All new Cooking for Real at 10AM est - Beefin' with Pork! Food Network!

Season 10@10!! @SunnyAnderson

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New Cooking for Real Saturday!! Filling up with Fish!

Hey there! I'm up and ready to brave the heat if only for a few minutes during my morning errands. I'll be back just in time to watch the newest Cooking for Real with ya! Hope you'll join me. It's called "Filling up with Fish" and as the title says, I am gonna fill you up with something that always seems like a light meal, but almost never feels "comforting". So, I add some body to the pot and end up with a healthy meal that makes you feel stuffed!! Hope you like it!!!

Cooking for Real 10 am Food Network!!!

New Cooking for Real Saturday!!

Hey there! I'm in Miami and my hotel doesn't have Food Network!! #FAIL! So, you can have the one-up on me tomorrow! Tell me how it is, I never see a show before it airs, well I saw my 4th of July special before it aired, but I'm talkin Cooking for Real here ...

Tomorrow on the new episode I won't be able to see until I get home :-), catch the Scotto family, owners of famed Italian restaurant, Fresco by Scotto, here in NYC on the next episode of Cooking for Real!I wrote about how we met and their visit to the Cooking for Real set in a blog post you can read up on here. What I didn't tell you is after we taped the show Rosanna and I went out to celebrate Dr. Oz moving to the 4pm slot and I ran into Greg Kelly, her co-host. I watch them on Good Day New York every morning and only flip during commercials to catch my other favorite newscast. I then rush right back for the way they deliver the morning news. It's serious when it needs to be and a big smile on other occasions. Ok, here's Greg and me ...

I'm laughing because right when we went to take the picture he said he was going to puff his chest out so it looked big lol and he actually did. You can kinda tell by the way he's holding his arm, very funny dude.

Ok, tune in tomorrow morning, I'm serving a traditional Italian family Tuna Noodle Casserole lol ... it should be fun!!!

Cooking for Real --- NEW TIME! 10 AM Saturday, with the new show repeating Mondays at 3PM and reruns the rest of the week in the same time slot!

10AM Saturdays!! 3PM weekdays!! Tell a friend and thanks so much for all the support, it's overwhelming and I'm doing my best to keep up with all the comments and hellos and stuff, really love you for being here!

New Season of Cooking for Real this Saturday!!

Hey there! Adam Gertler and I are in the studio this week taping episodes of Food Network Star After Party, details soon on how and where to catch it!That's us at rehearsals today just going over the script. I can't wait for you to catch the show, we really are getting some good details this year from the finalists that didn't make the cut on the big show. Ok ...

A new Season of Cooking for Real is on the way!!!!! Wake up this Saturday morning to an all new menu!!! A really easy soup that's great hot or cold, my Quick Apple and Sweet Potato Soup and a nice helping of my Simple Crab Cakes with Celery Root Remoulade! I call the episode "Taking my Lumps".

Catch the Season 10 premiere of Cooking for Real this Saturday July July 9, 2011 @ 10AM (new time!!)

Tell a food friend in need of a few easy ways to do something different in the kitchen. Thanks so much for the support thus far, I don't care how or when you got here, just happy to say hi and invite you to share something I love.

Another programming note, I'm now on weekdays an hour earlier at 3PM eastern! Ok, hope to see you this Saturday or later on DVR or Tivo :-). Cooking for Real, 10am Saturdays!!!

Catch me & the Scotto's now & later, just like candy!

Hey there! Well, it surely has been a minute since I've blogged about something other than a new show. I've been so busy and I like to have "real" time to write instead of just rushing things, so I've not been able to share some cool stuff. First, I am currently taping the 10th season of Cooking for Real! I can't tell you how happy I am, it just blows my mind and I'm truly thankful. Thanks so much for watching, I'm still enjoying it like the first day.

Today I had some guests come hang out for a bite ...

That's the Scotto's! Well, some of them. My set isn't really big enough for the whole family tree and they do have a restaurant to run! So Marion, the matriarch of this big family sent me 3 of her darlings and I can't even believe we got anything done during the 22 minutes of the show (commercials happen!). That's John, Rosanna and Anthony Jr., he runs the family restaurant, Fresco by Scotto along with his brother John and his sister Elaina (not pictured). Then, Rosanna Scotto is the co-host of WNYW Fox 5 NY's, Good Day New York. She's an Emmy Award winning journalist and this week is celebrating 25 years at Fox 5! What a career! I cannot WAIT for you to see this episode of Cooking for Real when it airs. Here they are getting ready for their close up ...My director Mike said go, then all I remember is laughing and thinking to myself, these are my kind of people! They were a total blast. I watch Rosanna every morning for not only the news, but the great chemistry with her co-host, Greg Kelly. The whole morning team is really funny and I like to start the day with a smile. They make it really easy to do. Catch them live online if you ever want to see what I mean. Here's the link.

Now, the behind the scenes I leave for the blog ... I asked them to join me on Cooking for Real after we both joined Dr. Oz to tape an episode of his show for a segment called "Family Food". Think, Family Feud - with nutritional content. :-) BTW, I LOVE the newest version with Steve Harvey as the host, it's like an hour of stand up comedy!

Anyway, we taped the Dr. Oz show a few weeks back and it airs this Friday!! Here we are before we went out on the stage to compete ...
That's actually in a green room for the Jimmy Fallon show that tapes on the same floor. He has each room set up with a different animal theme, pretty cool.

Because I don't have any family in New York, my mom made room in her schedule and came to town and my dad couldn't compete because as a doctor he had an unfair advantage. So, I lined the rest of my "family" up with family in another sense :-). Along for the fun was Executive Chef Clarence Van de Mark from Del Frisco's here in NYC. I eat there maybe once a month or so and every time I leave stuffed and very happy. The steaks are crazy delicious! Next, I invited my right and left hand man, Santos Loo from Food Network. And last but certainly not least, I'm just introducing them in the order we were in on the show, is blog winner Charles!!

I can't give away too much about the competition, but I can tell you the Scotto's are a rowdy bunch, and so were we! Tune in to see how it all turns out, the winnings go to charity, so really we all win!! The Dr. Oz show we are on airs this Friday, the 13 (spoooookkkyyy!!!) on WNYW Fox 5 here in New York at 11AM. Click here for local listings.

Cup or Bowl?

Hey there! I had a great weekend and hope you did as well! I'm back in the kitchen working on the finishing touches of my menus for the next season of shows. Basically, I'm doing my recipes for the last time before I turn them into Food Network. I've made these several times over my lifetime or they are recent loves of mine. After I've made it plenty of times for fun at home and enjoy it, I begin to actually write down what I'm doing so I can share it with you. So, this testing is more so making sure I wrote everything down correctly in my notebook. I'm a lefty, so things I jot down today look like hieroglyphics tomorrow :-). Here's some cups of the stuff I'm working on today ... It's beefy and it's comforting and it's a bit left of the norm for this kind of dish. Wish I could eat the whole pot, much less a cup or bowl. I can't tell you exactly what it is, but you're a food person, so I'm sure you can figure it out pretty easily :-). Then I cooked up a pot of something perfect for a cook out or family reunion ... (can't wait to tell you about my two family reunions last year, hilarious)
That pot looks crazy on top, but like the Four Tops sang ... Still Waters Run Deep and beneath the caramelized film on the top was something tasty below ...

Deep flavor and it's so simple you'll be very upset you ever bought it pre-made in the can! Plus most people buy the can and "hook it up" anyway, so I feel you might as well hook the whole situation up yourself. It's easy and if I can do it, you can do it :-). Ok, I'm taking a break then heading back into the kitchen.

A special hi to the ladies I met at Petite Abeille this weekend!!! Hope you guys find the blog and enjoy the pics!

Chicken, it's what's for dinner ...

Hey there! I'm cookin' up a storm still in my kitchen getting my menus together in time for the next season of shows. First thing this morning a quick 30 minute counter top marinade for a very easy grilled chicken dish ...That's a close up of the juicy goodness. I'm sure you can tell what fruit that is there, but again I have to be a bit vague to appease "the suits", which by the way the suits never wear suits, very casual, as food should be :-). Here's a zoom out ...I just ate the tip of one and the rest are headed into individual freezer bags for a lazy lunch or dinner in the near future. I'm almost done recipe testing and writing, then I begin taping in May. I have some other stuff on the way as well I can't wait to tell you about so stick around! I'll also post a quick description and some behind the scenes stuff from this weekend's new episode on Sunday at 11AM :-) TGIF!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm Bread Winning!

Hey there, now more than ever I'm aware of the word "winning", but I am winning with bread today, sooo please excuse the title. :-) Speaking of, I do find myself saying "the situation" plenty on Cooking for Real and in life, trust me it was all pre-Jersey Shore. Sorry if it makes you think about GTL when all you wanna do is think about food to escape. Funny when normal everyday words and phrases get new pop-culture meanings. Remember Paris Hilton and "that's hot"? Well, I have a situation here, a recipe just came out of the oven that's hot and hopefully it's a winner! :-) Can't wait to share the details with you ...I haven't even cracked into it yet, but be sure it will be a very small crack and then I'll look for someone with a better metabolism to finish it off. It's in my Emerilware cast iron lasagna dish. I'm still in my test kitchen transferring recipes from my journal to my computer while I cook menus for season 10 of Cooking for Real. I'm enjoying this calm before the storm of taping the show. Here, it's all me, but in the studio I'm on a crew of 40+ professionals putting a show together. It's such a team effort and I miss my co-workers! I can't wait to get back!! As usual with recipe testing for future shows I can't give all the details, but I can show you how this dish started ...It's in a show I call "Sugar n Spice" for the holidays, So this won't air until it cools down again, but imho it's worth the weight, ahem wait. :-)

Hope you are having a great week in food! Cook a bit, eat out a bit, read up a bit ... but enjoy it, food is The Great Escape!

Drink break!

Hey there! I'm still working in my kitchens today on the new menus for season 10 of Cooking for Real. The newest season is airing now, with a new episode this Sunday at 11AM! I'll drink to that!!

It's cola, lychee, grenadine and a bit of lychee syrup. It's super sweet and fizzy!! I'm taking a bit of a break between recipes. I finalized 3 or so menus yesterday and a couple of people asked in comments who eats all the food? Well, when I test in the Food Network kitchens usually my culinary staff and I, plus I put out the leftovers out on the community counter for the team lunch. Every one cooking in the huge kitchen that day provides something and together it makes for a pretty nice buffet with people standing and chatting up each other's offerings. That's what happens there, but at home all I do is invite over a few key bellies and it's over. Reminds me of a Seinfeld episode when Elaine had a good/bad idea to open a muffin-top shop, only to find out it was hard to get rid of the bottoms, not even a charity would take them. Who wants bottoms? Anyway, they just kept piling and stacking up the whole episode until she called in ... The Cleaner ...

I'm Gettin' Testy!

Hey there! I'm spending my week recipe testing for the next season of Cooking for Real. Yep, there you go giving my dream again :-) -- can't say thanks enough for your viewership and even more for sharing 30 minutes with me here and there. Now the show is on twice a day during the week, 1130am and 4pm, plus Sundays at 11am. I start taping again next month, so I'm putting the finishing touches on the menus. There are plenty of themes for Halloween and other holidays including some picnic fare. Can't wait for you to get these new recipes! Here are some pics from today and then I'm back to the burners!!I have two fridges and they are both stacked. Here's just two levels of the smaller one ...
This is a casserole of some type *wink wink* waiting for a run in the oven and these below are some ribs of a certain flavor :-) getting a dry marinade before a slow and low ride in the oven ...

Luckily, I've invested in another oven, so I'm double timing. Now if I could just buy another me to double time on the recipes teeheehee. Ok, happy cooking, for real! :-)