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!! T.G.I.S

Hey there!!! It's breakfast time on the newest episode of Cooking for Real!! I love to make breakfast, and some of my best lunches are breakfast!! So this is gonna be a fun one. Take a look at this ...It's my Open-Faced Breakfast Sandwich and I make a version of this at home about once a week. I love nothing more than a sunny side up egg with the oooooooze of the yolk. Lately, I've been separating eggs, saving whites to the side, and making double yolk sunny side ups. That's right, I'm not waiting for the elusive double yolk egg, I'm creating it!!

Ok, next on the menu is my Sweet and Spicy Breakfast Sausage.I also do this at home all the time, I am so happy to call the show Cooking for Real. You are really seeing how I eat. I'm not just thinking these up to fill up a show. Many times when I make anything with ground beef, I save a little snatch of it to the side and season it up for a few breakfast sausage patties the next day. It's easy, the ingredients are in my spice rack always, so I'm hoping your rack is stacked like mine :-). I season my sausage sweet because I love to put syrup on spicy sausage, so why not build in some of the sweetness?! Hope you enjoy!

Then, the thing I do most every weekend ... HASH BROWNS!!! YAAAAAAAY!!! Lol!! Those are my Saturday Special Hash Browns. I am serious about hash browns!!! I love em crispy, I love em soft, I love em with all kinds of stuff thrown in, hash browns, is where my leftovers go in the good afterlife. I love nothing more than using up all the bits and pieces in my fridge over the weekend so I can start fresh on Monday. Also during the week if I find myself using potatoes, what I do is cut some down to size and store them in water in a container in the fridge. Then before I cook em, I just drain them and dry em off with a paper towel. (Yes, still Viva :-)) Thing here is that potatoes in a water, in a container, in a fridge... well, it only lasts for like a few days or so, after that it's a high school project, if you know what I mean...

I can't wait for you to see this show!! Cooking for Real - T.G.I.S Season 10@10am!!! On Food Network!! With a repeat on Monday at 3pm!!Hopefully it inspires you to get up and make a great breakfast, even if it's during lunch hours :-). Enjoy the weekend.


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I'd like to take just a sentence or two here to tell you that I've been in New York now for 10 years exactly and since I've moved here, I found my true self. It could be maturity and other factors, but there is a spirit in this city that, with all the noise in the streets, it silences noise in your life and allows you to relax into your true self. People are too busy to care about what you wear, what you think, in a nice way of course. Hard to explain. It is such a great city filled with great people and in my first few days here I was filled with the joy and excitement of a city that welcomes everyone with open arms. A few days later 9/11 happened and I fell deeper in love with the spirit of New York. That's it, I love this city. I Love New York. If you follow me on twitter, I will go silent tomorrow out of respect. 140 characters can't capture the character of what happened that day.

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

Annnnnd I tweet ... Sunny Anderson

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

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

And I've also been trying to keep up with the Facebook fan page so, head over there Sunny Anderson Facebook ... aaaaaand ...

www.SunnyAnderson.com

My website is relaunching soon, take a look and sign up for me email newsletter. I totally am not into spam, you won't even get a "thanks for signing up" email :-). Just trust I gotcha for special list-only stuff!

Workin' for the weekend!

Hey there! Some pics from the AC Food and Wine Festival!! It's been such a lovely week ... Thanks to every one that came out!!! We were sold out at both Sunset Sliders and Sweet and Stylish!!! Here's some flicks ...That's me at the VIP Dinner. Each year they ask me to come out as a surprise guest during a jillion course meal. I always ask to look at the menu before I choose what I'm making so it's not a train wreck on the tongue. This year I made my Quick Apple and Sweet Potato Soup. It's great hot or cold, but that night it was great not even made ... lol. The heat on the burner just wasn't cutting it, so I walked through the steps and then walked through the crowd. Some people watch Food Network Star and they say things like contestants not getting all the equipment or ingredients for a challenge would never happen and I say it happens all the time. It's no biggie if you ask me, the show must go on!! Ok, here's half of the VIP crew ...Then, just like last year, there were these really cool angle-perspective wall drop thingys lol ... click the link and see the ones that were still here this year. This one below was the only new addition, totally had to take the pic!Then, Saturday night after the Sunset Sliders party I headed over to my other shin-dig Sweet and Stylish, take a look at the crowd...
Can you tell this is a really fast post for me? I'm in a rush to head out to the Mets game. I'll tweet a pic @SunnyAnderson. Check out The Neely's on Pat's birthday! This is at their event on Saturday, really good brunch and music!!!
These are the guys in charge of the food for pretty much all the events ...

I have more pics, but I was busy having so much fun at the Sunset Sliders party, that I didn't get many personal ones. If you went and have any pics, comment, I'll get your email and we'll exchange hellos :-). Ok, Thanks again to every one that came out to the entire weekend!! It was so much fun!!!

Don't forget ... ALL NEW Cooking for Real tomorrow!! Season 10 at 10am!! Curry On Baggage!!

Curry Lamb Shanks with Potatoes

Twice Fried and Mashed Green Plantains (Tostones!!!)

Chocolate Chai Milkshake

New Cooking for Real Sunday! Fish and Grits

Hey there! I've had such a busy week taping the new season of Cooking for Real and can't wait to share the new recipes and pictures from behind the scenes. Today on Food Network is a new episode of the show I taped earlier this year. I call it Fish and Grits and it's pretty literal, not a play on words this time :-). Check the menu ...

My Catfish Nuggets - Cut em down and they cook faster! Plus I got the idea for the quick hot sauce mixture from a place here in NYC called Prune. They serve it on a fried oyster omelet ... crazy!!

Creamy Cheesy Grits - Simply one of my fave things for breakfast. I just had a conversation about grits vs. cream of wheat and if they deserve sugar vs. savory. Where do you stand? I'm a salty grits and sugary cream of wheat person. I can't switch the two and just don't understand sweet grits, not for me at least. I love how different food is for everyone.

Simple Blueberry Apple Pie - When I say simple, I mean it. I made this for the holidays and the only change in my home kitchen was I actually made the crust instead of buying it. That's my rule, make it on special occasions, but in a pinch check out the refrigerator section of the grocery store for a little shortcut to the party.

That's it, plus some smile and stories. I hope you enjoy the new episode! There's still time to make brunch for mom after it's over ... I'm heading to my kitchen to make some brunch for myself now. I think it'll be a croissant with jelly and some of the stewed chicken I made yesterday, bacon and a sunny side up egg. Then, maybe some apple cider with mint and strawberries. Trying to get rid of those berries and mint before they die on me! In the meantime, I made a cereal shake last night and didn't feel like making a big serving, but also wanted to make sure I properly measured the ingredients so I can share the recipe with you at a later date ... I give you two pictures I was so happy to take last night before I blitzed up my midnight snack ...

Apple Jacks, Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Capn Crunch. Then, if you don't want to use a whole pint, but need to accurately measure half of it ... divide and conquer ...

The other half is in a freezer bag waiting on part two of the shake ... I think I have some Cocoa Puffs that need a new purpose in life ... Take care and enjoy the new show today!!!

Cooking for Real Today, Sunday May 7th (Happy Mother's Day!!!) 11am on Food Network

or tomorrow at 4pm!

And don't forget Cooking for Real also airs week mornings at 1130AM est. Plenty tof times to catch a new trick, idea of use for an ingredient in your kitchen!

New Show TOMORROW!! It Takes Two to Salsa!

Hey there! Real quick before I tell ya about the new show. A Special thank you to Comcast and the Boys and Girls Club, they let me get my hands dirty today and it was all for a good cause, these people really care!! Here I am about to drop some food in the earth... More on this later in the post ...

In the meantime ... Guess who is on Cooking for Real with me tomorrow?!?!? I titled this one "It Takes Two to Salsa". OK, a hint on my guest... she is a big ray of sunshine, she's a winner and she's always a paarti!! Yep, my girl Aarti is coming over to play in my kitchen tomorrow morning on the newest episode of Cooking for Real. Here we are the day we taped (I totally get now that you'll see the picture and know the answer to the question above, but I'm on a roll and too lazy to edit my free thoughts, leave that to twitter :-P)As a person that is mostly happy all the time, it's so nice to meet another person of the same breed, Aarti is my girrrrrrrl. Just a nice jolt of energy and I can't wait for you to feel it through the television tomorrow!! Here's our menu ...

Curry Coconut Chicken Breasts - from my kitchen ...
Mango and Peach Salsa - from my kitchen ... then
Black Eyed Peas Pulao - from Aarti's kitchen!! It was fun to say and to taste!!!

We had plenty of fun on the show and I don't even know how we got any cooking done, I remember many times between takes my director and producer trying to keep us on track because we were just talkin' and talkin' lol. Too funny when you meet your talking match!! Love it!! Her and I can talk up a storm!!! Ok, set your DVR and Tivos for Sunday @ 1100AM or Monday @4PM for the repeat on Food Network!

Btw, I'm doin my best to keep up with the youngin's so I'm tweeting now semi regularly, i can't do the whole day on my hip, minutiae at all times thing, but I check in, so check in with me. I prefer to do my drivel in long form, but it's fun over there sometimes. Check me out Sunny Anderson Twitter

BTW, I'm on the road a bit before I begin taping the next season of Cooking for Real next week (thank you for watching!!), so I have so much stuff to share, but not all the time. If you've commented, I promise I'm getting to it next after this!! I still have pics and stories to share from my guest role on Are We There Yet and I also did a segment on Dr. Oz that airs soon, it was plenty of fun and it was set up like the Family Feud, so you can imagine there were plenty of laughs. I'll compile the pics and blog em up shortly. Until then thanks to EVERYONE today in Houston at the Comcast Cares event!! I was there to help plant some seeds ... in the ground and in minds as well. Volunteerism is a good thing!! Take a look at some pics ...I posted that pic on my twitter page earlier. The reporter asked me if I spoke Spanish and I said ... "I speak Spanglish!", So I stuttered and "como di say"-ed through the interview. Finally, she was like just say it in English lol!!! I am so happy I tried! I actually watch Telemundo news so I can learn faster. Works well when I'm ordering food and having basic conversation, but in an interview, not so much teeheehee ... I'm gettin there!! Then, here's a pic of Brooke Johnson, she's the President of Food Network ...

She took this before we both got dirty and put some veggies in the earth. I planted some eggplants and fennel. I actually was more interested in the dirt than the interviews, but every minute or so, I chatted then got back to work! It's a tough balance to volunteer, but also know people want you to talk about it so you can get other's to do it. I'd prefer to just do it and be left alone, but I also know that watching others do good stuff inspires me, so I didn't truly mind any of the gardening interruptions. But gardeners know, you get in a zone that is so zen, you just wanna be left to dig in the dirt. I love to garden!! Click the "garden" link below this post to see all my exploits in my Brooklyn concrete jungle!!

Today was fun though, it was so cute to give the kids a snatch of the fennel fronds and have them smell it and then taste the light licorice flavor. I'm tellin you, these gardens in the right areas are the key to getting families in "food desserts" (places where there are more liquor stores and canned foods than fresh fruits and veggies) intelligent about smart food choices. Brooke gave a speech and she was right, fresh berries taste better than a twinkie. Well, unless you had a bad day and a twinkie can solve that problem teeheehee, but seriously. Fresh is where it's at!! Here is a bigger look at the garden and me steppin' in to get to work ...
Ok, have a good weekend and join Aarti and I for the Paarti tomorrow at 11 AM on Food Network!!

New Cooking for Real Sunday! Much Ado About Stuffing and Pork!

Hey there!! This morning (Sunday) at 11AM and tomorrow afternoon at 4PM a new Cooking for Real debuts called Much Ado About Stuffing and Pork! I developed this show around October last year, I had plenty of cold weather spices sitting around and thought I'd put them to work! I say it plenty, but I really don't understand how we as consumers are expected to use an entire container of pumpkin spice before it goes dead and dry in the pantry. So, I really do my best to use up spices, plus some are expensive and having them turn to dust before you can use them up is the worst. So here to tackle some pantry spices is my Pumpkin Spice-Rubbed Pork Loin! It's really easy and with 2 teaspoons of pumpkin spice, if you have the little half size of it in your pantry, you're almost done with the container!! Then, on the side a new way to do stuffing ...My Plantain Stuffing. In my hood this banana-family fruit is in high demand so it's always stocked. Somewhere around last year I was thinking about stuffing and how I always relegate it to the holidays and even though today is a holiday, I didn't plan for this show to be on today it just worked out that way :-). That's why I use store-bought bread cubes in the recipe, I wouldn't do that on a holiday, I try never to "phone it in on a holiday", but it sometimes it's good to do that where you can and a side dish is the place to start! Sometimes I add chorizo or breakfast sausage to this recipe, really takes it to another place.

Then, another thing stocked quite well around my parts is tomatillos. I play with them in the kitchen and every once in a while a dish makes a repeat, then I know it's in my kitchen to stay. Try my Sauteed Tomatillos with my Cilantro Vinaigrette, hope you like it! It's simple and I usually have it for breakfast with eggs and refried beans, but on this episode, it's a great side dish for dinner! It started as just the tomatillos sauteed and served on the side of scrambled eggs, then one morning I had some vinaigrette left over from the night before and I sprinkled some fresh cilantro over the whole dish. It all clicked and I wrote down the recipe immediately. It's tangy and sweet and the salt really balances it all out. Hope you like it! Ok, hope you enjoy the new show and happy Easter!! I went out early this morning and got myself a treat!!!

1 down, 4 to go!!!

New Cooking for Real Sunday! Diner Breakfast!!

Hey there! Well, I just got back from a little vacation and it was actually just in time for the quick blast of winter we got here in NYC. Real quick, before I tell you about the new episode this week, one of our blog buddies in comments used the chilly spring weather to make one of my season-straddling meals. Check out Holly's post on Random Cravings about my Beef and Barley Stew with Crusty Pepper Bread.

Ok, so tomorrow's Cooking for Real is called Diner Breakfast. Check out this episode's dessert first (shout out to Anne Thornton!!)

I'll tell you about those buns in steel in a sec ... teeheehee, but yeah the I titled the show Diner Breakfast, because there is nothing I love more than a greasy spoon breakfast. Sometimes I take the morning off from cooking and walk to my local one here in Brooklyn called George's. They have the biggest mimosa's I've ever seen at a diner, but that's another blog post.

Really, there are many diners I go to in many states and all over Brooklyn, so my inspiration is not specific to a place, but totally specific to the dining menu. Sometimes there's something perfect about a diner steak and some scrambled eggs for breakfast! I love it after a good hour of shoveling zig zags into the snow. I actually conceived the idea and subject for this episode when I was on vacation with friends last September. I ended up making breakfast everyday for everyone and felt like a short-order cook. I loved it and one of the things I kept hearing about after the vacation was how perfect everyone thought my eggs were. I thought, it's pretty easy and that's what I do on the show. Sure, you more than likely scramble eggs and have your own technique, but the cheese added can sometimes mess up texture. I do have a technique for scrambling I've used over the years I love, so I thought ... why not share it on the show? So the recipe is pretty simple, but the technique can take a few times to get right. That's something to think about when making a meal from a recipe. You pretty much have to have all the elements right; ingredients, temperature, tools, equipment, etc. and then the technique has to be there as well. So, if you ever have a problem with a recipe, don't stress. There are so many elements. Things can happen and they do. Just relax and give yourself time. No big deal. Cooking is like trying to get to Carnegie Hall, keep practicing and sooner or later your food will perform like an orchestra in your mouth! If not, try another instrument, ahem, recipe ... not everyone is great at everything. I will admit, it takes me a few times to get sushi rolled pretty. Totally uncoordinated at times. Ok ...

For the Diner Breakfast menu I have my Perfect Scrambled Cheesy Eggs, then I do the diner steak, but dress it up a bit because if I'm at home, I'll treat myself a bit better than the diner. To please that, I offer one of my go-to steaks that is so simple and really flavorful, my Grilled Rosemary Steaks (totally perfect for a pan-fry or broil if you want). Then, I sweeten it up with the easiest way to homemade cinnamon buns, my Easy Glazed Cinnamon Buns. This is all about behind the scenes here so if you want to see the cinnamon buns before the show or how they were developed in my home kitchen, I blogged about them in a post back in Nov. '10 called Buns, Apps, Cravings, Fun and More!

Ok, a big thanks to Darius Williams for his guest blog while I was away! Check out the newest episode of Cooking for Real: Diner Breakfast, tomorrow at 11AM and Monday afternoon at 4PM on Food Network!

Also, starting Monday Cooking for Real begins to air weekdays at 1130AM EST, in addition to the 4PM EST show. Two different episodes each day and this Monday's 1130AM airing of Cooking for Real is the most recent episode I call Easier Than It Looks with Darius Williams, owner of The Cupcake Gallery in Chicago.

Ok, so don't forget your chance to watch, for real :-) ...

Cooking for Real on Food Network

Sundays @ 11:00AM

Monday - Friday @ 11:30AM & 4:00PM

All times are eastern. If you ever want to look at the Food Network schedule for your time zone, bookmark this link

New Cooking for Real Sunday! Easier Than It Looks!

Hey there! I'm on the hunt for the elusive 15-pound lobster tail :-), but in the meantime I have a new Cooking for Real airing Sunday I want to tell you about!!

It's called Easier Than It Looks and a friend I met right here on the blog stops by to help me prepare the whole menu. This season, we added diner-like seating on one counter in the kitchen and I had guests come by and hang out while I cooked for a few of the episodes. Well, Darius Williams, owner of The Cupcake Gallery in Chicago was a guest on one of those shows alongside two more of my friends. We had so much fun taping that episode and he clearly has such great cooking skill, that my producer and I agreed asking him back to tape another show would be a great surprise and idea. So, after taping what he thought would be his one and only show, we approached Darius to ask him if he had it in him to do another show with me. He said yes instantly, what a champ! Here's Darius in a pic we took just moments before we asked him to come back for another show ...That's Jenna, Darius, myself and Fiona. Jenna thankfully filled in for a guest that couldn't make it due to weather and Fiona is a friend I met years ago and she was actually on another episode of Cooking for Real called Irish Eyes Smiling

We took lunch and Darius came back to tape Easier Than It Looks. We made my Sweet Glazed Butterflied Chicken and Tater and Asparagus Toss. Want to hear a funny little behind the scenes tidbit? Okay :-) ... after going through and reading the introduction I wrote for the show once, we stopped and decided to changed the title of the latter recipe because at first it was called "Asparagus and Tater Toss", but that sounded too much like I could be saying "Tater TOTS" at the end and confuse people and quite possibly upset the tots biz, so my solution on the fly was to simply switch around the words and call it the "Tater and Asparagus Toss". It sounds so simple now, but when I said it as a solution it seemed genius! Teeheehee ...

OK, catch the show this Sunday at 11AM and check out the blog Monday for my first ever guest blog from Darius himself recounting his experience taping Cooking for Real with me! Then don't forget the rerun of the episode Monday afternoon at 4!

Bon Bons and a Kitchen Boogie!

Hey there! A week can really breeze by, huh? I started my week with a trip home from Foxwoods where I hosted the Bon Bon Boogie Bash at the 4th Annual Foxwoods Food and Wine Festival. Here I am with my "Bon Bon" for the night ...That's my Molten Chocolate Cinnamon Pots topped with a scoop of my Butter Pecan Buttermilk Ice Cream with Butter Sauteed Bananas. Lots of butter in the latter part recipe description because it's what I made for Paula Deen on one of her future shows! I blogged about visiting her set in "Just got back from Savannah!" and can't wait to see the episode when it airs.

Want a little background on why that was my "bon bon" for the night? Well, up to just a few weeks before the festival myself, Anne and Alex were to host a gala dinner together with each of us handling a course. It was cancelled for some reason so, to fix things they put us at the bowling party together. Then, so I could still do something with food, I ended up hosting the then host-less Bon Bon Boogie Bash. The event planners decided the same recipe I was going to present at the dinner would work as a dessert for the new event, just in a smaller version. I was all ready to send over some new options, but when they gave me the solution, I thought why not? Other things at the event were very loosely bon bons, so I didn't feel too crazy for such a big serving! Take a look ...Popcorn!! Reminds me of those biiiiig canisters of popcorn you see around the holidays. And check out these cuties ...Those little egg-cups are filled with Creamy Ginger Polenta, Pumpkin Gelee & Candied Chestnut.

Thanks to everyone that came out to the festival and the party! I had so much fun!

Then, I went home to boogie in my kitchen and do some Cooking, for real :-). I recently shared the great news about being picked up for season 9 of Cooking for Real. Well, I tape the new episodes in January 2011! What a way to start off the year and that also means the end of my year is all in preparation for the next 13 shows. Actually I plan 15 and pitch 15, then they choose the 13 they like the most. The decision is usually based on seasonality and variety. I write the recipes, then theme the shows, title them and even write the show introductions. Here's something I made last night to add to an episode I'm planning ... It's a stuffing I thought up when I saw that the green plantains I bought a week or so ago were now black :-). From hard and starchy to soft and sweet, my kind of transformation! I was already making some pork chops so in the blink of an eye, I decided to stuff em and work the plantains into the game plan. I sauteed the plantains after the veggies then tossed them together for a really nice stuffing. I always save the specifics for the show, but it was sweet, spicy and savory. I stuffed it into 2-inch thick chops I pre-seared and split, then wrapped them in bacon to keep the stuffing in. It was really a huuuuuge portion. I think I'm going to call the episode "Bigger is Better". Hope it makes the cut, the final dish was so tasty my guy and I barely talked much at dinner. Can't wait to share the recipe with you!! Speaking of, Holly is still Cooking for Real over at her blog RandomCravingsBlog.com. Check out how her Cooking for Real @ home is turning out! Btw, if you are Cooking for Real @ home and have pics, let me know in comments! I'd love to see them!

Ok, hope you've had as swift a week as I have! One day until the weekend. Hey, did you hear Conan O'Brien may start working at Food Network one day???
Teeheehee, I am so happy Coco is back! I was actually down to watching a web feed of the stairwell at his office building in the weeks leading up to his debut. The stairwell show was actually funny, but the real show is obviously better! Glad it's back! Ok, enjoy your Thursday, if that's when you catch this :-).

Buns, Apps, Cravings, Fun and More!

Hey there!

BUNS!!!
I made mention a post or so ago that I was still rounding out my menus for the next season of Cooking for Real because we start taping in January. Seems far, but it's close when the holidays are on the way and we are already getting into mid-November. Here's the latest addition to my season 9 menus ...Those are my Glazed Apple-Pecan Cinnamon Buns and if you do a count, it's a bakers' dozen!! Recession is ova!!! Teeheehee, whatever happened to the "baker's dozen"? Well, I got this one by accident, really. In development you just try stuff out and I was concerned with the "room-to-grow" factor and removed a few buns from the cake pan before the ride in the oven. I ended up with 13 buns, but plenty of dough left, so I'm plumping up the height of the buns on my next test to make sure I leave no dough on the table. :-) Sounds like I'm brokering a deal! Hope you like the recipe when I share it on the show, the website and now .....


APPS!!!
Well, just over a month ago I had an episode of Cooking for Real that I titled "I Have an App for That". It was a play on the whole advertising campaign for the iPhone applications many people use to make their day easier. Well, my "Apps" weren't applications, but were totally applicable to Appetizers. Now, we have a real App you can use! If you are App crazy, head to the App store and download the Food Network: In the Kitchen application! It's basically more than 45,000 recipes straight from FoodNetwork.com and more neat bells and whistles. There's a shopping list function, a measurements and amounts converter, a cool clock that counts down while you are cooking, the ability to upload your own recipes, neat categories for recipes or an ingredient-based search and so much more. The one thing I like the most about the App is that every time recipes get added to FoodNetwork.com, they are added to the App! It's a cookbook that keeps growing! It's just a buck.99 :-), not bad for 45,000 recipes and more at your finger tips!

Last night was the kick off event for the App and I spent some time on a panel with our design team and creative people that brought it to life. I never got a chance to take any pics, but there was plenty of tweetin' goin' on. Teeheehee, sounds funny when I type it. Ok, real quick, so you know I'm totally feeling old because I need my bff to give me a twitter 101 course before I start talking and stuff. I see plenty of people I just want to say hi to, but I first need to know what I'm doing. Is this the beginning to feeling old? Not intuitively knowing technology? Too funny, well take a look around for some fun pics from last night and click and follow me in the meantime, @SunnyAnderson :-). I promise when I start tweeting, for real :-), I'll withhold my minutiae and do my best to have fun with it. I'm no @AzizAnsari, but I'll do my best to make you smile :-). Ok ...

CRAVINGS!!

Hey, remember when I told you about a brunch-changing experience I had at Prune here in NYC? Well, one of my brunch co-conspirators was Holly at RandomCravingsBlog.com. She put up a cool post just after, then surprised me with an even crazier post soon after that! Turns out she's Cooking for Real, for 6 weeks in a row and sharing it with all her readers!! I was too busy to alert you to her first results post Cooking for Real, Week One - Appetizers and Dessert, but I'm right on time for her second post Cooking for Real, Week Two - Moderation Flies Out the Window! It just went up this morning for your weekend enjoyment :-). Holly has hand-picked some recipes from this new season of shows and is taking them into her kitchen, even adding me to her Thanksgiving menu! Niiiiiiiiice, I'm seriously honored. Check out the blog and bookmark it, she's got some good stuff over there.

FUN ...

I'm headed to Connecticut in the next few hours for some Food and Wine fun! Check in over the weekend and I'll post some pictures from the Foxwoods Food and Wine Festival. If you are in the area, tickets are still available and I have plans to do the bowling event to night and I host the Bon Bon Boogie Bash tomorrow! Come out and say hi! No, really ... say hi :-), I never mind stopping to talk!

More!!!

There's a new episode of Cooking for Real premiering tomorrow on Food Network! It's called Cooking for Real: After School Special. Back when we were taping this episode I wanted to do a tribute to Mr. Roger's and even shared my goal here with my post, Trivets aren't Trivial, but as it would happen, it takes plenty to fill those shoes. Like how do I walk in the door with everything I need to immediately get started on cooking? There were camera lighting and blocking issues and just too many kinks I hadn't considered. Well, I didn't have the answer then, but after we did an actual walk-through on the set, my brain began to work on it and I realized I could plan the show and recipes better. So, I scrapped the whole tribute and will hopefully chase that teeny goal in my next season of shows in January. Can't wait to give it a try after planning it better! In the meantime, catch the show and enjoy my Chicken Chorizo Patty Melt, Jicama Salsa and my Red Velvet Swirl Brownies. Holly says she's going to try the Jicama Salsa and the Red Velvet Swirl Brownies for next week's RandomCravingsblog post, can't wait! If you already have the Food Network: In the Kitchen App, these recipes are already there! Ok, take care and enjoy your weekend! Again, if you are headed to Foxwoods, say hi so we can chat, for real :-)!!

New Show - Chile Chile Bang Bang!

Hey there! Well, it's been a week, eh? The festival always has the effect of drinking while sitting, when you stand up (when it's over), that's when you feel it! It's full days of running around and packing in all that you can. I had a crazy good brunch last weekend with Holly from Random Cravings and her friend Steve to cap it off and I'll share some pics in a sec, but first ... today's new show!! BTW, Holly posted about our brunch too check it out!

Chile Chile Bang Bang is the newest addition to Season 8 of Cooking for Real and again, I had some fun with the title. I actually was reading Chelsea Handler's similarly named book while planning this episode and it hit me, I have plenty of chiles going on in this episode. Chiles in two different forms are in the main dish and the side, why not have fun with the play on words myself? So, although I know the original inspiration is a 1968 movie title Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, being born in 1975 and more of an old scary, not old kooky movie fan, I've never seen it. Hope you see my newest show, though. :-) It is scary how many ways you can fry a chicken (Chile-Lime Fried Chicken) and I did make some kooky changes to the classic Long Island Iced Tea with my Brooklyn Iced Tea. To round it out, I make my first cornbread on the show so far with my Bacon and Green Chile Cornbread. It's amazing how many shows I can go through and still have things I want to share from my home kitchen, feels like I have a jillion recipes.

I have some news ...

1. I just got picked up for Season 9 of Cooking for Real!! Thanks for watching! I can't do it without you!

2. I'm headed back to co-host all week on Martha Stewart's Sirius radio show Morning Living with Betsy Karetnick. This Monday through Friday tune in from 7am-10am eastern, if you have a tuner :-)! So glad to go back and hang out with the crew!

3. I had a brunch last week that I'm still thinking about this week, here's what I ordered ...Yes, I ordered two plates! On the left, a Fried Oyster Omelet with a side of bacon and on the right, Huevos Rancheros. This is a place on 1st Street and 1st Avenue here in NYC called Prune, but Seinfeld fans know this area as the Nexus of the Universe!Love Seinfeld! Here's a peak inside the Fried Oyster Omelet that was served with hot sauce (visible in the 1st picture) sweetened by powdered sugar ...

I have to tell you, fried oysters are like bacon to me, they make everything better. The people at Prune know how to make an egg too, there was not a spot of browning on either side of my omelet, high standards and a sign that the eggs would be fluffy and light. Boy, were they. I was enjoying myself and the current company so much I forgot that one of our expected brunchers stood us up! Seems the festival got to him and the early wake-up was a bit much, so I sent over this picture to show him what he was missin' ...

Teeheehee, he sent a reply that he was jealous and I went back to eating my two plates. I didn't finish them both, but there was definitely an emphasis on the oyster lol. I just wanted to taste both and was glad I did. I actually have plans to head back very soon, it was just that good. A bit of a wait for a seat, tiny tables, tiny dining room, but big flavor. That's what the Nexus of the Universe delivers!

4. Forget carving a pumpkin a year early, I actually made holiday cookies for December a month ago! Sign up for this year's 12 Days of Cookies and watch here in the next week or so, I'll give a preview of my cookie.

5. Did I mention ... NEW SHOW TODAY!!! :-) Cooking for Real: Chile Chile Bang Bang 12 noon eastern, 11am central! If you miss it today, catch it Monday at 4PM on Food Network!