Alton Brown

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Who says TV can’t be good for you? Last night, my husband and I were watching the Food Network - it happens to be Chocolate Week, so Emeril and Alton were each waxing brilliant with chocolate lovelies. And since I happen to be Chocolate Weak, I was in my element. Apparently my husband shares this weakness even more than I thought, because right after Emeril signed off, he got up, got dressed, and braved the cold for a trip to the store. When he came back, he wasn’t alone - he brought two boxes of decadent chocolate candies with him. One was an assorted variety and the other was all truffles. I’ll need a little further research to determine which is better. Hard work, but somebody’s gotta do it….may as well be me.

The chocolate magic continues tonight - not just in my kitchen, but on the Food Network as well. You can see a complete run down in the scroller to the right, but a few things that stood out to me were Emeril’s Chocolate Covered Turtles and Alton’s Cocoa Brownies, Hot Cocoa, and Cocoa Syrup.

On Rachael Ray’s Tasty Travels, one of the featured foods will be Chocolate Brownie Baklava, and it sounds like something that would make an extra special Valentine’s Day gift for someone just as extra special as it is.

Enjoy the rest of Chocolate week! Around my house, we’ve been battling this horrible flu bug for over a week - and chocolate week has been one of the few bright spots.

Memo to self: Next year - get the flu shot, hard head!

Food Network.com’s Top Ten Recipes of 2006:

1. Good Eats Roast Turkey (Alton Brown)

2. Mexican Chicken (Paula Deen)

3. Chicken and Rice Casserole (Paula Deen)

4. Lasagna Rolls (Giada De Laurentiis)

5. Baked French Toast Casserole with Maple Syrup (Paula Deen)

6. Chicken Tetrazzini (Giada De Laurentiis)

7. Chicken Divan (Paula Deen)

8. Taco Soup (Paula Deen)

9. Grandmother Paul’s Fried Chicken (Paula Deen)

10. Potato Casserole (Paula Deen)

Check it out, our girl Paula has 7 of the ten recipes in the top ten! I’d recommend going ahead and printing each of these recipes out - they’re each perfectly amazing.

Joi

I added a little ticker to the right that’ll keep you up to date on what you might want to watch out for on the Food Network. Each day I’ll change it to that day’s line up - I’ll only give the day’s very best….the shows, the chefs, and the food you just can’t miss!

Joi

2 cups Self Rising Flour
2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
2 4oz Jars Strained Carrot Baby Food
4 Eggs
2 Cups Sugar
1-1/2 Cups Vegetable Oil

FROSTING:
1/4 Cup Butter, Softened
1 8oz Pkg. Cream Cheese, Softened
1 16oz Box Confectioner’s Sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract

Pre-Heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour three 8′ or 9″ pans. Mix the cake ingredients and blend well with an electric mixer. Pour into the prepared pans.

Bake 25 - 20 minutes, until golden brown. Cool in the pans for about 5 minutes, then invert onto waxed paper and allow to cool completely.

For the frosting: Mix all ingredients with a mixer. Blend until smooth and creamy. Frost the cake when it’s completely cool.

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A recent visitor to the blog requested this recipe from one of Paula Deen’s earlier cookbooks. Luckily I’m just the source to turn to for all things Paula Deen, Rachael Ray, Alton Brown, and Emeril!

The great thing about each of these chefs is the fact that their recipes are doable. You can buy their cookbooks and know you’ll actually be able to use all of the recipes. I use and re-use all of the recipes in my cookbook collection, and Paula’s are honestly as good as it gets. Some of my favorite recipes lie within her cookbooks. She’s one of us!

Joi

While getting the Food Network ticker loaded up for the day on Buttermilk Press - a few shows and/or recipes stood out in my food-obsessed little mind :

On Paula Deen’s first show (1:00 est), she’ll be making Jalapeno Cracklin’ Corn Bread. That sounds like it’d be amazing with some well-seasoned white beans (or Pinto or Great Northern)….or a pot of chili, for that matter.

Immediately after that episode, Giada De Laurentiis comes on with “Everyday Italian.” One of the foods she’s set to make is Warm Chocolate Cakes with Berries. Like the Jalapeno Cracklin’ Corn Bread, it made an appointment with my kitchen.

See the scroller on Buttermilk Press for the specifics, but both of Emeril’s shows (Essense and Live) will be big winners today, as will Semi-Homemade, and tonight’s Good Eats (Tortillas).

The ones I”m most looking forward to are Paula’s second show of the day and Rachael Ray’s 6:30 pm est. 30 Minute Meals. Paula’s episode is titled “Paula Goes International” and will feature Cuban Sandwiches, Homemade Potato Chips, Alice Jo’s Spaghetti Sauce, Taco Salad, and Mexican Wedding Cookies. The Cuban sandwiches should be the ones featured in her most recent cookbook.

Rachael’s show is titled “Rustlin’ Up Vittles” and it has me camped out by my tv set. She’ll make Cowboy Hash and Eggs, Texas Toast and Salsa. The salsa is a Yellow Tomato Salsa and sounds pretty amazing. Can’t wait for that one.

If you’re like my husband and like Bobby Flay, you’ll want to see his “Throwdown” show tonight - featuring Jerk Chicken. They’ll also be cooking up Jamaican Jerk Chicken
Caribbean Stuffed Red Snapper, Spicy West Indies Fish, Honey-Grilled Vegetables, Calypso Corn, Rice Salad
Grilled Garlic Bread, Tanzanian Baked Bananas, Strawberry-Lemonade Punch, Grilled Jerk Chicken with Mango Cilantro Salsa, and Grilled Jerk Rubbed Chicken with Habanero-Mint Glaze.

Habanero-Mint Glaze. Does that sound dangerous, or what?!?!

It’s a good day. I have the Food Network on in our home office - since I work at home, no one can tell me it’s a “no no,” well they could - it just flat wouldn’t do them any good. Get between me and Rachael, Paula, Giada, Emeril and Alton? They’d be a fool. That’s right up there with jerking on Superman’s cape and spitting into the wind…

Have an amazingly delicious day,
Joi

technorati tags: RachaelRay, Emeril, AltonBrown, PaulaDeen, FoodTV, FoodNetwork, Recipes, Food, BobbyFlay, EverydayItalian, GoodEats, 30MinuteMeals, Giada

Hot day on the Food Network!

If there’s any food in the world better than authentic Mexican (or Tex Mex, for that matter) - I don’t want to taste it. I’d straight die, that’s all.

We’re fortunate here in Owensboro, we have more than 6 Mexican restaurants to choose from. My family keeps returning to one in particuluar, though, and it all comes down to the Salsa. Real Hacienda’s salsa is just a culinary happy dance waiting to happen - there’s just something about their’s that sets it apart from everyone else’s.

A number of the shows on the Food Network are headed South of the Border today: Paula’s Home Cooking (Chicken Empanadas, Tay’s Hot and Spicy Salsa, Enchilada Pie, Churros ), Semi-Homemade (Mexican Pizza, Borracho Beans, Individual Lime cheesecakes), Tyler’s Ultimate (Fajitas), 30 Minute Meals (Chipotle Cashew Chicken with Brown Rice, Glazed Spinach Salad ), and Barefoot Contessa (Tequila Lime Chicken, Guacamole, Frozen Key Lime Pie, Sagaponack Corn Pudding).

Can’t wait to check out the Sagaponack Corn Pudding - I’m hoping it’s similar to a corn dish Chi Chi’s serves.

Also, don’t forget about Alton Brown tonight. His first episode in the Feasting on Asphalt series, “The South Shall Fry Again” will fly again, followed by episode #2, “I Smell Pork.”

technorati tags: food, recipes, Mexicanfood, Mexican+food, AltonBrown, Foodnetwork, RachaelRay, PaulaDeen

The first episode of Alton’s new series, “Feasting on Asphalt” runs again tonight - so if you didn’t get to see it the first time, you’ve got another chance. It’s really, really, really good. The episode’s called, “The South Shall Fry Again” - and that we shall. (With the heat wave we’re having here in Kentucky, I think we’re being fried. Kentucky Fried.)

Did I mention that the show’s really good? Really, really good?

Joi

I’ve been slowly but surely redoing my main cooking site, Buttermilk Press.com. It’s almost all the way finished - I should be able to finish up this weekend.

If you go by you’ll notice a scrolling feature that I’ve added for those of you who are as addicted to the Food Network as I am. You won’t be able to miss it - it’s in the top right hand corner. I’ll keep up with what’s coming up on our favorite channel that night. Admitedly I only keep up with what’s coming up on my favorites, but my faves happen to be the best anyway!

Anyway, tonight’s episodes sound especially good - Rachael Ray and Alton Brown each have two on tonight and all four feature dishes I’d be interested in. Giada DeLaurntiis will be making some interesting Iced Tea - and since that’s pretty much the elixer of the gods, I gotta check in on that.

Did you catch Emeril last night? He used a great Southern technique that I swear by as well - marinating chicken in buttermilk. He actually soaked his wings in a buttermilk and lime juice mixture. Yep, gotta try that out.

Have a weekend worth writing about!
~Joi

Did you catch the recent Good Eatsabout Pies? Like everything Alton Brown touches, it was a great one.

I’ve been making pies for years, yet learned a few things from the episode. I’m anxious to test out his crust skills on a pie in a day or two. His approach of using both butter and lard in the crust is supposed to make it extra flaky - and any crust BUT a flaky one’s a failure in my cookbook!

I’m not sure I’ll make his Lemon Meringue Pie, though. I think I’ll go with a Chess Pie, a chocolate chip pie, or a coconut cream. Maybe even a Banana Cream Pie. As a matter of fact, I have a great recipe for Banana Cream Pie that I’ll type in here later. After lunch - I’m starving!

The episode runs again on the 26th and the 29th. Check your guide for the times, to be sure, but I believe the 26th episode would be at 7:00 PM ET/PT and the 29th episode would be at 3:00 PM ET/PT.

Joi

I recently snatched up a copy of Food Network’s Dave Lieberman’s cookbook, “Young & Hungry.” If you’ve ever watched his show on Food TV, you know how good this guy is. He has become one of the “chosen ones” in my household - meaning that he, along with Alton, Paula, Jamie, Tyler and Warren Brown are not to be missed.

Anyway, here’s the link to Food Network’s cookbooks - if you search his name, you’ll find that they actually have autographed copies of his cookbook!

Le sigh. My cookbook isn’t autographed.

Great cookbooks from your favorite celebrity chefs now on sale.

Joi