Cuisine Diva

Food Network Star Returns with New Intense Culinary Challenges

Some people like to cook, some people don't, and that's all okay. Some people can cook, some people can do the best they can and still end up with potentially inedible result. And then there are people who can cook, they know it, and they want to show off their skills to the world. And the best place to show off their skills might be Food Network Star on Food Network which awards the winner their own food show on Food Network.

 

On June 1st the show is going to premiere its tenth season. Filled with tough culinary challenges, it will put the culinary skills of the contestants to the test each and every episode. The cast of twelve will be lead by the culinary icons Alton Brown, Giada De Laurentiis and Bobby Flay. Every season, viewers love seeing new talent emerge on Food Network Star, said Bob Tuschman from Food Network. Watching three superstars of the food television world Alton, Giada and Bobby help the finalists hone their food, voice and on-camera skill is fascinating, fun and compelling.

The Food Network Star finalists who will be going against each other through a number of intense culinary challenges are: Luca Della Casa (San Antonio) Emma Frisch (Ithaca, NY) Nicole Gaffney (Atlantic City, NJ) Loreal Gavin (Indianapolis) Chris Kyler (Stafford, VA) Kenny Lao (New York) Christopher Lynch (New Orleans) Lenny McNab (Debeque, CO) Aryen Moore-Alston (Memphis) Sarah Penrod (League City, TX) Reuben Ruiz (Miami) Donna Sonkin Shaw (New York). Learn more about the show at FoodNetwork.com/Star or follow the happenings at Facebook.com/FoodNetwork and on Twitter with the hashtag #FoodNetworkStar.

Disclosure: This post was requested by an advertiser.

Learn how to cook with Worst Cooks In America

What's the best dish you would be able to put together if you only had the food currently found in your home to use for the task? In the fourth season premiere of Worst Cooks in America the fourteen recruits have exactly this task to prove themselves to their future masters.

After the creation and brutal first tasting of their best dish the cooking competition for the cooking-challenged can begin.

The show, Worst Cooks in America, is returning to the viewers for the fourth season and the winner of the show will be awarded a check for $25,000. The winner will be selected after the final challenge where two finalists need to prepare a three-course meal.

Keep in mind that all the contestant in the show that will premiere on Food Network on Sunday, February 17th at 9pm ET/PT have been nominated by their friends and family based on their poor cooking skills. All they have to hope for in order to win the competition, are their mentors, depending on which team they end up in, either superstar chef Anne Burrell or Bobby Flay.

Their goal is to turn the cooking-challenged kitchen zeroes into kitchen heros. Anne Burrell and Bobby Flay are going against each other for the second time, first time Anne's team managed to defeat Bobby's.

If you want to see some good cooking action and feel as if you were a great cook, be sure to be prepared on Sunday, February 17th at 9pm ET/PT.

Disclosure: This post was provided by an advertiser.

Never Trust a Skinny Chef

The Cuisine Diva playing tourist at Kennedy Space Center in Cocoa Beach, Florida. Looks like I'm wondering were the food vendors are hiding.

Real Women Can Cook
I like to watch the Food Network, and observe my favorite chefs cooking up a variety of delicious meals. Most of the chefs featured on the show look like real, ordinary people. I believe it when they show them tasting their food at the end of every show.

I like to watch 30 Minute Meals with Rachael Ray, Paula's Home Cooking with Paula Deen, and the Barefoot Contessa with Ina Garten. They are all real women, who look like they enjoy eating their culinary creations. Well okay, sometimes Miss Paula does get a bit carried away with all the butter she adds to her recipes, but she sure is a hoot and a holler to watch. And she loves to eat the food she makes.

Skinny Chefs
There are a few skinny chefs, such as Giada de Laurentiis, that I question as to whether she really eats the food she makes, besides the one bite taste she does for the camera, after each dish she makes. Do skinny chefs really eat the food they make? Or are they all closet bulimics that visit the bathroom as soon as the camera stops rolling? I am being a bit sarcastic with this post, probably just jealous that someone that enjoys cooking can also be skinny.

I also secretly wonder how Sandra Lee, of Semi-Homemade can stay so thin. Is it because she is tall, and she can elegantly carry extra weight unlike us more vertically challenged cooks? Or maybe it's all that drinking she likes to do, she just grazes on her culinary creations, and doesn't eat real portion sizes? Again, at 5 feet 5 inches, and never mistaken for skinny, I'm just jealous of skinny chicks that can eat.

I do a lot of recipe testing, and a lot of recipe EATING: reason #999 why the Cuisine Diva will never be mistaken for a skinny chick. Yes, I could give out all the food I make to the neighbors, but I like eating. What's the point of recipe testing and writing food articles if you don't actually get to eat the food you are writing about?

The Cuisine Diva trying to burn off some calories, so she can eat more food when she gets home.

Cuisine Diva Mantra
Workout - recipe test - eat, workout - recipe test - eat, repeat as necessary.

As I write this post, I am testing a recipe for date bars. That's not a dessert, is it? It has lots of old fashioned rolled oats and dried fruit in it. I like to think of it as cereal in bar form. Works for me. It's a good thing I do a lot of working out, otherwise I'd probably weigh about 200 pounds right about now.

I'm the Herbs & Spices Feature Writer for the Suite101 website. I'm writing the date bar recipe for Suite101, and will post up a link to the article when it goes live. Here's the link: Date Bar Recipe; Make a Dessert Featuring Oats, Brown Sugar and Dried Fruit.

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Cuisine Diva