I always wondered how to make stuffed jalapeno peppers without all of the stuffing oozing out in the oven or on the BBQ. And now that I've found this cool Jalapeno Pepper Roaster, I know how it's done.

It's actually very easy to make jalapeno poppers with this roaster. And it even comes with a tool to help you core the peppers. Just slice off the tops (the side with the stem) and use the corer to dig out the seedy insides.

Now all you have to do is stuff it with something. Cheese is always good but why not live it up a little bit and chop up some onions and sausage to go with it. Bacon is another great ingredient for your stuffing mixture.

Once you've got the peppers stuffed, just pop them into the roaster. It's made from stainless steel so it's safe for the grill, the oven or even a smoker. And there's holes for 36 jalapenos, so invite some friends over.

Here's one that definitely fits in the frivolous lawsuit category. A California women tried to sue Pepsi (parent company of Quaker Oats) because of the confusing product labeling on Cap'n Crunch Crunch Berries Cereal.

Apparently she though that Crunch Berries were real fruit and that's why she regularly bought the product for four years.

This is just sad that not only this women but also her lawyers would try to get this case in court.

But if you're like me, then finding out about this news will not only anger you, it'll also make you hungry for some Crunch Berries. I have tons of childhood memories of breakfast with the Cap'n.



Source

I always thought that the L'Equip R.P.M. Blender was the meanest, blendiest, blender in town until one day when I was watching Top Gear.

The guys at Top Gear, which by the way is a show about automobiles, decided to hook up a blender to a Corvette engine. And their first test with this new blender was a big pile of raw meat.

These types of stunts usually include a "Do not try this at home" disclaimer but in this case they didn't need it. Who would want to make a meat milkshake? Yuck!

Image via WikipediaI'd like to take a moment and wish everyone a Happy Halloween. Trick or Treating is great fun for the kids but don't forget to try out some great pumpkin recipes too.

Pumpkin muffins or pumpkin bread are a great addition to any Halloween Party.

Latte Art Pics
In this world where there's a Starbucks on every corner, I'm sure that most people have drank a few lattes at some point. But, I wonder how many people have ever seen cool latte art like these.

Here a video that shows some pretty neat latte art pics. The music is a little odd, but maybe that's what they normally play in non-US based coffee shops.



And if you'd like to see how they make these drinkable works of art, then check out this video where the barista makes a latte bear.

Did you know that Food Network had it's own YouTube Channel? Well I just learned about it and I'm psyched. Now it's really easy to grab your laptop and watch a cooking show in the kitchen. And best of all, you can stop, rewind or skip ahead. Maybe you already have a TV and Tivo in your kitchen but I don't, so this is a big deal for me.

In this video Bobby Flay is in the middle of an Eggplant Parmesan Throwdown. One thing that I didn't like about his recipe was that he left the skin on the eggplant. Yuck! Even when you add 3 cheeses, fontina, romano and mozzarella it's still going to taste like eggplant skin. Double yuck!

And the one tip that I loved in this video was before the challenger layered his eggplant, he dipped it into a pot of sauce. What a great idea!

Yesterday, I posted about the Hellman's Real Food Summer School Sweepstakes and how Bobby Flay was going to teach some of America's worst cooks how to become great backyard BBQ chefs. Well, in this next video he actually starts giving them some useful cooking tips.

They're grilling chicken this time and after a few minutes of laughing at how clueless they are, Bobby Flay jumps in there and teaches them what they're doing wrong.

Now this was actually entertaining and it also had some good cooking tips in it. It was almost like watching a mini Food Network show. If they keep this up, it could actually become something that I'd watch regularly. Hey Hellman's how about sponsoring a Bobby Flay Food Podcast?

Here's another chance for me to cook somewhere other than in my avocado green outdated kitchen. If you haven't noticed yet, I try to enter all of these remodeling or kitchen makeover sweepstakes. This contest is from Hellman's and the grand prize is the $20,000 Ultimate Backyard BBQ. Hey, it'll do nothing to improve the looks of my kitchen but I wouldn't mind cooking outside all year long if I won.

Hellman's has teamed up with Bobby Flay and Yahoo in sort of a online reality cooking show. The idea is that they're going to turn the worst cooks in the country into great summertime chefs. Below is one of the videos (the rest can be found here) where Bobby Flay is making potato salad with one of the contestants.

Besides the online cooking contest there's also a sweepstakes that requires no videos or cooking. Just fill out your information and you could win prizes like a Weber Grill or grill accessories. You can enter the sweepstakes here. There are daily and weekly prizes too so be sure to enter everyday.

Holy cow, I almost missed the Food Network's Ultimate BBQ Sweepstakes. I really haven't seen anything about it on TV and I watch a lot of the Food Network. Even my kids know who Alton Brown, Giada and Bobby Flay are but I actually found out about this contest because this blog is getting some search engine traffic from people looking for information about the contest. I guess I blogged about it last year.

And as you can see from the rinky dink grill in the picture, I did not win last year.

So off to the Food Network website I went and I got the information that these searchers are looking for. Here's the deal on this contest:

The 2008 contest runs from May 1st to June 2nd and you can win $65,000 in cash to create the backyard kitchen of your dreams. Plus you can also win Bobby Flay Grillware, Kohls gift cards and Kitchen Aid Appliances.

And 10 first prize winners will get a copy of Bobby Flay's Grill It!.

$65,000 could definitely create the Ultimate BBQ setup. I'm thinking, flagstone BBQ Island with granite counter tops and built in sink and fridge. Then a really nice smoker and a wood fired pizza oven. Then rest could go towards a pergola with outdoor ceiling fans and sun sails to keep my guests cool. Yes, I think this Food Network sweepstakes is going to make someone very, very happy. Hopefully me.

Enter the Food Network's Ultimate BBQ Sweepstakes here.

Here's another one of those videos from the IKEA Channel on YouTube. Organizing the kitchen cabinets is definitely something I need to do. Our pantry has no room for mops and brooms either because it's all shelves and they're all full of food. But these slide out shelves from IKEA are still pretty cool.

Did you know that IKEA had it's own channel on YouTube? Neither did I. Most of the IKEA videos look very much like commercials. Nothing special, just the same old stuff that you'd see on TV.

This commercial is about how to light your kitchen. Lighting is important so I thought they'd talk about work light, mood light, ambient lighting or something like that. But nope, it's just some sillyness set in an IKEA Kitchen. But that doesn't stop me from wanting a brand new IKEA kitchen in my house. Still a strong believer in their brand, even if they have odd commercials on YouTube.

This is a neat way to peel an egg. I usually roll my hard boiled eggs to get the shell off but that method will sometimes leave some shell on the egg. Then you have to dig it off with your finger nails and that just makes a big mess.

I'm definitely going to try this next time I have a hard boiled egg. Too bad Easter has already passed.

This video is very well done. The whole stop motion thing reminds me of watching Sesame Street as a kid.

I think even without the humor of having that guy eat all the pancakes, this would be a cool way to do a weekly internet cooking show.

Have you ever seen those articles about where the most expensive real estate in the world is? Well those articles are wrong because I would pay anything to have some more room in my kitchen.

Seriously, my cabinets and drawers are all filled to the rim. Getting something out of the cabinets creates a musical symphony of pots and pans clanging together that would make a sound fx engineer proud.

So when I saw, these Collapsible Colanders on Amazon, I knew I had to have one. It's made from that silicon that all new kitchen stuff is being made out of lately. But the neat thing is that it folds almost flat for easy storage. What a great idea. A regular colander takes up a lot of space that I don't have.

They also make Collapsible Bowls too. Why with a few of these to replace my regular colander and some bowls too, I'll have enough room to go out and buy some more kitchen stuff.

When I started this blog I was hoping to be able to document my kitchen makeover. You know, show before and after, put up posts about the appliances that we're buying and talk about the whole decision making process. Well, my kitchen remodel hasn't happened. We opted for a outdoor hardscape and pool remodel instead and our home equity loan is still bleeding from the experience.

Sadly, I still have an outdated kitchen with avocado green kitchen countertops and plates that come out of the cabinets chilled in the winter because there's little or no insulation in the walls. And unfortunately I don't think we'll have enough budget to fix this anytime soon.

Another option would be to do the remodel myself. I'm pretty handy like that and even finished my basement a few years ago so it's possible.

And I just found a great resource for people who want to remodel their kitchens. Kitchen.com's - Ask a Designer is a must see site for anyone looking for ideas on remodeling.

Don't worry, it's not like reading a kitchen redesign book (yawn), there's tons of videos that show you exactly what they're talking about. Topics include, Designing and Decorating, Budgets and Planning, Cabinets, Countertops and more.

Funny, that there doesn't seem to be any videos with avocado green countertops. I'll take that as a sign that it's time to start my own kitchen makeover.

Go Martha! It's your birthday! Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia is buying Emeril Lagasse. I'll hold back my urge to say the word Bam. It's going to be overused in news articles on this story so I'll refrain.

She's paying $45 million in cash and another $5 million in stock for the rights to his cookbooks, TV shows and other products but will not get a piece of his restaurant business.

Nice move in my opinion. Now she can add at least another hour of TV time to market her good without the risk of overexposure. And as a bonus, Emeril is a likeable and marketable guy except for that whole sitcom thing.

So who's next? Does Martha have her eye on Giada? Bobby Flay? How about a small kitchen blog? Go ahead, make an offer. Our lawyers are standing by.

In recent years, my sister and I have decided to exchange a couple of small themed gifts with a $25 limit for the holidays instead of the usual barrage of presents. We both have two kids each and Christmas is really for them anyway so the adult gifts aren't as important. We came up with the idea to try to save a little money but it's become one of my favorite gift to buy and receive each Christmas. It's a lot more fun to come up with a creative gift on a budget. This year the theme was where we live. We had to choose gifts that had something to do with where we lived which for me is New Jersey and for her is Buffalo, NY.

Now I hope she enjoys her Sopranos Family Cookbook and that package of Taylor Ham but that bottle of Hot Wing sauce from the Anchor Bar that she bought was one of the tastiest gifts I've ever received.

Wings are a quick and easy meal in my house. We make a marinade of Franks Hot sauce and butter and we either buy wingettes or I'll cut the wings up myself. The butter part of the recipe was something I learned from my brother-in-law. He's a professional New York Giants Tailgater who packs a turkey fryer and a sofa into a truck for every Sunday home game. Apparently butter and the deep fryer are the standard way to make hot wings while in the parking lot of Giants Stadium but I'll pass on the fryer and use the BBQ.

The hot sauce to butter ratio is about 3 or 4 to 1. Let the wings marinate at least an hour. Overnight would be best but who wants to cut up chicken wings before going to sleep at night. I'm lucky if I have time to pack a sandwich for work the next day, getting out the cutting board and some raw chicken usually isn't high on my list of things to things to do after the kids go to bed.



After tasting wings made with Anchor Bar Buffalo Wing Sauce, I may never buy another bottle of Franks hot sauce again. This is what wings are supposed to taste like. We served our authentic New Jersey Buffalo Wings with small bowls of hot sauce and blue cheese dressing for dipping.

Since this year's gifts were so great, maybe next year the theme should be something to do with food. We seem to buy each other food anyway.

I'm on a contest kick lately and I've found another one, The DIY Blog Cabin. No pictures of the kitchen yet but with all of these contests from DIY/HGTV/Food Network, you know the kitchen is going to be top notch.

Enter for a chance to win a spectacular vacation retreat in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. Prize package includes a fully finished log cabin vacation home complete with winning design elements from our blog cabin vote-in, including cherry oak floors, a magnificent stone hearth, granite counters, a modern slate shower, and much more.

Tune in to Blog Cabin to watch this virtual dream house become a reality—and then enter daily for a chance to win it.

Moen, the makers of outstanding faucets for the kitchen and bath have announced their fourth annual Show Us Your Style contest. The grand prize for this random drawing is $10,000 and will be chosen in November.

Well since I didn’t win the HGTV Dream Home, this Moen contest will have to do. I guess I would use the prize money to remodel my kitchen but, I’d have to do the work myself because $10,000 won’t go to far with a contractor. It would really be nice to get rid of my nasty old cabinets so doing the work myself would be worth it. Granite countertops are obviously out because they’d probably cost more than the prize money. But ten grand would be enough for a nice makeover.

While most people are trying to cut back on their carbohydrate intake, I still like to eat pasta a few times a week. I consider it carbo loading for all those hours that I’m sitting in front of the computer. Of course pasta is great with tomato sauce but pasta with olive oil is just as tasty. And what better way to eat pasta “aioli” than with sausage, broccoli rabe and sun dried tomatoes.


Broccoli Rabe is a common vegetable in Italian cooking. It can also be referred to as Broccoli Raab, Rapini or Cime di Rapa. It’s a leafy green with pointy leaves and small buds that look like tiny heads of broccoli. Some say that Broccoli Rabe’s bitter, nutty almost mustard like flavor is an acquired taste and I’d have to agree with them. I didn’t start liking it until I was an adult.


I grow Broccoli Rabe in my vegetable garden as a cool season crop. Be sure to check out my gardening blog for more information about growing Broccoli Rabe.


Cavatelli served with Broccoli Rabe, Sausage and Sun Dried Tomatoes is a great way to carbo load and it tastes good too.