Disappointed in Recommended Kentucky Diner

Bill and I were in Kentucky last week for the Sturgis Kentucky Bike Rally. 
We are on a budget, but we do try to eat out at least once on a trip. I usually try to find a local restaurant that local recommend to me. 

The Roadside Diner is located less than a quarter mile from the Union County Fairgrounds, which is the home of the Sturgis Kentucky Bike Rally. 
Several people at the local motorcycle rally recommended this diner's burgers to me and I was excited to try it. 

Specifically, I was told the diner had a great Mushroom and Swiss burger with very large orders of fries. Mushroom and Swiss burgers are my favorite burger to eat. 

My first impression of the diner as we seated ourselves was - rundown. However, I overlooked that because it was during the bike rally. Thousands of bikers were in town for the rally and I'm sure that the diner had been flooded with customers. 

The waitresses were friendly, attentive, and made you feel at home. 
However, my burger was considerably less than spectacular. It was cold and overcooked with unmelted, shredded white cheese that might have been Swiss cheese, or mozzarella.The button mushroom slices were straight out of a can with no sauce. I was definitely disappointed, but the burger patty was 100% beef. 

The half order of tots was large and taste okay. 

The hubby's tuna salad sandwich was very tangy. He didn't like it. However, I tasted it and it was tasty if you like a generous amount of lemon juice in your tuna salad. 

The bright spot in our dining experience was dessert. 
I ordered the blackberry cobbler with vanilla ice cream for dessert. I loved it! The house made cobbler was tangy, not too sweet and the cobbler crust was tender, flaky, and flavorful. Personally, I would go back just for dessert and coffee.

SalleeB Shares: Food Network Star Week 3

Creating Some Homemade Happiness on a Plate!

And the challenge is....."Cook the Word", or match a dish to a catchy, descriptive term!

How's "Better Off Bread" or "Carved for Attention?" These are two of the terms that the finalists had to work with this week for their opening, individual challenge.

The catchy terms were assigned by the perennial mentors Bobby Flay and Giada de Laurentis. Additionally, a  food photographer assisted each chef with creating a magazine worthy picture of their dish.

Click Here  to see a pic of each chef and their playful phrase.

Food Network Magazine's founding editor, Maile Carpenter, matched the gorgeous pictures of each chef's food to the cleverly worded phrases without knowing who had created each dish. 

And the Secret Is...

Unfortunately, the chefs didn't know that if Maile couldn't match their food picture with a phrase, the mentors wouldn't sample their dish. Jernard, Martita, and Monterey had the three dishes that Maile couldn't match in the "Cook the Word" challenge.

And the Winner Is....Tregaye!

Tregaye won with her Mount Everzest dish, Lobster Bread Pudding cooked in an individual bundt cake pan and topped with citrus zest.

Road Trippin' Themes

"Family Road Trip" was the team video and cooking challenge. As the winner of the individual challenge, Tregaye assigned the teams of two before the teams were given their road trip themes.

Tregaye obviously had a strategy in assigning the teams.

Regrettably, her strategy didn't work very well. Several of her assigned teams worked incredibly well together. Their filmed intros and dishes were worthy of an actual Food Network show.

Top Teams

• Jernard and Joy won the challenge. Their partnership and southern cooking was solid Down South Family with tremendous appeal. Honestly, they could have a show right now!
• Monterey and Rob filmed an amazingly professional video. The partnership was dynamic, but their dishes weren't very well received. This dynamic duo are safe due to the quality of their filmed intro. Loved Rob's black shirt with chains! 
• Damiano and Erin put an Italian spin on camping. Bakers bake and Erin's upscale spin on S'mores was judged to be flavorful and unique. They're safe for another week.

Bottom Teams

• Martita and Ana, spent more time talking about their abuela's (grandmother's) drink of choice than what they were cooking. Good job on that pairing Tregaye!
• Tregaye and Yaku found themselves on the bottom. Yaku's performance and food kept him safe. However, Tregaye's energy started out okay, but then she was sidetracked into a clownish performance that I found painful to watch. Additionally, Tregaye's Crab Topped Corn Muffin? wasn't found to be kid-friendly.

SalleeB is Shocked! 

My mouth literally fell open when the mentors announced Martita was going home. Really? Really! I took to Twitter and tweeted #FoodNetworkStar to let them know the really short version of  how I feel about this decision.

In my opinion, it is inevitable that Ana is going home.

Ana has already given a plethora of excuses for her poor time management. I find her very unpersonable. She makes a catty comment, blinks like she just realized it was catty, and then shrugs her shoulders and says it's the truth. Yeah, the truth according to Ana. Why not go ahead and send her home NOW?

Yes, Martita was repeating her culinary point of view in the same way and cooking similar dishes.

I agree she sounded very rehearsed and polished,  but the camera loves her. She sparkles and comes right through the camera and into my living room. Martita can fix rehearsed and one note.

You can't fix  unpersonable. 

Ana wanted to be less scripted and more conversational in the team challenge. Look how well that went! Yes, I'm being sarcastic. 

Bobby and Giada, what were you thinking?
I believe that Week 4 will only further reinforce the fact that Ana needs to be sent home. Maybe I'm wrong and she can improve. However, I'm from Missouri and Ana will have to "Show Me" an improvement before I will change my opinion. 

SalleeB Shares: Season 12 of Food Network Star

Creating Some Homemade Happiness on a Plate!

Have you checked out the finalists at Food Network's website yet?
I didn't until after I watched Comeback Kitchen to see which finalists from previous seasons of Food Network Star would be given a second chance to compete on Season 12.

Of course, Food Network execs decided to make everyone wait to find out who the winner was until the premiere of Food Network Star! 

Was the winner Dom from Season 11 or Martita from Season 8?

After that last episode of Comeback Kitchen,
I checked out the thirteen finalists on the Food Network website and I have watched the first two episodes of Food Network Star.

Click Here to see the pics and bios for the thirteen finalists.

Season 12 seems to be concentrating on food professionals, rather than home cooks.
Two finalists seem to qualify as home cooks, Monterey Salka and Melissa Pfeister. However, the rest of the finalists are already in the food business as a restaurant owner, restaurant manager, caterer, bakery owner/manager, executive chef, or cookbook author.

Update: 6/5/2016   I received an email from a reader that informed me that Monterey is definitely NOT a home cook. Thanks Janie!

Camera Savvy Bakers and a Miami Housewife
I was thrilled to see Erin Campbell, the winner of Holiday Baking Championship, and Damiano Carrara who was a finalist in the Spring Baking Championship. These two contestants should be very familiar with having a camera crew around them. Another finalist with LOTS of camera time is Ana Quincoces because she was on "Real Housewives of Miami." Additionally, Martita is another camera savvy finalist.

Immediate Camera Time
 In my opinion, the Food Network executives want to get rid of contestants with camera issues immediately. About 10 minutes into the first episode, thirteen, thirty second videos were made by the contestants to introduce themselves and their style of cooking.

Surprisingly, Ana didn't do well.  However, Martita's lead in was almost identical to her Comeback Kitchen videos. Come on Martita, we know your culinary point of view, give us some new information.

The contestants were right back in front of a camera crew on the second episode. 
Teams of two were formed by the contestants. Each team went to a restaurant and filmed an "on the road" film clip. After viewing the short film clips, each team was judged to have a winner and a loser. Honestly, most of the losers were apparent.

These contestants have already had to make a thirty second intro video,  make a team video, AND sway a live audience to eat their food.

Problem: An Extra Contestant
With Martita's entry, there were fourteen contestants instead of the original thirteen I believe that adds up to one extra contestant. How was this problem going to be solved? Well, viewers found out in episode two, when two finalists, Aaron Crumbaugh and Melissa Pfeister, were sent home.  Problem of one extra contestant solved.  Havird Usry was sent home last week.

Aaron's Stormy Departure
 In the world according to Aaron, Bobby and Giada don't know what they are doing because they sent him home. Aaron was convinced that he is a much better chef than some of the other contestants that the mentors decided were safe. Aaron's last words to the mentors? "Suck it." 

Finale of Spring Baking Championship

#SpringBakingChampionship

The finale of the Spring Baking Championship - Season 2 is over! 

The final three contestants, Susana Mijares, Dan Langan, and Jane Soudah whipped up three gorgeous, destination wedding cakes in 5 hours. It was a tough day of judging for Duff, Lorraine, and Nancy. Duff tweeted that it was the longest deliberation yet to pick the winner.

Duff Goldman looked at Susana's Italian Colosseum cake and said,"I couldn't do that in 5 hours." Wow! What a compliment.
https://twitter.susanamijaresa

Dan used edible paper to create paper flowers and then air brushed them, authentic Mexican paper flowers that you can eat. The only problem with his cake was an edible chalkboard that none of the judges felt was appropriate.
https://twitter.com/BakedByDan

Jane's Hawaiian Lei Wedding cake was elegant. Her almost fail, the cakes stuck to the pans, was handled with grace under pressure. Jane pieced her cake layers together, cooled and frosted the layers, and you could not tell that the layers weren't perfect. PLUS, the judges loved the flavors in her butter cake - passion fruit butter cream filling, coconut rum syrup, and American buttercream/creamcheese frosting.

And the winner is: Jane Soudah           https://twitter.com/sweetjanesbaker

I am going to miss watching this show, BUT I am looking forward to the May 25th premiere of Cake Hunters. AND Cake Masters always provides a pyrotechnical sweet baking fix, too.

Click Here   Recipes From the Spring Baking Championship

SalleeShares: The MasterChef Grand Finale

I am going to tell you a secret. Are you ready? Here it is - I do not watch MasterChef until the final six chefs are left. Yep, I prefer to not watch until the top six chefs are consistently bringing their A game and have found their culinary voice. Season 6 has had an unusually high calibre of home cook competing. 

Due to the outstanding cooking abilities of the home cooks, Season 6 has been exciting. Judges Gordon Ramsey, Graham Elliot, and Christina Tosi have consistently remarked that each home cook is cooking at a professional restaurant level. Wow, fine dining from home cooks is exciting. However, the top 3 were fairly easy to pick out.

The final three contestants - Derek Peltz, Claudia Sandoval, and Stephen Lee - were simply amazing to watch as they cooked for a VIP crowd of thirty in the MasterChef Restaurant. The VIP's were the culinary teams behind Gordon Ramsey, Graham Elliot, and Christina Tosi. Can you imagine cooking for professional sou chefs, pastry chefs, and restaurant managers? With a quarter of a million dollars and a cookbook deal at stake, the three finalists cooked their hearts out. 

Stephen was edged out by Claudia by the smallest seasoning margin. However, Gordon Ramsey told Stephen to get together his food truck business plan and he would personally invest. You know that the cooking level is amazing to have a world famous chef offering to invest in your food truck dream. Maybe Stephen needs to consider going onto the Great American Food Truck Race?

Claudia and Derek faced off in a three course meal consisting of an appetizer, an entree, and dessert. Family members were present at the final cook-off. Claudia asked her mom and grandma to pray for her and I do believe God was involved in Claudia's cooking as she stuck to her Latino cooking heritage and brought it to a fine dining level. Graham Elliot said she was cooking with "la vida loca", an ultimate accolade for a home cook.  

Derek and Claudia consistently presented beautiful plates that contained heavenly, well seasoned, offering to the three judges. Ultimately, Claudia won by the narrowest of margins. 

Congratulations Claudia Sandoval! 

SalleeShares - Eating at the Rib Crib, Springfield, Missouri

Bill and I rode our motorcycles to Springfield, Missouri this week. The purpose of our day trip was to shop at the Springfield Leather Company on Glenstone Avenue. psst...they sell beads and jewelry supplies too! Click Here to see their website.

After buying glass beads, a small roll of s-lon cord, and assorted leather working items, Bill asked me if I was hungry. Well heck yeah! I had not eaten breakfast, had ridden over 135 miles, AND it was 2:00 in the afternoon. 

We rode our bikes to the Rib Crib  at 1640 N. Glenstone Avenue. What a joy to sit down in air-conditioning and enjoy a glass of unsweetened ice tea! Did I mention it was 85 degrees and sunny? I'm not complaining. I swear I'm not. 

My First Experience at Rib Crib
Anyway, Bill has eaten at Rib Crib before, but this was my first visit. The menu isn't overly cluttered; it is a typical folding menu with sections for lunch, dinner, salads, sandwiches, sides, and drinks. I spent about three minutes looking at the menu. Prices for most lunch choices at Rib Crib are in the $8 to $10 range. 
Click Here to see the menu.

Smokin' Sandwiches Since I was going to be riding another 135 miles home, I didn't want to tackle a combo platter and was hungry enough that I wanted more than a salad. The "Smokin' Sandwiches with Seasoned Fries" section of the menu seemed like a good choice. My sandwich pick was the Smokestack BBQ Sandwich basket with pulled pork.  Click Here to see a picture 

Fast n Friendly Service - Large Portions Even though it was mid afternoon - not prime dining time -  my food order arrived within ten minutes. The friendly, attentive waitress brought my plate and I was surprised to see what appeared to be a half pound of hot, nicely smoked, pulled pork between the toasted halves of a bun. Plus, the sandwich was framed by an extra large portion of seasoned fries. Seriously, the sandwich and seasoned fries I was served looked just like the menu picture. You know how rarely that happens! 

The House BBQ Sauces Two bottles of house BBQ sauce were on the table, a hot sauce and a mild sauce. I squirted a penny sized puddle of the hot and the mild BBQ sauces into the basket and sampled each one. The mild was nicely sweet with a slight tang, too tame for my liking.  I like spicy sauces, but not fiery, melt-my-tongue sauces. My initial opinion of the hot BBQ sauce was that it was slightly sweet and mildly spicy. I applied it to my pulled pork sandwich and started eating. Five minutes later, I realized that my mouth was warm and getting warmer, but not unpleasantly so. 

The Entire Experience
Bill won some points with me. My entire dining experience was pleasant and enjoyable. The waitress was attentive, kept showing up at my elbow to ask if I wanted more ice tea, the food was fresh, and the bathrooms were clean. All in all, a four star dining experience. 

I definitely want to go back to the Rib Crib on N. Glenstone Avenue, the next time we are in Springfield,MO! 

SalleeShares - Where's Chef Lenny?

The five minute teaser for Food Network Star was recorded on my DVR this morning. Just a quick look at a few of the new contestants. Four, or was it five, contestants did a thirty second bio about themselves and their food point of view. Bobby Flay and Giada de Laurentis, who is always looking elegant, were on hand to give a snap critique. Then it was over. Yes, just a taste of the show to make us come back for more! However, a question popped up into my head, " Where is Chef Lenny?"

The winner of last year's Next Food Network Star  is no where to be found on Food Network. I started following Chef Lenny on Twitter during last year's season of the show, but his last tweet was June 16, 2014. In an effort to find something current, I clicked on the cheflenny.com link on his Twitter page. The website is just a collection of food recipe categories that lead to sponsored links - Paid ad links - nothing personal is to be found at cheflenny.com

A Google search led me right back to the Food Network's "Chefs and Hosts" page. Everything on Lenny McNab is from Season 10's show. Nothing new there. As I scanned down the search results, I started seeing references to Chef Lenny and obscenities he had posted online before he was a contestant. Grub Street had a post"Click Here for article"  and so did The Braiser. "Click Here to read" Uh oh, not good news. However, The "Food Network Gossip" was the most enlightening about ,"What happened to Chef Lenny?". Read here.

If you remember, I am a big fan of Chef Luca della Casa. Chef Luca is now front man for Isabel Tuna. Congrats Chef Luca. My next question is: "Why isn't Food Network featuring a show with Chef Luca?" Seriously, he has camera appeal and fan appeal with his 100 watt smile. Read the latest tweets from Chef Luca by clicking here

I hope the contestants this year had thorough background checks. You would think that would be the FIRST thing a network would do. 

SalleeShares: My New Spice Love, Garam Masala

How many spice containers are sitting in your cabinet right now?
Five, ten, twenty? My two spice shelves are full, full, full right now. A friend is moving to Oklahoma and guess who was gifted with a box of spices? The bottle that excited me the most was a brand-new, unopened bottle of garam masala.

What's garam masala you ask?
Garam masala is an Indian spice blend that is used in dishes such as Chicken Masala. Anyhow, I tried it out by making a chicken dish called "Fragrant Garam Masala Chicken Stew with Peas and Potatoes." Well, Bill's assessment was - It's Okay, but...and I agreed with him. No more savory applications of garam masala will be making an appearance on the Bonham dinner table. However, my taste buds took notice of the warm flavors that were reminiscent of fall baking and autumn holidays. 

Garam masala reminds me of an apple pie. Yum! 
I searched "garam masala + apple pie" on Google and found that several other baker/bloggers have discovered this yummy combo too! Below are the top six results for my search and a quick note on the information that I learned.

• Not the Usual Holiday Spice: Garam Masala | The Kitchn   

At The Kitchn, garam masala was substituted for the pumpkin pie spice in their apple pie recipe and loved the switch!

• Chai Apple Pie - The Glamorous Housewife

The Glamorous Housewife decided to pair a sour cream apple pie with garam 

masala. I have no experience with chai tea, but the Glamorous Housewife assures readers 
that garam masala is reminiscent of chai tea flavor. Hence, the name of her pie.

• Garam Masala Apple Pie - Teeny Tiny Spice Recipes

Another believer in the pairing of garam masala and apple pie. A recipe is included.

• Midwestern nice for better pies - Terry Hope Romero

And another believer of this pairing! A great recipe from vegan cookbook author 

Terry Romero. Are you seeing a pattern here?

• Garam Masala | Indian As Apple Pie

Indian as Apple Pie is actually the next THREE search results. However, they

believe garam masala is as Indian as apple pie is American! 

• The Girl Pie Chunky Apple Sauce with Garam Masala and ...

Another use for the apple and garam masala! Put it in chunky apple sauce, or any 

applesauce!

I am going to be reaching for garam masala the next time I make apple spice cake, 

apple pie, apple tarts, or apple anything. Be looking for my new spice love - garam 

masala.

SalleeShares - An Opinion About All-Star Academy

All-Star Academy

Today, I have chosen to share about the Food Network show, All-Star Academy. My main reason for watching the show is that it features home cooks competing for $50,000.00 while being mentored by three of my favorite TV chefs, Alex Guarnachelli, Bobby Flay, and Michael Symon.

Episode One

Mentors Bobby Flay, Alex Guarnaschelli, Michael Symon, and Curtis Stone appeared to be genuinely surprised when Ted Allen told them they were cooking against each other to see who would select a home cook first, and decide the order in which the other mentors could select their home cook team.

Alex appeared to be shocked when Simon Majumdar, "the scariest judge on Food Network," selected her dish as the winner.  Seriously, Alex's mouth dropped open and her eyebrows rose nearly to her hairline.  The very newest Iron Chef beat Iron Chef Bobby Flay AND Iron Chef Michael Symon. What an accomplishment! 

Two home cooks were sent home in the first episode:

Thomas Mann and Mike Castenada

Episodes Two and Three

In each episode, the home cooks reveal facts about themselves in short clips throughout the episode.  Two of the cooks revealed facts that made it evident to me that they were not truly home cooks.

What Is A "Home Cook"?

Honestly, home cook means you cook at home.  You are an amateur, or a novice.  Amateurs do not make money for their cooking UNLESS you enter a cooking contest for other amateurs and win, BUT it is not your main source of income.  Amateurs are not trying to make a living with their cooking. 

A professional, in my opinion, is anyone who has made money with their cooking to earn a living.  If you cook, or have cooked, for a living, you are NOT a home cook!

One home cook was sent home in each episode.

Episode Two – Firefighter Bill Joerger went home after being thanked for participating in the show and for his work as a firefighter by the mentors and Ted Allen. 

Episode Three – August Dannehl went home after cooking a perfect 10 meal, but that is the downside of being on a team.  His team went into the elimination round and the guest judge, Elizabeth Falkner decided that August had cooked the bottom dish. This left his competitive cook teammate, Sharri Williams in the competition. 

Episode Four – Half Way to the Finale!

Episode 4 revealed that one of the remaining home cooks, Sandra Damante, owned a gastropub for a year and a half.  In my opinion, that takes Sandra out of the home cook category and puts her into the professional cook category.  

The other remaining home cooks are:

Angela George – a home cook

Joseph Harris – a home cook

Sharri Williams – a competitive cook who has won 60 cooking competitions.  She quit working full time to cook competitively.  Again in my opinion, Sharri is NOT a home cook.

Vanessa Craig – a home cook who wants to open a catering business when she wins $50,000.00

Mimi Chang – a home cook and mom.  Unfortunately, Mimi has been sent home.

Who will go home next week?  

The 50,000.00 prize can change a life and cause a ferocious case of nerves on national TV. Which cook will succumb to the pressure?

My favorites are Angela George and Vanessa Craig.  Let's see if they have what it takes to make it to the Finale in four weeks.

SalleeShares: Top Chef's Final Five

SalleeShares on Season 12 Episode 10 of "Top Chef Boston"

Really? Ramen Noodles?
In my opinion, the opening quick fire challenge -  ramen noodles with food from a college student's dorm room - was proof that Top Chef is running out of ideas for interesting challenges. 

Seriously, making a dish from ramen noodles? What a joke!  Andy Cohen and his college roomie were on hand to judge. Unfortunately, Andy just wanted to talk about who was sleeping with each other, but Padma put the talk back on track.

A Julia Child Inspired French Dish
The challenge? Cook a classic French dish a la Julia Child and serve it to Jacques Pepin and a formidable table of chefs, restaurateurs, and judges with three hours to cook.

Undoubtedly,the contestants are in a figurative, pressure cooker at this phase of the show. Pressure caused several contestants to flub dishes that they would normally prepare and cook well, but the three hour deadline did not help any of the competing chefs. 

Mei Lin Wins
In the end, Mei won with her take on Duck a l'Orange with Chinese five spice. Mei was true to her cooking style and did a masterful job of incorporating the two styles, classic French and Chinese. She received praise from Jacques Pepin and that is high praise indeed!

Doug Adams Bottomed Out
Doug bottomed out of the competition by serving fairly raw, seared goose liver. I did learn that foie gras comes in a loaf. Poor timing and nerves can cause even the best chef to serve a poor dish.

Have any of you ever eaten foie gras? 
I come from a long line of Midwest farm folk and fried chicken liver is the extent of my personal knowledge of poultry liver.  Now where was I? Oh, back to the show.

Gregory Gourdet and Melissa King were also on the bottom. Despite a poor showing with their main dishes, deliciously prepared vegetables kept both chefs in the competition. 
Top Four
The top four are Melissa King, Gregory Gourdet, Mei Lin, and George Pagonis. However, one of the chefs who had to pack up their knives will be coming back for the finale from Last Chance Kitchen.

Last Chance Kitchen Cookout
Adam Harvey and Doug Adams are facing each other next.

A Look at Season 12
Click here to see an overview of each competing chef's performance on each episode of Top Chef Boston and Last Chance Kitchen.

SalleeShares- Holiday Baking Championship Week 3

Week Three Bakers

And only six bakers remain to battle for $50,000 and the title, Holiday Baking Champion. Pastry Instructor Bill Liscomb, Home Baker Naylet Larochelle, Caterer David Bondarchuck, Naval Instructor/Family Baker Dante Morasco, Chef Terra Nelson, and Pro Baker Erin Campbell have survived two baking battles.  Each previous bake off battle has been devised to highlight baking skills in the areas of creativity, taste, and presentation. 

Meet the Judges
Owner of Charm City Cakes Duff Goldman,Farmhouse Rules host Nancy Fuller, and Pastry Chef Lorraine Pascale.

Sallee's Three to win the $50,000: Erin, Bill and Naylet.
Leave a comment and let me know who your top three bakers are.

The Preheat Advantage Challenge
The six remaining contestants' faces mirror surprise when host Bobby Deen announces the preheat advantage challenge:

"Use store bought pie crust to make a dessert that is not pie! in half an hour." Whoa, a thirty minute dessert using prepackaged pie crust? 

Six Dismayed Bakers
All the bakers are a little dismayed that they have to use prepackaged pie crust in an inspiring, innovative, holiday dessert that is not a pie. Texturally, a premade crust lacks butter. No butter means less flavor and flakiness. However, Bill did admit that he does use a store bought crust in a pinch. 

Note: Store bought crust is a help when time is short, or you do not know how to make a pie crust. However, I have not used a store bought crust in years because I have a perfected pie crust recipe, Chill and Thrill Pie Crust. This is my go to crust for any pie.


Six "Not a Pie" Desserts

1. Bill decided to make an apple walnut raisin empanada. Empanadas are Latin American hand pies. However, it passed for "not a pie". Seriously, how close can you get to a pie and it NOT be a pie?
2. Dante's choice was also an empanada. He prepared a chestnut chocolate chip empanada with a twisted edge that was eye appealing. However, I again ask the question, "How close can you get to a pie and it NOT be a pie?" During baking, the scrumptious filling leaked out of the empanadas. The judges all wanted more and Dante agreed with them. Sealing the edges of your dough is Baking 101. Nerves and time worked against Dante in this heat.
3. David baked rounds of crust and assembled a black and white Napoleon. I was happy to see a dessert that was definitely NOT a pie. However, David's statement,"I'm all about presentation." was not apparent during this preheat. A powdered sugar stencil was the only holiday decoration. The judges, Duff, Nancy, and Lorraine all loved the flavors, but not the presentation. Nancy wanted to see three red berries and a mint leaf on top.  
4. Erin's choice, deconstructed peach cobbler with egg washed pastry and sanding sugar, set the bar for the other contestants in the preheat. Once again Erin swung for the fences and this time the holiday baking ball soared over the outfield fence. 
5. Naylet's dessert was a pumpkin butter dessert square which was essentially a square empanada that wasn't sealed properly. Guess what happened? Yes, the filling oozed out during baking. Back to Baking 101, seal those pastry edges. 
6. Terra baked baby apple turnovers. Unfortunately, she chose to use unpeeled apples "like Mamaw."  In my opinion, using unpeeled, or pared, apples is a mistake. Apple peels can be bitter and tough. The trio of judges agreed with my opinion. Fortunately, Terra's innovative technique of pressing graham cracker crumbs into the pie crust for texture earned her points with all three judges. 

And the preheat WINNER is ERIN! Remember Erin is one of MY top 3 picks.

The Pie Challenge Continues!

Once again, five faces reflect dismay. Erin can begin baking 10 minutes earlier than the other five finalists in the elimination challenge.

And the Elimination Challenge Is:

Bake 3 pies in 2 hours. 
Glad it is them and not me. Two hours is not very much time to make three pies. 

Contestants' Holiday Pie Flavors

Bill 

• Chocolate Chip Pecan
• Apple Cranberry Frangipane
• Banana Pudding with Marshmallow Meringue

Dante

• Apple 
• Italian Pastia 
• Italian Cheesecake 

David

• Kentucky Bourbon Pecan
• Chocolate Pumpkin
• Cranberry Meringue

Erin

• Lemon Meringue
• Pumpkin
• Salted Caramel Apple

Naylet

• Pecan Chocolate Coconut
• Banana Cream Dulce de Leche
• Cream Cheese Apple

Terra

• Chocolate Chip Bourbon Pecan
• Lemon Gingersnap
• Pumpkin Maple Brulee

Baker Erin Start Your Baking!

Ten minutes slowly pass as five bakers watch Erin enthusiastically begin composing her three pies. Finally, all five could sprint into the pantry and begin work on their three pies.

At the one hour and fifteen minute mark, Dante cut his finger, which bled into his pie crust dough. Remaking pie dough is not what you want to be doing with less than an hour remaining. Could Dante be the eliminated baker this week?

Two Hours Later

Bobby Deen calls time and six pairs of hands rise into the air. A moment later, Bobby says,"I like surprises and I have a surprise for you." With an "Uh Oh what now?" look, the finalists look at each other and back at Bobby. 

Surprise! Pick the Best Two Pies

• Dante was pleased to pick two out of three, but only had one good pie and knew it. 
• Naylet struggled to complete her Cheesecake Apple Pie and quickly chose to eliminate it. 
• David remarked,"It's like choosing between my children!" However, he decided to leave the Kentucky Bourbon Pecan pie in his kitchen.
•  Erin took her Lemon Meringue out of the judging.
• Terra decided her Pumpkin Maple Brulee pie would be left on the counter because it might not be done. 
• Bill chose to leave out his chocolate chip pecan. ( one eyebrow lifted) Maybe because Terra had a chocolate chip pecan too?

(Judge Dredd voice).......................... Pies and Bakers, you have been judged.

Top picks  

David - Cranberry Meringue earned an "Mm, Mm, Mm" from Judge Nancy Fuller. The pumpkin was deemed "excellent."

Nylet - Both of Nylet's pies earned great remarks. Lorraine Pascal said," This is legendary!" Duff and Nancy agreed with her. Nylet told the camera," It's a proud mama moment!"

Your Safe 

Erin - Judge Duff and Judge Nancy liked the Salted Apple Caramel, but Judge Lorraine thought it needed to be saltier. 

Bill - The marshmallow meringue on his Banana Cream Pie had Duff asking how he made it. I believe all three judges will be making marshmallow meringue in the immediate future. 

At the Bottom 

Terra - Mystery flavor in her Chocolate Chip Bourbon Pecan pie. (flour that didn't cook enough)

Dante - texture issues with the Italian Cheesecake Pie
Who Went Home?
Dante had a difficult baking day that sent him home. Cutting himself, accidentally contaminating his bowl of pie crust, and texture issues all combined to send Dante home. 

And the Winner?

Caterer David Bondarchuck won the Week 3 Elimination Challenge. Congratulations on your win David.

SalleeShares- Holiday Baking Championship Week 2

#BakingChampionship

On the second week of Christmas my true love sent to me, seven bakers baking...lol.  I am gaining the Christmas spirit through my television viewing of Holiday Baking Championship! 

Week Two's Theme: Classic Holiday Flavors
Fall flavors and spices such as cinnamon, allspice, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, pumpkin, caramel, chocolate, nuts, and apples remind me of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Eve.

Heat One: Eggnog Swirl Dessert

The seven bakers were excited to hear Bobby Deen say they would be baking with eggnog and would have sixty minutes before the heat was over. However, most of the contestants were not thrilled that the eggnog had to be in a swirl dessert.

The Bakers' Dessert Choices

• Pastry Chef Bill Liscomb chose to make Baked Eggnog French Toast and serve it with swirled eggnog and maple syrup. Personally, I didn't think this qualified as an eggnog swirl dessert, but was a breakfast pastry or breakfast choice
• Naylet Larochelle, the home baker who won the Week One main heat, chose to prepare Swirled Pumpkin Tart with Eggnog Whipped Cream. Yum!
• Caterer David Bondarchuck decided upon Eggnog and Spiced Cake Swirl Cupcakes. 
• Family Baker Dante Morasco's dessert of choice was Chocolate Espresso Obsession Eggnog Cheesecake. Seriously, I didn't understand the obsession part of the title. Is an obsession a new type of pastry? Am I that far off the web here in Mid-Missouri?
• Master Baker Punky Egan's choice was a streusel topped, Eggnog Pumpkin Swirl Muffin with Pumpkin Butter.
• Pastry Chef Terra Nelson immediately went with a brownie that featured a sweet potato puree and graham cracker crumb base. The top layer was reduced eggnog stabilized with white chocolate and, a Louisville, Kentucky staple, bourbon whiskey. 
• Professional Baker Erin Campbell's choice was Sweet Potato Cheese Cake with Gingersnap Crust and Eggnog Anglaise.  

Presentation to the Judges

Pastry Chef Duff Goldman, Chef Nancy Fuller, and Pastry Chef Lorraine Pascale were less than thrilled with the taste and/or presentations by:

• Dante - Judge comments included, "Where's the holiday?" The piped chocolate "modern" Christmas tree design on the plate didn't work.
• Erin - A kind comment for a rough presentation, "Not a looker, but delicious." Erin struggled with having a raw cheesecake and decided to put scoops of the cheesecake into small ramekins to finish baking. 
• David - Unanimous agreement from the judges, "Frosting is waxy." "Pedestrian." Not what a professional baker wants to hear!
• Bill - His final presentation was beautiful BUT the eggnog wasn't the star. The judges agreed with my thought that French toast isn't a dessert and it wasn't swirled.

However, four bakers all found favor with the three judges.

• Terra - Served a shooter of Mamaw's Spiked Eggnog with her upscale brownie. "Fab plate of food!" and "Redemption tastes good." were two of the comments bestowed upon Terra's dessert. Terra barely stayed in the competition last week. Redemption is indeed sweet.
• Naylet - The trio of judges all agreed the eggnog flavor was spot on. Duff Goldman asked her if she would teach him to bake. Straight faced humor from the Charm City Cake owner. 
• Punky - A beautiful presentation and flavor. 

And the Winner of Heat One is: Terra Nelson

Terra's main heat advantage? The use of an electric spice grinder. The other six bakers had to use a mortar and pestle to grind spices with. Cutthroat Kitchen's Alton Brown must have had something to do with this advantage! 

The Main Heat Challenge

Each baker was challenged to make a dessert using three classic spices and two sugars in sixty minutes.

An electric spice grinder was a definite advantage because all of the classic spices were whole. Whole nutmeg, whole allspice berries, whole cloves, rolled cinnamon bark, and a variety of sugars were presented to the seven bakers at the beginning of the challenge. 

A Bad Baking Day on National TV

• We all have bad baking days. However, most of us do not have a bad baking day on national television. Last week, Terra Nelson found out what this feels like. 
• This week, it was Erin Campbell's turn to burn a batch of caramel three times AND had her beaten egg whites collapse into soup for her souffle. Her end product completely failed to impress the judges. What kept Erin in the competition? She took on an ambitious dessert and did not quit attempting to scale each barrier that could have prevented her from completing a dessert. 
• Naylet cut herself twice in the first few minutes while grating a roll of dried cinnamon bark on a hand-held grater. However, she also kept baking after the medic bandaged her injured digits.

Seven Bakers Baking

1. Cakelet with Peach Cranberry Compote  by Naylet
2. Spiced Bread Pudding Chocolate Souffle with Caramel Sauce by Erin
3. Apple Nut Cake with Cream Cheese Drizzle by Terra
4. Hamantaschen by Dante. A hamantaschen is a traditional Jewish cookie that is shaped like a triangular hat around a filling.  
5. Gingerbread Man Cookies by Punky
6. Five Spice Orange Holiday Loaf by David
7. Three Spice Creme Brulee by Bill

Outstanding Bakers

 Bill - Nancy and Lorraine love the Creme Brulee. Duff said," it's about the process." and he felt the custard was a tad over baked. 

Dante - Lorraine complemented Dante on his,"great pastry."

David - What a turn around from the first heat! David's bread was deemed,"Awesome!" by Duff Goldman. A lovely presentation with two wonderful sauces. 

Struggling Bakers

• Punky was the eliminated baker. Her soft,under spiced gingerbread men with whole spice decorations fell flat with the judges. All three judges expected more from a master baker and thought Punky played it too safe.
• Erin - Bad baking day, but she stayed in the competition.

Safe Bakers

Terra

Naylet

The Week Two Winner: Bill Liscombe and his Spiced Creme Brulee.

SalleeShares-Holiday Baking Championship

2013 Mini Snowman Cake by Sallee Bonham 

#BakingChampionship

Anticipation! (sing song voice) I have been anticipating the first episode of Holiday Baking Championship with host Bobby Deen since I saw the first preview and set the DVR to record the series.

Baking is my thing! You know that because you have seen the pics of my holiday cakes, cookies, and cupcakes. 

The Prize Holiday Baking Championship's grand prize is $50,000 and the title, "Holiday Baking Champion."

The Judges
The eight competing bakers met the judges Duff Goldman of Charm City Cakes, Nancy Fuller of Farmhouse Rules, and Lorraine Pascal, fashion model and TV cook.

Heat One
Bobby Deen introduced the first sixty minute heat of "Holiday Cookie Madness."
First, each baker unwrapped a Christmas present containing a cooking tool that determined what type of cookie they had to bake:

• a spatula for layered cookies
• a French rolling pin for rolled cookies 
• a cookie press for spritz cookies
• a scoop for drop cookies

Then, the holiday bakers began creating Christmas cookies, or as Bobby Deen said,"The cookie beast has been awakened!"

Struggling to Bake
At the end of the sixty minute heat, two of the bakers, Stephanie Hart and Terra Nelson, were obviously behind the other six contestants. 

Stephanie stated that she was a cake girl and only baked one cookie. 

Terra struggled with timing. Even using the blast chiller, her HOT layered cookies were difficult to put together with bourbon cream. Yes, bourbon cream! 

Organized and Talented
Even before the judging began, I could tell who was going to be in the lead. Some people just have a knack for being organized and quick, not one wasted movement in the kitchen. I am NOT one of those people and admire the skill.

Erin, Bill, Dante, Punky, David, and Naylet were a joy to watch in the kitchen as they created their version of layered, rolled, spritz, or drop cookies.

First Heat Results
Erin Campbell won the first heat. Her advantage in the main heat was free range of the pantry to pick a substitute ingredient of her choice.

Main Heat Challenge
Contestants must bake 3 different cookies, one dozen of each, within ninety minutes AND use three ingredients. Sounds a bit like the dessert version of Chopped!

And the Ingredients Are...

1. Bittersweet Chocolate
2. Fresh Oranges
3. Toffee Bits

Smart girl Erin used her first heat advantage to substitute peppermint candy for the fresh oranges. The contestants instantly began planning the three cookies they wanted to prepare. 

Surprise!Host Bobby Deen had a surprise ingredient for all of the bakers to use, raspberry jam. Seriously, this reminded me of the Chairman's Culinary Surprise on ICA. 
However, not one contestant seemed to be thrown off by this addition. All of them knew where and how they would use the raspberry jam. 

Flavor Combos
I loved the flavor combinations chosen by the contestants. 

• orange ginger - Bill, Stephanie
• bittersweet chocolate and coffee - Bill
• orange hazelnut with raspberry- David
• coffee toffee- David
• orange rosemary- Naylet
• pumpkin toffee creme brulee - Erin
• chocolate raspberry - Dante, Naylet, Erin, Stephanie
• orange nut - Dante
• pistachio orange - Terra
• toffee cinnamon - Terra
• raspberry orange - Punky
• toffee cherry - Naylet
• peppermint hot chocolate - Erin

Mmmmm....makes my mouth water just reading through those flavor combos.

And the Judges Said...
The top bakers were:

• Erin
• Bill
• Naylet - Home baker Naylet won the first holiday bake off! Woohoo Naylet! 

Struggling Bakers

• Stephanie - cake like cookies. Great taste. Duff admired the fact she didn't have a recipe and baked three tasty cookie. However, they were too spongy. Stephanie was chosen to go home.
• Terra - She was slammed by the judges for her madeleine cookie. All three judges agreed that it was the texture of sponge cake. 

Safe Bakers

David, Dante, and Punky

I cannot wait to watch the seven bakers on the next episode,"Classic Holiday Flavors."

Cookies I Am Not Familiar With

Mandelbrot 
According to Tori Avey, "Mandelbrot cookies are an Ashkenazi Jewish dessert dating back to the early nineteenth century. Mandelbrot are closely related to the Italian cookies known as biscotti, which were first made in the Middle Ages. The word mandelbrot means almond (mandel) and bread (brot) in both German and Yiddish."

Rugelach  

The wiseGeek shares this information,"Rugelach is a Jewish pastry originating in Ashkenazy, or European Jewish, culture. It has many alternative spellings, including rugelakh, rugulach, rugalach, ruggalach, and rogelach in the plural, and rugalah and rugala in the singular. The pastry is also sometimes referred to as a butter horn, nut horn, or cream cheese cookie in the United States."