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Food Network Star Season 10 Starts in June

Food Network’s long-running competition series Food Network Star is back for a tenth season. The season premiere will be on Sunday, June 1st at 9pm ET/PT. Culinary icons Alton Brown, Giada De Laurentiis and Bobby Flay are back as mentors/judges leading the charge to discover the next promising face in food television.

Betty Crocker® and Hershey’s® Launch A Sweet for Every Style

Betty Crocker® and Hershey’s® Launch A Sweet for Every Style. Betty Crocker has made life even more delicious with a dozen new baking products launched under a partnership with the Hershey Company. The new lineup offers A Sweet for Every Style’ whether you’re a Choc Star or a Peanut Butta Lova, Betty Crocker and Hershey fans will get to experience a new line of cookie mixes, cupcake mixes and frostings made with the iconic flavours consumers know and love, including Hershey’s®, Reese’s® and Almond Joy®.

The Great Food Truck Race

The Great Food Truck Race kicks off season four with a brand-new cast of food truck hopefuls, who hit the road for the longest route in series history (4,181 miles). The exciting culinary challenges that celebrate the country’s national landmarks starts from the Hollywood sign to South Dakota’s Crazy Horse Memorial, to Chicago’s iconic Buckingham Fountain, then to the U.S. Capitol building in Washington D.C. These competitors are not current food truck operators. They are eight teams of talented cooks with unique concepts and dreams to one day operate their own food truck business.

The competitors have to demonstrate top-notch cooking abilities and an entrepreneur’s creativity and business skills. Each three-person team is provided a vehicle for the race, but only the grand-prize winner gets to keep their food truck and a $50,000 cash prize to start their business.

I think Food trucks are fun concept of eating out and trying new food, this is a low cost entryway for aspiring culinary talent to succeed without a traditional restaurant. Watch the show hosted by Tyler Florence, when the seven-episode series premieres on Sunday, August 18th at 9pm ET/PT on Food Network.

In the season premiere, host Tyler Florence greets the eight teams in Los Angeles under the iconic Hollywood sign, and each team sees their custom-made truck for the first time. For their first challenge, he sends them to Beverly Hills for a contest in upscale sales. Each team can only sell one signature dish on their menu, and the dish must be sold for at least $20 each. Tyler and the teams then head 380 miles north to San Francisco, where the trucks must pick a different signature dish to sell exclusively. The team that earns the least amount with their two signature dishes is sent home. The route then sends the trucks to Portland, Pocatello, Idaho; Rapid City, S.D.; Minneapolis/St. Paul; Chicago, featuring guest stars Mayor Rahm Emanuel and legendary football coach Mike Ditka; and Washington D.C., where the life-changing grand prize is awarded in the season finale.

Apple spiced donuts

Topped with chocolate glaze or simply rolled in cinnamon, fresh homemade donuts are irresistible. Donuts are lots of fun and easy to make at home. It doesn't matter if it is the fluffy yeast style or denser cake variety of donuts that we prefer because this book 150 best donut recipes has a wide selection that we can choose from to make gourmet style donuts.

The book explains in detail about the equipment, common ingredients etc. The type of ingredients we choose to make our donuts is quite important as it makes all the difference in making good donuts. The author explains why it is important to use the correct ingredients such as 1 large egg equals 1/4 cup in volume; it is best to use cream that is 35% whipping cream; store brand butter has added moisture so use brand name butter instead.

All the steps in the book are detailed. There is a section in the beginning of the book with pictures to show us how to make the variety of donuts i.e. raised, cake-based, baked, filled, fritters, one bite, bow ties and twists. The book is separated by the types of donuts and has lots of recipes for each of these different types. The end of the book has delicious icings, glazes and sugars that can be used to create an array of delicious possibilities.

Here is a recipe to make dozen Apple spice donuts.

2 1/2 cups cake flour *

1 cup sugar

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs beaten

3/4 cup whole milk

2 tbsp oil

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cup finely chopped apples

* To make cake flour at home: for every 1 cup of all purpose flour I took 2 tbsp of flour away and replaced with 2 tbsp cornstarch.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. In another bowl whisk eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Add this wet mixture to the flour mixture with a rubber spatula until incorporated. Fold in the apples.

Put the batter into a resealable or pastry bag. It is easier to make the bag sit in a tall glass. Squeeze the batter to one corner of the bag then cut off the corner about 2 cm wide. Pipe the batter into the sprayed donut pan and fill about 2/3 with batter so there is enough room for the donuts to rise when it is baking.

Bake in a 325 preheated oven for 10 to 14 minutes. Let the donuts cool in the pan on a rack for 5 minutes then turn out onto the rack and cool completely before icing or filling.

The recipe is adapted from 150 Best Donut Recipes by George Geary © 2012 Robert Rose Inc.www.robertrose.ca Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved on photographs and written content Torviewtoronto © 2012 unless mentioned. Please Ask First

Middle Eastern cuisine and Share Your Simple Contest

Using the pre made sauce from Saha helps us make delicious tasting Middle Eastern dishes. I used the Saha middle eastern marinate and sauce to enjoy a variety of meals. I marinated this beef using the Saha shawarma marinate and baked it following the instruction on the bottle. We enjoyed it in wraps.

The shish taouk sauce from Saha is made with a combination of onion, tomatoes, aromatic spices originated from Turkey and Lebanon. This tangy sauce combined with yogurt is used to marinate and grill chicken on skewers. I marinated chicken and mushrooms with this sauce and grilled in the bbq. The unused sauce stays well in the fridge so we don't have to use it in right away. If you would like to try the sauces/marinates it is available at these retailers and online, which is shipped within Canada and US.

Share Your Simple tips at R.W. Knudsen Family® contest to win one of three $4500 grand prizes or be one of the 14 bi-weekly winners for sharing their tips to make life more simple. The bi-weekly themes are based on topics like "In the Garden," "Back to school," etc.

The R.W. Knudsen Family philosophy is simple; to make great tasting, all-natural organic beverages without compromising standards. The products don't have added sugar, artificial ingredients or preservatives. They will celebrate this contest in three phases featuring one of the brand's signature products and randomly selecting a winner for one of the grand prizes.

The phases are as stated below:

Simple Summer Season: June 5 – July 30 recognizing the simple joys of summer time with R.W. Knudsen Family Spritzer beverages.

Simple Harvest Season: July 31 – October 8 acknowledging the abundant fall harvest and cooking simply with fruit and R.W. Knudsen Family Just Juice® Juices.

Simple Holiday Season: October 9 – December 17 honoring the importance of simplifying the holidays in order to focus on family and friends and enjoying simple treats like R.W. Knudsen Family sparkling beverages.

This contest is open to legal residents of the 50 United States and D.C., 18 years and older. Promotion subject to complete Official Rules available at www.facebook.com/rwknudsen. Void where prohibited. No purchase necessary.

Nut pilau

Recipe to dress up rice, nut pilau

1 cup basmati rice

1/2 tsp saffron strands crushed

1 tbsp rose water or orange flower water

1 tbsp ghee or butter

1" cinnamon stick

2 cardamom pods

2 cloves

2 bay leaves

1 tbsp each pine nuts, blanched almonds, blanched pistachios, cashews

1/2 tsp salt

water 1" higher than the rice

garnish with fried onions optional

Blanch the almonds and pistachios remove the skin. Cut the almonds, pistachios and cashews two half or smaller.

Wash and soak the rice for 1/2 hour. Soak the crushed saffron strands in the rose water and leave a side.

Heat the ghee and fry the nuts till it is aromatic. Keep sautéing to make sure that the nuts don't burn. Add the whole spices, then sauté the rice until it is opaque.

Add salt, saffron rose water, and water 1" higher than the amount of rice. Cook the rice in low heat covered for 20 minutes. Let it stand for 10 minutes covered after removing from heat before serving.

This goes to Serve it stir fried, colourful palette

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