‘Sunny Anderson’ Articles at Sweetnicks

The Day We Attended a Taping of The Kitchen

July 29, 2018 · Narrative

The Kitchen is one of the few cooking shows that I record, so when a friend asked if I wanted to go to a taping with her, I was all in. I love the chefs and how they interact with each other, and equally love how most of the recipes they share are super simple to make and usually don’t require a massive tri-state area hunt for exotic ingredients. If you’re not familiar with the show, the chefs are Katie Lee, Sunny Anderson, Jeff Mauro, and Geoffrey Zakarian.

And now, after attending the taping, I love them even more. They were seriously so funny to watch. Jeff and Sunny act like misbehaving teenagers, with Geoffrey playing the role of the strict dad. They clearly love what they do, and their passion is evident, and as an audience member, it was definitely a good time.

Despite the fact that Food Network is based in New York, The Kitchen, surprisingly, tapes in Montclair, which meant a super easy drive and on-street, metered parking. Hurrah! In fact, I scored the first space right in front of the studio and the meters are good for three hours (without you having to rush out mid-taping to refeed them), so it was perfect. Our taping started at 9, and you waited outside until the very dot of 9, so keep that in mind if you happen to visit during inclement weather.

A staffer checked our ID before we were ushered into the small audience area and we grabbed a seat on the folding chairs. When I say “small,” I’m not kidding. There were five rows of chairs, about six seats across, so the audience for each taping is minimal. The chairs are fairly close together, and there isn’t really optimal viewing from every seat, so you may find yourself watching the large tv screen in the room more than you’re watching the actual people. I vacillated between both, sneaking peeks in between the people sitting in front of me. I heard the ladies in the last row complain about the fact that they couldn’t see that well … and yet they refused to fill out a feedback form at the end of taping. Go figure.

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Recipe: S’mores Truffles

March 15, 2017 · Narrative

Delicious bite size sweet treats, with only five ingredients, these S’mores Truffles are sure to please.

A million years ago, when my ex-husband and I were dating, I had a truffle recipe in heavy rotation. I remember making it for his sister and his dad when we were deep in the throes of courtship. You know, that all important time when you feel the need to impress your significant other’s family. I made that recipe so many times over a period of a few years, sharing it also with friends and neighbors, that you’d think I would have committed it to memory.

Well, you’d be wrong. Very little then or now is ever committed to memory.

And over the years, and countless moves, I lost the recipe long ago.

A few weeks ago, I was watching an episode of Food Network’s, The Kitchen, and saw Sunny Anderson make an easy recipe for S’mores Truffles. The show’s theme for the day featured recipes that were five ingredients or less, and I made a mental note to make this one.

And after receiving a massive amount of snow this week (15″ in one day!), and being housebound since Monday, this week was the perfect time to try out the recipe.

Before Snowstorm Stella came, I made sure I had the ingredients for these truffles on hand, but the ingredients are basic enough that you might already have on hand. Although this is an easy recipe, because of the truffle chilling timing, it’s not something you can quickly whip up and enjoy soon after. But with a little bit of planning, you can be indulging your sweet tooth just a few hours later. Don’t let that deter you from making the truffles … I just usually miss the “chill for three hours,” and hate the surprise of missing instant gratification.

The recipe calls for nearly burning the marshmallows and, I’ve got to be honest, that was so hard for me to do. Because our inclination is to take them out and enjoy them when they’re in this stage, right?

And I did. And I picked a few off the end and popped them into my mouth (and have three blisters on my fingers to prove it). But I put them back in to give them another minute to get to the blacker stage the recipe called for. I *think* that is requested because it makes the marshmallows easier to crumble into the graham crackers, and it also gives the finished truffle the tiniest hint of campfire smokiness.

So, you know, follow the directions.

Truffles are in the fudge family, where a little bite goes a long way, so these are best enjoyed with several small nibbles. If you pop the whole thing in your mouth, you will no doubt proclaim them too sweet. Despite that, my snow shovelers popped several in their mouths when they came back from their hours of shoveling.

PS You can watch Sunny making the truffles right here.

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Comfort Food: Meatloaf

November 8, 2010 · Narrative

I love picking people’s brains when it comes to things they make in the kitchen, or little tips and tricks they’ve picked up along the way. When I was out for dinner on Saturday night, the topic turned to food and everyone shared little things they did that were a stray from the norm (at least to me, anyway). Joy uses chicken broth when boiling pasta, instead of water. I’ve swapped out the water for chicken broth when I make rice, and it makes a huge difference, but had never thought to do the same when making pasta. (As an aside, after a trip to Costco this weekend, I learned that they made their mashed potatoes with chicken broth, instead of water or milk too, and for instant potatoes, they were delicious). Joy also uses Progresso tomato soup when making sausage and peppers, instead of tomato sauce. Another swap I hadn’t thought of. Beth poaches her meatballs, instead of pan-frying or baking them. Who knew? And Lisa, well, she doesn’t like to cook or bake and only has five spices in her kitchen (salt and pepper amongst the five), so she’s more of our consumer.

At the time of our food discussion, I was trying to figure out what to make for dinner Sunday night, and Beth suggested meatloaf. I haven’t made it in ages because although I love meatloaf (and especially meatloaf sandwiches the next day), the kids aren’t big fans. I usually reserve meatloaf for when we have company over, so Sunday night was perfect. I also promised a neighbor dinner (in return for them generously blowing all the leaves on our steps, not once, but twice), so I could kill many birds with just one bake (doubling the recipe got me three meatloaves; two for dinner, one for the neighbors). Beth mentioned that her husband loves the Lipton Onion Soup version of meatloaf. I usually don’t use a recipe when making meatloaf, but figured I’d give it a whirl.

When I brought the meatloaf to the table, everyone handed me their plates, one by one, to load up on meatloaf, fresh fruit and Garlic Spinach Balls. When it comes to sitting down at the dinner table, Madeline is a bit of a challenge. She is still for a very small window and then she is in and out of her seat, no matter how much begging, pleading or cajoling I do. And if she doesn’t like what’s for dinner, it’s even harder. Fruit is always a good sell and gets her to stay put for a bit. She looked at the meatloaf and started to tell me that she didn’t want any of it. I convinced her to at least try it. Just a few minutes later, I checked back in on her, and she had polished off the whole slice. This is monumental for her, trust me. And Nick? Same deal. Ate his entire piece. He who does not like meatloaf. Out of the two meatloaves that hit the table for dinner, there was half of one left. Five out of six kids had seconds. Gotta love those stats.

I don’t know what made this recipe so much more likable for the kids than the others I’ve made, but it definitely is one of the more moist versions we’ve had. I followed the recipe for the most part, although I swapped out the bread crumbs for oatmeal (as Beth suggested), so the end result was something that was pretty darn healthy and loaded with fiber to boot.

This one’s a keeper. Meatloaf haters be darned.

Need more meatloaf recipes?
This one from Martha Stewart back in February was mighty tasty.
Then there was this one from my chef crush, Tom Colicchio.
And lastly, Sunny Anderson gets in on the action with her turkey version.

Project 365
November 8, 2010, Photo #206 and 207

As soon as Nick walked in the door after school today, he went looking for hot chocolate. The weather has seriously turned overnight, and with it came hail, crazy wind, spots of snow and cold. Darn you, Mother Nature.

I’ve always liked leftover meatloaf sandwiches better than the first day’s version of meatloaf. Whole wheat bread, toasted, thin slice of Cheddar, horseradish, delish.

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Comfort Food: Martha’s Meatloaf

February 16, 2010 · Narrative

When it comes to meatloaf, it seems that the camps are quickly divided right down the middle. You either love it or you hate it. Being firmly ensconced in the “love it” category, but being in the minority in this house, I sometimes use company coming over as an opportunity to have it. When I’m really desperate for a meatloaf fix, I make it and give half to The Neighbor Wife. What is it about meatloaf that gets everyone going? I mean, seriously, it’s the same consistency and basic taste of a meatball, right? And those don’t get everyone yelling “hate it!” Enlighten me.

I usually don’t use a recipe for meatloaf, but decided to give a new one from Martha Stewart a whirl. As most meatloaf recipes are, this one was super simple. Mix a bunch of things in a bowl, shape the mixture into a loaf and bake it. Dinner is done. Her recipe included a lot of horseradish and, while I may like it, it sounded like a little much. I scaled it back to just two teaspoons, instead of the one tablespoon plus two teaspoons that it called for. You can definitely taste a hint of horseradish. I think it could handle adding back in a bit more, but think the overall total originally called for in the recipe was a little steep. And this coming from someone who loves horseradish. Just sayin’.

It had a nice, mild flavor, was easy to make and perfect the next day with a little bit of light mayo, ketchup and smushed in between toasted slices of bread.

Hungry for more meatloaf recipes?
This one from my chef crush, Tom Colicchio, was another good one.
Sunny Anderson’s version of meatloaf got The Ex to clean his plate….

Sunny Anderson’s Interstate Chili

February 3, 2009 · Narrative

It has been simply ages since I really cooked a significant amount of food for the Superbowl. The last time, though, quite memorably involved a trip to the ER before 30 guests came over, and resulted in 10 stitches in my left hand. Darn guacamole. To this day, as much as we love avocados, I still wince just a little when I have to play with them.

Sunday afternoon I was trying to decide what to make, flipping through my backlog of Tivo’d shows and landed on Sunny Anderson’s Cooking for Real. She was making “gameday food” and one of the dishes was an Interstate Chili, so named because it combined chili flavors she loves from San Antonio, Texas and Detroit, Michigan. She had me at chorizo.

When it comes to chili, I am not die-hard about it. There are those that are very serious about it … beans, no beans, white, red … I happen to prefer red chili over white, but can go either way on the beans. Sunny said she prefers chili without beans, and when it comes to this version, I wholeheartedly agree. When I printed out the recipe, I nearly bagged it when I saw the list of ingredients (long!), but don’t let that deter you. We would have missed out on this one. The chorizo gives the chili a nice, low, lingering heat, but not so much that your mouth is on fire and you’re grabbing for a water glass. The cooked red and green peppers and onions gave the consistency surprising little soft pieces throughout each bite, and I think that was my favorite part of the whole dish.

Would I make it again? You bet. And it’s perfect for this cold, winter-won’t-leave-us weather we’re having. Last night, an earthquake (in NJ?!) and today more snow, with two more days of snow on the calendar for this week still to come. Mother Nature is certainly having fun with us this season, and I don’t know about you, but I am over it. Spring? Where are you?

In the meantime, bowls ready, spoons poised, dig in. This chili is waiting.…