‘The Next Food Network Star’ Articles at Sweetnicks

Eat.Live.Be. and Waka Waka Salad

December 28, 2011 · Narrative

When I saw that this week’s Eat.Live.Be. inspiration was to come from the tv, I knew it was the perfect time to revisit Guy Fieri’s Waka Waka Salad, with my modifications.

Guy Fieri is one of the more exuberant and rebellious stars of Food Network, and made this Waka Waka Salad when he was competing on The Next Food Network Star in 2006. He subsequently won that show and has gone on to firmly implant himself onto Food Network’s line-up, with hosting duties for several shows under his big shiny belt buckle. I’ve made this recipe several times before, and was originally drawn to it because of its fun name. Really, who doesn’t like saying Waka Waka Salad? It just makes you smile.

The original salad is largely cabbage-based, and that was a bit of a turn-off to me. I like cabbage, but in small doses, and it’s an even tougher sell for the kids. But by mixing in some greens, it lessens the cabbage impact a bit and everyone is happy. I love the homemade dressing, and the crunch of the noodles and the peanuts. It’s a great salad for when you want to get out of your basic greens and toppings rut and do something a little fresh. No pun intended.

And your quotation inspiration for today? It really is this simple.

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The Ugly Duckling Salad

September 1, 2010 · Narrative

When it comes to salad dressing, I’m not a big fan of most of the bottled ones you can buy at the grocery store. Too much junk in them that we don’t need. And besides, when you can whip up a delicious one with common ingredients found in your pantry, who needs them? Case in point: the dressing on this Ugly Ducking Salad. But first, the back story.

There is a new show on the Food Network called Aarti Party. The host was the winner of The Next Food Network Star, winning her very own show (natch). Although she battled her confidence a bit midway through the competition, she was a front-runner from the get-go. She is poised, warm, accessible, likable and easily brings something new to the Food Network family, a show on American dishes with an Indian twist. Since I love Indian food (and don’t get it nearly enough), I was glad to see her win, and was especially looking forward to trying her recipes.

When I got home from the gym tonight, the kids were already in bed, having happily eaten their dinner hours ago, and it was late. I debated about skipping dinner, but I’m trying to heed the advice of my old trainer (love him!) that it’s better to eat late than to eat nothing at all. Since time was ticking away, I wanted to keep it simple and healthy, and salad is a perfect fit.

A few (mostly) common ingredients and you have this amazingly good salad dressing. I do realize that pistachios might not be a ready-to-grab pantry ingredient, and that’s usually the case in my kitchen too, but I happened to have some on hand, and they’re worth keeping in your kitchen just so you can whip up this dressing. As an aside, pecans or walnuts would work equally well. The dressing is tangy, a little creamy and packed with full-on flavor. The only detail is, I’ve got to say, that the dressing doesn’t necessarily *look* especially appetizing because of the blenderized pistachio nuts in it, but I can definitely overlook it in terms of getting to the taste. I swear I did everything but lick the plate. And I just might have done that too.

The salad is so named because of the “ugliness” of the celery root. Saving a trip to the store, I did skip that part of it. Since the salad would end up being my whole meal, I also added in some pieces of grilled chicken, to get an added boost of protein with every bite. It would also be great with grilled shrimp. Dig in, folks, bottled salad dressing has nothing on this one!

Project 365
September 1, 2010, Photo #156

Madeline has this semi-new obsession with money, specifically “dollars.” She has been caught fishing around in my wallet more than once, absconding with fistfuls of money and hiding them in her little purse. When I’m paying for something, she puts her little hand out, and asks for money. I usually give her a quarter and she puts her hand right out again. “More, please.” I sometimes attempt to ~~distract~~ please her with play money, but the girl is smarter than smart and totally knows the difference. That’s my kid!…

Perfect Crispy Potatoes

August 24, 2009 · $10 Dinner Challenge, $7 Dinner Challenge, Narrative

When Sarah, Maris and I first saw the topic of Melissa D’Arabian‘s new Food Network show, we all had the same thought … hey, they swiped our idea! Melissa is the latest winner of The Next Food Network Star, coming away with her very own brand new show, $10 Dollar Dinners, promising dinner for four that won’t break the bank. Love that! During the series, the judges consistently suggested to Melissa that she tone down her energy just a bit. Put it this way … her level of perkiness makes Rachael Ray look like she’s a walking zombie, and we all know how much energy Rachael has! While Melissa definitely has the market cornered in the energy area, it was infectious and hard not to like and root for her. She is also a stay-at-home mom to four little girls preschool age, so that boundless energy no doubt comes in handy. (You can see a very adorable pic of her girls right here). She was also the only contestant with no formal culinary education.

Nick and I happened to catch an episode of her show yesterday where she made a Parisian-inspired meal featuring a chicken l’orange dish and crispy potatoes. We both instantly wanted the potatoes, especially once she said they were crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. My favorite kind.

First, a quick note. See the picture of the tray up top? That’s supposed to serve four. With a little coleslaw and chicken breast on the side. I just don’t see it. Especially not if your four happen to be guys … or high school footballers … or really hungry … or who don’t like coleslaw. Just sayin’. I understand that that amount is what kept the dinner under the $10 mark (her breakdown was $5 for the chicken, $4 for the coleslaw and $1 for the potatoes), but maybe spending some of the coleslaw’s $4 for another potato might go further. In my humble opinion, of course.

Now that being said, how were they? In a word – delish. Just as she promised, crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. I used Yukon Golds, instead of the Russets she called for, just to up the buttery taste a bit, but they were scoffed up like nobody’s business at dinner time, and the perfect accompaniment for a nice, tender pot roast.

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