I had the pleasure of speaking with Claire Robinson, the star of 5 Ingredient Fix.  If you’re not familiar with her and the show, you’re missing out.  She truly brings you recipes that are easy to make, full of flavor, and many times will remind you of family favorites that grandma made.

I have three recipes here, on My Wooden Spoon, that came from the 5 Ingredient Fix show; Blackened Catfish, Homemade Creamed Corn, and Tomato Bacon & Onion Gratin.  All three were absolutely fabulous and packed with flavor. I had never made catfish. My husband usually takes over when it comes to that type of food but I did it and it was so much easier than I thought it would be.  Imagine Paula Deen but faster, healthier, and more budget friendly.

THE CLAIRE ROBINSON INTERVIEW

When asked, “What 5 tools and pantry items are must-haves?”, Claire replied with the following:

5 Essential Tools

1. A good spatula
2. good set of knives (she has 5 favorites)
3. good “hot” pan
4. food processor
5. and whatever YOU can’t live without.

5 Essential Pantry Items

1. GOOD unbleached flour
2. sugar
3. Olive Oil (one for cooking and one to finish)
4. Balsalmic Vinegar
5. depends on the season, mood–currently a flavorless oil

She recommends that you don’t buy sugar and flour in bulk to insure you are keeping them completely fresh.  She made it a point to say how important it is to check the expiration dates on everything, even the flour and sugar.

When asked, “Are your recipes easy to double and triple?”, Claire said absolutely!  When she first approaches a recipe she’s writing, she looks at it as if it was being made for feeding a big family and then pairs it down to feeding 4.  While she might not always like leftovers, she does like going into the fridge throughout the day to eat more of that dish!  My kind of gal!

When asked, “What substitute refrigerator item should be on hand?” ,Claire replied with Greek Yogurt!  She said it’s good for breakfast, great for substituting for sour cream, great for everything.  She went on and on about it! She’s do dang cute.

Her most favorite snack that fuels her is Pumpkin Seed Dried Cherry Trail Mix.  She said she can eat gallons of it! LOL  It’s her go-to snack!

She stresses the importance of playing with a recipe.  She said too many folks tend to focus on the EXACT ingredients and their amounts that it makes the cooking process less fun.  She says you should read the recipe, put it away, and do your own thing. Don’t be afraid to swap an ingredient out or add more or less.

EXCITING NEWS FROM CLAIRE ROBINSON

Claire had a book, 5 Ingredient Fix, coming out on October 27th. I am extremely excited about that!

She also has recently joined forces with Food Network Challenge!!!  We all love the show and I can’t wait to see her personality and expertise on the show.

It was a great interview and I wish Claire all the best and look forward to seeing much more!

I’d love to hear what your favorite food/cooking shows are and maybe what which ones you’d like to hear/chat about here at My Wooden Spoon. Lemme know! In the meantime, here is the lineup of some series premieres on Food Network.

FOOD NETWORK SERIES PREMIERES

Extreme Cuisine with Jeff Corwin
Premieres: Thursday, September 17th at 9pm
Renowned for his expertise in wildlife and conservation, Jeff Corwin sets his sights on exploring human culture through regional cuisine in his first Food Network endeavor: Extreme Cuisine with Jeff Corwin. With an open mind (and mouth), this thrilling primetime series follows the passionate foodie and anthropologist as he tears through exciting locales like Thailand, Mexico, Greece, Peru, Morocco, and the United States on radical culinary adventures. Learning from the natives, he samples the exotic foods and local customs that mold each community. Jeff enjoys countless surprises and unforgettable flavors during this fun-filled culinary quest – all in a day’s work!

“Morocco”
Jeff Corwin takes a wild journey through the culinary wonderland of Morocco. Off the coast of Essouraia, Jeff bobs in tiny boats, line fishing for gigantic conger eel. Then Jeff milks a camel to make an exclusive cheese and a traditional smen, a rancid butter that increases in value with age. Up to his ankles in goat dung, Jeff digs for elusive argon nuts, the main ingredient for the flavorful “liquid gold of Morocco” – argon oil. He hits up Marrakech to create a tagine, an earthen pot dish cooked in the furnace of a bathhouse, and a Bisteeya, the famous pigeon pie. A steep hike up to the High Atlas Mountains and the Berber village of Aguersuoual is the ultimate BBQ for Jeff where he cooks a whole ram in an underground oven.

“Greece”
Jeff Corwin makes his way back to beautiful Greece, where he spent time as a graduate student. On the island of Crete, Jeff power milks dozens of sheep in minutes and churns the results into a toulomotyrion, a soft cheese fermented in a goat’s stomach. The ultimate “guest” meal on Crete is slimy snails, so Jeff hunts them and slurps them down. He then goes underwater in a quest for octopus and the tasty roe of the spiny sea urchin. Catch in hand and with nerves of steel, he cooks up Kakavia, a fisherman’s stew with the dangerous “scorpion fish.” In the Peloponnesus, things heat up as Jeff skewers a whole lamb for the spit, complete with organs wrapped in intestines, called Kokoretsi, as an appetizer.

FEATURED SERIES

Chopped
Premieres: Tuesday, September 8th at 10pm
This September, Chopped presents a special four-week event featuring previous episode winners who are returning to compete again. This time, previously victorious chefs risk becoming first-time losers as they take on new challengers. For the winner of each episode, the prize is $10,000 and the chance to compete again for more prize money in a battle against three new chopped champions.

Premieres: Tuesday, September 8th at 10pm
In the first installment of a special four-part series, previous Chopped champions return to compete again. When a Southern seafood specialty appears in the appetizer basket, two of the returning chefs have the added pressure of skillfully representing their roots. Then, in the entrée course, not every chef’s dish meets the mark in terms of portion size. Creativity and performance determines which champion earns the win and the chance to come back and take on three more previous Chopped winners.

Premieres: Tuesday, September 15th at 10pm
In part two of this special series, the reigning Chopped champion returns to battle for superiority in the kitchen against three more Chopped winners. When the chefs present their appetizers, the judges must do some investigating. Then for the entrée course, along with ground chicken and apples, the judges find a shocker on one of the chef’s plates. Which talented chef manages to pull out the win, and which chefs go home as first-time losers?

Premieres: Tuesday, September 22nd at 10pm
In this must-watch third installment of a special four-part series, the reigning Chopped champion and three other previous winners return to compete. In the appetizer round, the judges are baffled when one of the chefs chooses a very unusual method of cooking squab. In the entrée round, one contestant struggles to stay calm after discovering that three of the four items in the mystery basket are unfamiliar. Then in the dessert round, the chefs are dumbfounded by what they must combine with grapefruit. The chef that out cooks the competition is the one who comes back to battle it out all over again.

Premieres: Tuesday, September 29th at 10pm
In the final competition of the championship series, four Chopped champions face off for a chance to reclaim the title and bank an additional $10,000. When the chefs open up the appetizer basket and find bananas, endives and a whopper of a surprise, it becomes clear that to win it, these champs will have to bring it! Then in the entrée round, a melon mishap has the judges wondering how forgiving they should be. The ultimate Chopped champion will then be crowned!

SERIES

Iron Chef America
The heat rises in Kitchen Stadium as Iron Chef America continues with brand-new episodes pitting the American Iron Chefs against fierce new competitors.

Premieres: Sunday, September 27th at 9pm
“Symon vs. Culinary Students”
In an unprecedented battle, the Chairman invites three culinary students from The International Culinary Schools at The Art Institutes to challenge Iron Chef Michael Symon, who takes on the upstarts with two of his own young protégées. Tune in to see whose cuisine reigns supreme!

Food Network Challenge
Each month, Food Network gets the competitive juices flowing with Food Network Challenge bringing viewers the biggest and most exciting food battles from around the world. With bragging rights and a $10,000 cash prize on the line, the Challenges are intense.

Premieres: Sunday, September 13th at 8pm
“Amazing Pie Championship”
Follow four professional bakers as they head to Celebration, Fla., to compete in the National Pie Championships. Over 120 pies will be created, vetted and judged, but only one pie will be worthy of being named “Best In Show” earning the grand prize of $5,000.

Premieres: Sunday, September 27th at 8pm
“Fantasy Vacation Cakes”
Four top pastry chefs are challenged to create cakes that are inspired by the fun, food, and relaxation that they enjoyed on their four-day Carnival cruise to the Bahamas. The pastry chefs must do their research while on board and include at least three elements from their cruise experience into their cakes. At the end of the cruise, one competitor takes home $10,000.

Ace of Cakes
Every week at Charm City Cakes in Baltimore, it’s a new deadline and new situation. Ace of Cakes shadows Duff Goldman and his eclectic staff of culinary experts, artists and architects as they bake, construct and frost the most elaborate and unconventional cake creations imaginable.

Premieres: Thursday, September 10th at 10pm
Duff and his new buddy Brett make a cake for a Best Buddies International Gala hosted by New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. Ben engineers an evil robot cake from the BBC TV series “Dr. Who” that spins, yells and destroys. The entire bakery staff gets to settle some workplace grievances at Splatter Hill paintball field, and then Duff and Mary Alice make their long-awaited stage debut with the Annie National Tour.

Premieres: Thursday, September 17th at 10pm
Duff and the Charm City Cakes team create a cake in honor of Carnival’s new port in Baltimore. Duff then presents the cake to the captain and crew aboard the ship.

How many of you are looking for a quick-fix meal? Robin Miller is your gal! Have you seen her on Food Network?  She’s fabulous and makes delicious meals that are super easy to make.  You can find Robin Miller cookbooks everywhere or you can visit Embrace Dinner and check out some of her “Keep it Cool” recipes.

While you’re there, you can also enter the Keep it Cool Summer Recipe Challenge, where you can win $1,000 gift package, which includes spa treatments, free products and free groceries. Participants are asked to come up with their very own recipes that keep it cool in the kitchen by using Tyson Fully Cooked Chicken Strips and/or Steak Strips (and by not using the oven or stove).

WHAT I’M ASKING FROM YOU

I’m interviewing Robin Miller on Thursday and would love to hear questions that you might have for her!  Please leave your question in the comments below and I’ll do my best to get them answered.

In the meantime, enjoy one of her recipes, Courtesy of Robin Miller and Tyson Foods.

Chicken, Strawberry and Cucumber Salad with Mint and Rice Wine Vinaigrette

Recipe serves 4
Preparation Time: 10 minutes

INGREDIENTS

• 2 packages (6 ounces each) Tyson® Fully Cooked Grilled Chicken Breast Strips, cut into one-inch pieces
• 1 cup diced cucumber (seeded, if desired)
• 1 cup hulled and sliced fresh strawberries
• 2-3 teaspoons chopped fresh mint
• ¼ cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar (regular or seasoned)
• 1 teaspoon honey mustard
• Pinch salt and ground black pepper
• 4 cups (9 ounces) baby spinach leaves

PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a large bowl, combine chicken, cucumber, strawberries and mint. Set aside.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together broth, vinegar and honey mustard. Season to taste with salt and ground black pepper. Add mixture to chicken mixture and toss to combine.
3. Arrange spinach leaves on a serving platter or individual plates and top with chicken mixture.

EDITED TO ADD: Mary Maher was the winner of the Last Cake Standing Challenge and the $50,000. Great cakes, great ladies and a fun challenge to watch!

One Food Network shows I’m looking forward to checking out, is Last Cake Standing.  Have you seen the buzz?  The talent is unbelievable!

LAST CAKE STANDING

Food challenge!  I love to watch challenges and am in awe of the cakes that are created.  They are amazing.  Set your tuner for April 5th, 8pm/7CST. My tivo is ready just in case I can’t be around.

6 pastry chefs will be thrown into a 4-round challenge and eliminated  one by one where the winner will take home $50,000!

The six Challenge all-stars are: Michelle Bommarito (Ferndale, MI), Courtney Clark (Ann Arbor, MI), Mary Maher (Chicago, IL), James Rosselle (Los Angeles, CA), Elisa Strauss (New York, NY), and Bronwen Weber (Dallas, TX).

EPISODES

Episode 1 – Premiering Sunday, April 5th at 8pm ET/PT

In the premiere of Food Network Challenge: Last Cake Standing, six enthusiastic Challenge all-stars receive their first task: illustrate one aspect of their lives through cake! The action-packed competition begins with surprise instructions to move into their kitchens and immediately start creating their signature cakes. At the elimination ceremony, a curveball shocks the competitors when they, instead of the judges, are told to eliminate the first cake artist.

Episode 2 – Premiering Sunday, April 12th at 8pm ET/PT

The five remaining competitors take a field trip to Denver’s City Hall where they embark upon an exciting, but complicated challenge: create a top-notch wedding cake in only eight hours. The competitors serve as wedding ceremony witnesses and consult with the newlyweds before completing impromptu cake sketches. The judges reveal the next elimination and the winning cake is served at the reception that very night.

Episode 3 – Premiering Sunday, April 19th at 8pm ET/PT

The competition heats up when the four remaining competitors design over-the-top cakes based on an original superhero, decked out with extreme elements like moveable parts and fireworks. Hours before the competition, they are divided into teams and required to combine their cake designs. The winning team advances to the finale, and the losing duo faces off in an intense, 30-minute “cake-off” to determine who will move on and who will go up in smoke!

Episode 4 – Premiering Sunday, April 26th at 8pm ET/PT

The final three competitors endure a 24-hour cake-making marathon – the longest competition in Challenge history! The finalists create a unique five-foot birthday cake for a set of sextuplets. Upon completion, they must transport their cakes 20 miles to the birthday party. Strategy, endurance and skills are tested and one talented cake artist is finally crowned the winner!

Okay all you Food Network foodie fans….have you heard the new buzz about the ‘In the Kitchen’ weekend shows, Ask Aida and Cooking for Real??? Well if not, then you must be in the pantry closet because they’re two shows that you don’t want to miss!

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So let’s meet Sunny first of Cooking for Real (to the left).  She serves up REAL down home cookin’ which I’m a big fan of and uses easy to find ingredients with affordable menus.  She is my kind of gal and I’ll be sharing some of her recipes with you over the next week!  Very delightful and refreshing!

Next up is Aida from Ask Aida.  This one is HOT my friends.  Food networks first Interactive show where you can upload, download, log on, and yes…even Ask Aida!  Very cool concept where, we, the viewers can live chat, text, call in, etc and ask her Aida what we want!  Whether you have culinary questions or cooking questions, she says she can answer them all!  I absolutely love this idea!!!

SHOWTIMES ’cause I know you’re dying to know!!!

Ask Aida: Saturdays 12:30pm/11:30c and Cooking for Real with Sunny Anderson Sunday Mornings 10:30am/9:30c on Food Network!

To celebrate the new shows, Food Network is allowing me to give away a cool “Strictly For The Ladies Summerfabulous” Prize Pack! This looks like it would appeal to men as well so don’t be shy fellas!  What’s in the prize pack you ask??  Check this out!

AND some awesome Food Network Margarita Glasses!!!  Just couldn’t locate my picture.  PIctured above is a Food Network Cookbook, a Food Network Apron, and some very cool Barbecue Tools!

HOW DO YOU WIN IT?

******PLEASE LEAVE A SEPARATE COMMENT FOR EACH ENTRY YOU COMPLETE******

Each task earns you one entry.  There is one bonus entry below all of them that will earn you 10 entries!  You can do one entry or all!

• Leave a comment here at this post telling me what you think about the new shows.
• Stumble the post.  You can use the share button if you don’t have the toolbar.
• Tweet this contest and leave your tweet name in the comment.  If you want, you can follow me too.
• Participate in my new meme next Monday, Foodielicious Finds.  So on Monday, if you participate, come back here to this post and leave a comment telling me you joined in.  There are two Mondays before this contest ends so if you play in both, you’ll get two entries.

This will earn you a whopping 10 entries!!!

This giveaway ends on August 31th at around 10:00pm CST.  I highly recommend subscribing because I’’m always giving lots of things away on this blog!

Interviews of our favorite celebrities are always a joy.  You learn so much more about the person instead of making of assumptions of them based on their TV character.  Food celebrities are no different.  If you watch the Food Network at all, then I’m sure you’ve seen Cat Cora.  I happen to like her on Iron Chef but I enjoy her other shows too.

Anyways, back to the topic.  Jessica from LittleMissMatched, got to do an interview with Cat.  It was funny to see what Cat’s most unusual recommended food is.  We eat it a lot here but I thought it just a Mexican thing.  I say we but I mean my husband, his dad, his brothers, and my boys.  I won’t touch it but read what Cat has to say about it.

So how do socks tie into this?  They don’t.  But I thought it would be fun to tie in the interviewer somehow and she does sell socks!!!  Mixed matched ones at that.  From the owner’s mouth:

our socks are sold in missmatched sets of three (individual socks, not packs) – this A) gives girls of all ages a chance to express their creativity and individuality and B) solves the age old problem of the missing sock.

Her inventory has expanded so don’t think she only offers socks.  I saw the cutest flip flops, bedding, and backpacks!

Because of the awesome interview Jessica had with Cat Cora, she’s decided to give a week’s worth of socks away to a lucky winner!!!  These are so much fun and would great for you, your daughter, niece, or friend!!!

What do you have to do???  Leave a comment telling me what food celebrity you would interview!

That’s it folks:)

Contest ends on Monday July 21th, in the morning after I get back from the Blogher conference in San Fransisco:)

Yep, you heard me right.  I’m having lunch with Rocco DiSpirito while attending the Blogher conference in San Fransisco, CA!!!  Well, me and few other lovely ladies:)  I’m so excited to not only meet the foodilicous celebrity, but to also see him in action.  He’ll be demonstrating how to use the NEW Bertolli Premium Pasta Sauce in a Pouch and one of his new recipes!  WOOHOO:)  After that, we get to talk and take pictures with him!  I’m so excited.

Learn more and read Rocco’s bio at Food Network!

He has some wonderful cookbooks out that be of interest to you.  Some include:

• Rocco’s Real-Life Recipes
• Rocco’s Five Minute Flavor: Fabulous Meals with 5 Ingredients in 5 Minutes
• Rocco’s Italian-American
• Flavor
• Rocco Gets Real

I’m looking forward to this so much and can’t wait to update you on how it all went with photos!  If everything goes smoothly, I hope to have a surprise for you;)

HOLY Cow! I can’t believe all the entries:) Winner announced soon;)

Hey folks!  I told you I had a surprise for you in my previous post about The Next Food Network Star and today’s the day to find out what it is!   All fans need to be aware that the show has a premiere date of June 1st!  I can’t wait to watch it and hopefully learn a few things;)  If you haven’t seen the new cast and read the press release, you can do that in one of my most recents posts.

Okay, okay…..now for the prize.  One winner will receive a prize package consisting of 5 items:

1. Cookbook – “Bobby Flay’s Grill It!”
2. Food Network Keychain
3. Next Food Network Star Poster
4. Next Food Network Star Postcard
5. Next Food Network Star T-shirt

WOOHOOOOOOOO!!!! I love this set and my husband would LOVE to have that cookbook.  Too bad he can’t enter.  YOU can though:) 

Here’s how:

Leave a comment telling me YOUR favorite show on the Food Network channel!  Yep, it’s that easy to enter people! 

This giveaway will close on June 2nd so enter now!

WOOHOO!  Who’s ready for another season of The Next Food Network Star???!!  I know I am.  You know, I sorta knew Rory (the runnerup) from Season 3.  She was also in another reality show filmed in Vega, TX and we lived at the Fulton Quien Sabe Ranch at the time.  She fell in love with a cowboy! 

Anyways, there are some new faces and new challenges this season and by the looks of the sneak peek I got of the episode, it’s gonna be a great show! 

I’ve got a surprise related to The Next Food Network Star coming soon:)  So be sure to stay tuned and scroll down and read the press release!

Bobby Flay Turns Up The Summer Heat For Ten Finalists With The Chance To Star in Their Own Series

Season Four of Food Network’s Top-Rated Program, “The Next Food Network Star” Sizzles
With Guest Appearances by Martha Stewart, Rachael Ray, Paula Deen, And Many More!

The Next Food Network Star is back this summer with a star-studded fourth season on Food Network. This season Bobby Flay takes a seat with the selection committee full-time and the finalists are put through the ringer to prove that they can take the cake (and the pizza, and the lobster, and the potato salad) to be the last chef standing and winner of his-or-her own Food Network show. The series kicks off  on Sunday, June 1st at 10pm ET/PT.

“What’s unique about The Next Food Network Star is that having top culinary chops is only half the battle,” said Bob Tuschman, Senior Vice President, Programming and Production. “If you can’t find the winning formula to deliver first rate creative food, a unique culinary point of view, and star charisma week after week, you’re going home. This year’s finalists are absolutely the most talented and fiercely competitive we’ve ever had on the show.”

The 10 finalists include: Nipa Bhatt (Victoria, MN), Jennifer Cochrane (Woonsocket, RI), Lisa Garza (Dallas, TX), Adam Gertler (Philadelphia, PA), Cory Kahaney (New York, NY), Shane Lyons (Colorado Springs, CO), Aaron McCargo Jr. (Camden, NJ), Kelsey Nixon (North Ogden, UT), Kevin Roberts (San Diego, CA), and Jeffrey Vaden (White Plains, NY).

This season’s finalists are put to the test with complex challenges that determine their culinary competence and on-screen star potential. Challenges include a late night race through the streets of Manhattan, creating easy versions of complicated dishes for the staff of Bon Appétit magazine, teaming up with girl scouts to create healthy meals and cooking under the bright lights on the Las Vegas strip.

Throughout June and July, the selection committee, aided by a rotating cast of remarkable guest stars including Martha Stewart, Rachael Ray, Giada De Laurentiis, Alton Brown, Cat Cora, Sandra Lee, Gina and Pat Neely, Masaharu Moriomto, Tyler Florence, Michael Symon and Season Two winner Guy Fieri, will narrow the field down until the finale. This season, the selection committee will select the winner and he-or-she will be revealed during the series’ finale on Sunday, July 27th at 10pm ET/PT and will receive a six-episode show that will premiere in August 2008. The Next Food Network Star is produced by CBS EYE too Productions.

Fans of The Next Food Network Star can make their voices heard, by logging on to www.FoodNetwork.com/Star and participating in the network’s first-ever “fan favorite” vote! Starting Monday, June 2nd, viewers will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite contestants throughout the season. The finalist with the most votes will be crowned the “fan favorite” and will win assorted prizes.