Cuisine Diva

Learn how to cook with Worst Cooks In America

What's the best dish you would be able to put together if you only had the food currently found in your home to use for the task? In the fourth season premiere of Worst Cooks in America the fourteen recruits have exactly this task to prove themselves to their future masters.

After the creation and brutal first tasting of their best dish the cooking competition for the cooking-challenged can begin.

The show, Worst Cooks in America, is returning to the viewers for the fourth season and the winner of the show will be awarded a check for $25,000. The winner will be selected after the final challenge where two finalists need to prepare a three-course meal.

Keep in mind that all the contestant in the show that will premiere on Food Network on Sunday, February 17th at 9pm ET/PT have been nominated by their friends and family based on their poor cooking skills. All they have to hope for in order to win the competition, are their mentors, depending on which team they end up in, either superstar chef Anne Burrell or Bobby Flay.

Their goal is to turn the cooking-challenged kitchen zeroes into kitchen heros. Anne Burrell and Bobby Flay are going against each other for the second time, first time Anne's team managed to defeat Bobby's.

If you want to see some good cooking action and feel as if you were a great cook, be sure to be prepared on Sunday, February 17th at 9pm ET/PT.

Disclosure: This post was provided by an advertiser.

Cuisine Diva Reviews Marinelli's True Italian Pasta Sauce

Above: Marinelli's True Italian Pasta Sauce

Cuisine Diva Tries a New Tomato Sauce

I recently had a chance to test out Marinelli's Classic Marinara pasta sauce. The tomato sauce is certified gluten-free, kosher, non GMO project verified, vegan and free from cholesterol and artificial flavors and colors. The all-natural line of pasta sauce's are made in small batches of only 950 jars at a time.

The pasta sauce comes packaged in a 24 ounce glass jar inside a box. Marinelli's pasta sauce is manufactured by DeBest Gourmet Food Products, Ltd. They explain the reasoning behind the outer box as follows: "Why the outer box? Simply to keep our sauce at its very best without the need for additives. We know from research that continuing exposure to light will debase the flavor considerably."

Above: Marinelli's classic marinara tomato sauce

Ingredients in Marinelli's Classic Marinara

• Vine ripened tomatoes
• Cold pressed extra virgin olive oil
• Sauteed Spanish onions
• Sauteed whole garlic
• Genovese basil leaf
• Purified sea salt
• Ground whole black pepper
• Chili flakes

Above: Cuisine Diva added a bit of society garlic and Greek oregano to Marinelli's marinara sauce

Cuisine Diva Opinion of Marinelli's Classic Marinara Pasta Sauce

I think this is a delicious tomato sauce. I normally feel the need to doctor up most jar sauces, but this tomato sauce tasted great straight out of the jar. I didn't need to add salt to flavor it up, or add sugar to cut the acidity, like I do with most sauces.

I live in SE Florida and am able to garden year round. I always have a terrific selection of fresh herbs to cook with, so I went to the backyard garden and harvested a bit of society garlic and oregano to add to the pasta sauce, but it really didn't need any additions. I served the Marinelli's sauce over Ronzoni's tricolor rotini pasta garnished with a bit of freshly grated Parmesan cheese. It was really, REALLY good!

Above: enjoy a delicious plate of pasta served with Marinelli's tomato sauce

Marinelli's True Pasta Sauce Flavors

• Vine Tomato & Fresh Basil
• Classic Marinara
• Slow Roasted Whole Garlic
• Spicy Peperoncino Arrabiatta
• Roasted Sweet Red Pepper
• No Meat Bolgnese
• Carmalized Onion Cipollata
• Sweet Pepporonata Primavera
• Mushroom Soffritto

Additional Details

Marinelli's tomato sauce is available at Whole Foods and retails for $9.99 per jar.

Website: www.marinellitrue.com

E-mail: info@marinellitrue.com

Take care,
Lynn Smythe, AKA the Cuisine Diva

Related articles

4 Quick and Easy Pasta Sauces

Whole Grain Penne Pasta w/ Sockarooni Sauce and Turkey Sausage

Food is Love: Pasta with Sauce and Meatballs

Celebrate the Holidays with Dunkin' Donuts Coffee

Today's sponsored post is from one of my favorite places - Dunkin' Donuts! I could totally eat like a half dozen of their donuts right now, to go along with a giant cup of their coffee. :)

The holidays are closing in fast and if your Christmas shopping isn't done yet, it's the last moment to start thinking about it, if you want to shop almost as a normal person, without the last-minute shopping craze.

Finding the right gifts for the right people, packaging it all, coming up with perfect solutions for each and every gift, it can be rather annoying task for many of us. To make holiday gift giving just a bit easier for you, Dunkin' Donuts packaged coffee has partnered with a popular crafting blogger Cindy Hopper (founder of SkipToMyLou.org) to help you with creative gift wrapping ideas.

"I love wrapping holiday gifts from little treasures, such as Dunkiní Donuts seasonal packaged coffee, to bigger presents like kids' toys and electronics in unexpected and creative ways," said Cindy. "You simply need some motivation and imagination, to create packaging that will delight any gift recipient!"

Just in time for holiday celebrations, Dunkin' Donuts has also come out with three new, seasonally inspired varieties - Pumpkin Spice, Mocha Mint and Gingerbread Cookie coffee. Select bags of the new seasonal coffees also include a paper gift tag, turning it into a perfect stocking stuffer. Dunkin' Donuts new seasonal coffee varieties are available where you buy your groceries.

 

Disclosure: This post was requested by an advertiser.

Food Lovers - Check Out Foodie Blogroll

Are you a fan of food? Do you love cooking and trying out new recipes? Checkout Foodie Blogroll for a variety of food related blogs, sure to get your taste buds watering!

Related articles

Gifts for Foodies

Enjoy a Fresh Kumquat and Fennel Salad

 Last year I wrote an article; Healthier Eating with Weekly Food Preparation, that featured a fennel and kumquat salad. On a recent trip to Lowe's, right before my 49th birthday, I found and purchased a variegated kumquat tree. My boyfriend had just bought me a variegated pink lemon tree, as one of my birthday presents, so I thought the addition of the kumquat tree to his yard would be pretty nifty.

We also have a mango tree, Florida white peach tree, honeybell orange tree and a grapevine planted on his 1.25 acre property and are always looking for additional fruit trees to plant. The lemon and kumquat trees will go nicely with our collection, and I also have 3 avacados I started from seed that will get planted outside once they get a bit bigger.

Above: fresh kumquats

I was at the grocery store a couple of days ago and saw kumquats displayed next to the lemons and limes, so I picked up a package to bring home with me. To make the salad, I rinsed off the kumquats, cut off the ends, quartered them and removed any seeds before adding them to a mixing bowl. I added 1 fennel bulb, chopped up, then tossed it all with a bit of Wish Bone Superfruit Berry vinaigrette dressing.

Above: kumquats are tiny, a bit smaller than a normal size strawberry.

Above: any vinaigrette type of dressing can be used with the fennel and kumquat salad.

Above: the finished kumquat and fennel salad.

Let me know if you decide to make the kumquat and fennel salad. Do use kumquats or fennel? Share your recipe ideas with the Cuisine Diva and I just might feature your culinary creations in a future article.

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Cuisine Diva

Related articles

Health Benefits of Kumquats

Quinoa and Fennel Salad with Cilantro and Dill

Kale and Candied Kumquat Salad

Like Cuisine Diva on Facebook

Did you know that Bike Diva has their own fan page on Facebook? Pop on over to http://www.facebook.com/CuisineDiva and Like our page to follow along all our Facebook updates!

Take care
Lynn Smythe AKA the Cuisine Diva

Enjoy Christmas Gift Baskets from Clearwater Hampers

Christmas is just around the corner. Are you looking for a great gift idea the entire family can enjoy? Consider putting together a gift basket filled with gourmet delights. Today's article is a sponsored post brought to you by Clearwater Hampers, located in Great Britain. They can put together a gift basket for any occasion and ship it to almost any place in the world.

It’s (Almost!) Beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

The holidays are fast approaching. The last few leaves are falling from the trees and the crisp winter air has certainly made its presence felt over the last couple of weeks. One of the best parts of late autumn is the almost tangible build up to the holiday season. Working out who’s going to host Christmas dinner and what presents to buy your loved ones are both part and parcel of the excitement and preparation. Arguably the best part of the Christmas holidays is having the opportunity to spend time together as a family and see the people you don’t get the opportunity to see as often as you’d like.

Here’s a great gift idea for those special people in your life who may be a bit tricky to buy for. These hampers for Christmas from Clearwater make fantastic options for a range of people as they are so versatile and offer a little something for everyone.  Another great thing is that they contain a variety of little luxuries and are ideal for sharing. There’s a great choice available too. Here are a few highlights. 

The Australian themed baskets come complete with a lovely bottle of wine and various tempting snacks popular with the Aussies!  These little beauties certainly lead the mind to ponder what a Christmas down under in the height of summer would be like. Slathering on the sun cream and lighting up the barbeque for Christmas dinner seems like a slightly bizarre concept!

On a cooler note, the Tinsel Time hamper contains a lovely selection of winter warmers like mulled spice tea bags and iced Christmas cake along with plenty more to make perfect additions to cosy evenings in front of the fire.

 

There’s even a hamper for the ultimate chocolate lover. Who could resist this mouth-watering selection of Belgian chocolates and truffles? The only potential problem with these is that they may be too tasty to share!

 

Hopefully that’s given some food for thought and provided an array of inspiration for treating your nearest and dearest this Christmas. Happy holidays!

Evil Nut Butters

Above: Jif's chocolate flavored hazelnut spread.

On a recent trip to the grocery store, I discovered Jif's Chocolate Flavored Hazelnut Spread. It's one of those evil, addictive, chocolate foods that you can eat directly from the jar with a spoon. I suppose you could try and fool yourself into thinking it was a healthy snack by substituting a stalk of celery for the spoon. Celery doesn't even have any calories does it? So celery + chocolate = neutral calories. Works for me, welcome to the fantasy-land world of the Cuisine Diva!

Each 2 tablespoon serving of Jif's spread contains 230 calories, with 120 of those calories coming from fat. I probably eat more than 2 Tbsp each time I crack open the jar. Might as well spread it directly to my hips and butt, that's where it's going to end up anyways.

Hazelnut spreads have no nutritional value, the first two ingredient in the Jif spread are sugar and oil, with a bit of hazelnuts and cocoa powder thrown in for good measure. Read the post I wrote back in 2010 on a Healthier Alternative to Nutella. The article compared the pros and cons of MaraNatha Dark Chocolate Almond Spread to Nutella.

So, with the addition of Jif's entry into the chocolate hazelnut spread market, there are now 3 reasons for me to stay home and never again visit a grocery store.

Dang EVIL nut butters!!!!

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA Cuisine Diva

Related articles

Nutella Is Not a Real Breakfast [FACT]

12 Facts About Nutella

Better than Nutella!

Thanksgiving Recipes Exposed

Enjoy Feasting on Thanksgiving Day

ABOVE: I don't think we have enough pies. Chocolate silk and pumpkin pies in the freezer, chocolate mint pie in the fridge and I just made 2 pecan pies today.

I get to celebrate Thanksgiving two times this year. My children are 17 and 21, I recently got divorced, and this is my first year celebrating the holidays since being single. My son and daughter all already booked up on Thanksgiving Day, so they are coming over to my boyfriends house on Wednesday late afternoon.

I've never had a fried turkey before, so my boyfriend is going to make one for us. He, and everyone else I've talked to, say deep friend turkeys are DELICIOUS so I hope it turns out okay. I'm making a bunch of side dishes today, Tuesday, that will be enough food to last through both T-Day celebrations. On Thursday it will probably just be me and my boyfriend, although his 22 year old son might be joining us.

The side dishes I'm making include pecan pie, sausage stuffing, cranberry pear salad and Brussels sprouts casserole. My boyfriend hates green beans so I'm substituting Brussels sprouts for green beans and hope everyone likes it. Brussels sprouts are yummy, so I think we'll survive!

1. The real reason everybody loves Green Bean Casserole. Who doesn't like a little bit of vegetable with their fried onions?

2. Everybody loves sugar. Pecan pies contain a ton of sugar. Two pecan pies have an entire 16 ounce bottle of Karo corn syrup, 1 cup granulated sugar and 1 cup brown sugar. Can you say SUGAR SHOCKER!?!

3. Cranberry sauce that comes in a can should be outlawed. Making homemade cranberry sauce is quick and easy if you own a slow cooker. This is what Cranberry Pear Sauce looks like before cooking down in the crock pot.

Last year, I posted up an article on a Thanksgiving Menu Plan that included links to other delicious holiday recipes such as roasted sweet potatoes, cranberry pear sauce, pecan pie and sauteed mushrooms.

Take care and have a great Thanksgiving Day!
Lynn Smythe, AKA the Cuisine Diva

Related articles

Thanksgiving Recipe Round Up 2

Make It Now: 7 Fresh Recipes for Cranberry Sauce

How Many Calories Will We Really Eat On Thanksgiving Day?

Healthy Green Drink Diet Book

Above: The Healthy Green Drink Diet

Green Equals Healthy

I recently had a chance to review the book The Healthy Green Drink Diet by Jason Manheim. I have a contact at Skyhorse Publishing who sends me books to review for my various blogs from time-to-time. The Healthy Green Drink Diet was in a package of books I just received from the publisher.

I've been wanting to lose a few pounds, so receiving this book in the mail was perfect timing. I am trying to get back to following the Paleo Diet, and am going to attempt to consume one green drink first thing in the morning for the next 7 days.

I read the book over the weekend, and made a shopping list of ingredients to purchase. There is a Publix right across the street from my apartment complex, and I love the fact that they open at 7 AM. So first thing Monday morning I popped over to the grocery store and went straight to the produce department to purchase all my fruits, vegetables and greens that will be used in the green drink recipes. Check to see if there are any farmer's markets or health food/organic markets near you where you can purchase your green drink ingredients from.

Above: a variety of fruits, vegetables and greens to use when creating green drinks.

Green Drink Health Benefits

Consuming 1-2 green drinks per day, preferably before a meal, can help with a variety of health problems including:

• heart disease
• cancer
• skin conditions
• high blood pressure
• high cholesterol
• asthma
• headaches
• insomnia
• bladder infections
• bowel issues

Above: add all green drink ingredients to the blender.

Just Peachy Green Drink Recipe

This is the first recipe I tested from the book. It has lots of peaches in it, so I thought it would be a bit sweeter than some of the other recipes. Peaches aren't in season at the moment, so I purchased a bag of un-sweetened frozen peaches.

I added a pinch of watercress leaves to the recipe, for a peppery punch, and one packet of Splenda to make it palatable. You aren't supposed to use any artificial sweeteners, I should have used a dash of agave syrup or honey, instead of the Splenda, oh well. Since I used frozen peaches, instead of fresh, I didn't add any ice cubes to this recipe.

I'll be testing additional recipes from The Healthy Green Drink Diet book throughout the week. I'll post up the results of my one weeks worth of consuming green drinks to either the Cuisine Diva or Bike Diva blog sometime next week.

Just Peachy Ingredients

• 4 whole peaches
• 1-2 cups spinach
• water
• ice

Just Peachy Directions

1. Fill blender with as much water and ice as you like
2. Add the remaining ingredients
3. Blend until smooth

Above: the finished product, Just Peachy green drink smoothie. A perfect way to start your day.

About the Author

The Healthy Green Drink Diet was written by Jaon Manheim. Jason is the founder of the Healthy Green Drink website: http://healthygreendrink.com/. Here is Jason's autobiography:

"My name is Jason Manheim and as long as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated with health, fitness, and the bodies ability to perform at its best when the right foods and exercises are introduced.

Because of this fascination, I have studied and participated in numerous diet and fitness fads, routines, and plans (like The 4-Hour Body, P90X, etc.). In the end, I have become quite educated in the lot and enjoy a better quality of life as a result.

I workout à la CrossFit at least 5 days a week, participate in Meatless Monday (although my usual diet is Primal or Paleo), experiment as much as I can, ride my bicycle around the city as my main mode of transportation, and occasionally find time to relax and enjoy a delicious slice of chocolate cake.

Healthy Green Drink is not a solo venture, though. My girlfriend helps out quite a bit; mostly by coming up with recipes that are really tasty and telling me when something I make is disgusting (seriously, I’ll drink anything with a slight green tint that comes out of a blender)."

Green Drink Diet Book Details

• Title: The Healthy Green Drink Diet
• Subtitle: Advice & Recipes to Energize, Alkalize, Lose Weight, and Feel Great
• Author: Jason Manheim
• Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
• Date published: 2012
• Details: 164 pages, color photos throughout

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA Cuisine Diva