Thanksgiving Tips,🦃 Tricks and Fixes... Monday November 25th 8am hour

Recipes from Todays Show and Tips with Timelines for the week! Enjoy!

It’s kinda funny. I get asked… Are you cooking for Thanksgiving? Honestly, I think it has been 25 years since I cooked for the exact day of Thanksgiving. I teach pie baking for weeks prior, so many will enjoy the art of perfect pies. I jump on TV on morning shows from Thanksgiving Sides to How to fix your turkey. For 8 years, every Thanksgiving I was on a ship. A few years ago I got a call from Holland America on Wednesday before Thanksgiving with a panic. “ Are you in SoCal? Any chance you can jump on a ship tomorrow for 6 days out to the South Pacific .. We will fly you anywhere you need to go? So drove early Thanksgiving morning to the docks of San Diego and passed about 6 WalMarts with lines out the parking lot for those $100 TV Sets.. I sailed into in Tahiti almost a week later after teaching classes and lectures.  Flew home from the island.. A few times I was in London for the holiday… Mom asked, where are you going to have Thanksgiving? Well Mom.. they don’t celebrate it.. Something about us leaving the Mother Ship…  

Here are some of the recipes for tomorrow mornings show… Also, a timeline as to how to prepare for your week..  

Menu:

Roasted Tomato Pepper Soup

Herb Roasted Turkey

Cornbread and Sausage Stuffing

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Orange Grand Marnier Cranberries

Maple Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Pie Crust

Pecan Pie

Pumpkin Pie

Items every kitchen must have for holiday emergency

1.    Vodka

2.    Turkey Stock 

3.    Kahlua

4.    Whipped Cream

Timeline:

ASAP: Set Table and Get all bowls/utensils out

            Thaw Turkey (in COLD water), replace every 30 mins

Tuesday/Wednesday: 

Make:

Soup

Potatoes

Cranberries

Pies

Stuffing

Thursday AM: 

Make:

Turkey

Thursday Late Afternoon: 

After Turkey is setting (30 mins). Place: Potatoes and Stuffing wrapped in foil into oven

at 375°F for 35 minutes.  

Heather and I last years Turkey Makeover!

CBS8 San Diego.. Pumpkins are Happening! 🎃 October 25th

San Diego Morning News.. Here are the recipes from todays show. Fast and easy!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I was on the morning news an hour earlier at the 7am hour. Just in time for you to see the traffic before you head to work! Next week is Halloween! Here are a few savory and sweet dishes for you to try. Let me know how they work out.

Try making your own Pumpkin Puree!

Recipes:

Pumpkin Puree

Toasted Pecan Pumpkin Soup

Garlic Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Pumpkin Cupcakes

Pumpkin Chocolate Cookies (Pictured above)

Have a Great weekend!

Another Show... More Tips

I think I have been judging people longer then anyone! Really let me explain. 30 years ago I was asked to judge food contest at the largest county fair in the nation. Los Angeles.  After a number of years I became the culinary coordinator and had a team of judges with many contests daily. This went on for 28 years. The longest of any of my "Jobs". Today I judge contests for large food companies and the like. Over the summer I was a Judge Critic for ABC's new upcoming show The Taste with Anthony Bordian. After spending days criss-crossing the country seeing thousands of hopefuls wanting to win the limelight, here are my top ten tips for entering a contest. Also here is a new baking show casting this next week. www.cbsbakingshow.com 

Here are my top 10 tips for the process. 

As a judge of many contests over the years here are my top 10 things to look out for in these open calls:

1. Read all of the information and do what it says. Put together your application etc.
2. Show up about 2 hours after the start of the open call. The first few hours are people that camp overnight. They are not fresh, their food is not fresh and you want to be fresh! 3. Pick a dish that will hold well for a few hours (no refrigerated things).
4. Don't go crazy... Make something that you do well and is simple. A great butter cookie will win over a complicated pastry that is just so so.
5. Don't go for any of the new flavor combinations such as Salted Caramel, Chocolate and Chilies.. These will be flavors that many people will use. Set yourself out of the normal.
6. Be very very excited, right with you get out of your car, don't loose the smile. People are watching you and you don't even know it.  
7. Wear age and size appropriate clothing.
8. You get only a small area to show off your creation and a little bit (normally 3 minutes) to plate and present your dessert.. Be ready. If lets say you are doing a chocolate cake with fudge frosting. Have a pedestal cake plate with the chocolate cake and a slice out, with and a small dessert plate with the slice and a fork on it.
9. You can "theme" yourself and your dessert. Make lemon bars and have an apron on with lemons.
10. Be natural! most of the time your score is 50% of the food and 50% of your personality and story. Have something exciting to say that is as exciting as your dessert.   

Good Luck!