The Food Radio Show Kansas City / Behind the Scenes

2011-02-25T04:24:00.000-08:00

So the weather in Kansas City had been mild last week, reaching into the seventies for record breaking highs. On Groundhog's Day, February 2nd, Puxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow, declaring an early spring for 2011. That was good enough for me. Spring was on its way!

When Shannon, my co-host, and I brainstormed on the theme for this week's show, the obvious choice was "Spring!" After all, March 20th, the first day of spring, was just around the corner. We lined up our guests, prepared our recipes, downloaded a little "Daydream" by Lovin' Spoonfuls and in 3...2...1...went live with our show.

Our first guest was restaurant owner Edward Adel from RA Long's Sawmill Restaurant in Lee's Summit, MO. Edward's restaurant offers a real eating experience when you drop by for brunch, lunch or dinner. His decor is elegant with warm woods, vaulted ceilings, chandelier and a large, beautiful fireplace. The dining room includes accent pieces from the historic Longview Farm, including the original barn doors. A cozy bar offers a great wine list, imported beer, and trendy cocktails. The breezy patio opens when warmer weather arrives, inviting patrons to enjoy their Sawmill experience in fresh air.

Their menu is quite diverse and has something for everyone, from gourmet entrees to luncheon salads. The house specialties include Salmon Pesto Pasta, Pork Scaloppini Sawmill Style and Fried Veggie Cakes with White Wine Cream Sauce. The sandwich selection is equally as interesting. Whether you are in the mood for a Steak Sandwich, a Chicken Fried Chicken Sandwich, Classic French Dip or one of their gourmet Jumbo Dogs, you'll find just what you crave. You can view their menu on-line at www.ralongs.com.

Our second guest was the proprietor of one of Kansas City's best gourmet kitchenware wonderlands! Yes, I call it a wonderland, or better, Disneyland, for Foodies. Becky Glaze, is the owner of Cockrell's Mercantile, in the small, really small town of Cockrell, Missouri. Actually, her compound IS the town. Located off the beaten path, east of Lee's Summit on 50 Highway, just past the Blue Springs 7 Highway exit, you'll see a sign that says "Cockrells". Turn there really quick and don't blink or you may pass it. But once found, this historic small town, turned retail culinary compound, will hold you hostage.

When you come to Cockrells, plan on staying for several hours, as it will take you that long, especially on your first visit, to actually see everything Becky offers. Nestled on several acres, Cockrells' vintage village boasts five cottages, each with their own theme. Get ready for an old fashioned experience, where your sales tickets will be hand written, you'll be greeted by a friendly associate and offered a great cup of coffee or tea and experience a place where everyone is truly happy to be there.

Start your village tour in the Main House for gourmet food selections, housewares and cookware, gadgets, cookbooks and so much more. Stroll across the park-like pathways to the Morton House for all of your baking needs, including professional grade bakeware, King Arthur's products, and everything you need (and some you just want!) for your baking passions. Wander off the front porch over to the Fiesta House that offers more Fiestaware than anyone in Kansas City. Available in every color, the exceptional collector pieces will be irresistible.

For those who love home decor, the Cockrell Cottage is a must-see, and for the gardeners-at-heart the Cockrell Annex, a converted vintage barn, will help you discover your next unique garden accent piece. Cockrells Mercantile is a destination. Don't miss it. Visit their web site at www.cockrellmercantile.com.

Shannon and I were really getting into the "spring" of things. In keeping with the theme of the show, I shared a recipe for BLT Salad, which is so good I made it for dinner that night! It's like a BLT in a bowl, and you know how much I like bacon! Shannon shared his winning techniques for smoking a brisket.

As the spring breezes warmed up the studio, by the end of the show we were ready to break out our warm weather recipes. And then reality set in yesterday when Mother Nature reminded us it is still February, no matter how much we want it to be spring. And this morning, I'm on my way out to shovel 5-inches of SNOW off my driveway so I can go to the shop and bake.

It is Missouri, you know. We have a saying here, "If you don't like the weather, wait a day. It will change." Indeed!

Zimm's Hot Sauce

2011-02-17T04:45:00.000-08:00

I admit it! I love hot stuff! I slather hot sauce on everything from eggs to potatoes. (Yesterday my guests, Todd and Janet Zimmer of Zimm's Hot Sauce, gave us a technique for frying bacon in hot sauce. That's what I'm talkin' about!)

At my local breakfast hangout, The Corner Cafe, I sit at the counter and order the same thing every time. The servers don't even offer me a menu anymore when I sit down. They know what I'm going to order. A three-egg omelet with tomato, bacon, hot pepper cheese, a side of salsa and a bottle of their Gunslinger Hot Sauce. (And of course, to keep it healthy, a side of wheat toast!)

A great hot sauce has to have a slow burn. It can't just sizzle your tastebuds right off your tongue. It creeps up on you. First you taste the tang on the back of your tongue, then the heat begins to slowly move up the center and sides of your tongue, then the explosion of flavors release and the burn begins. A great hot sauce will bring you back for more as your tastebuds begin craving the flame.

Todd and Janet arrived at the station with samples of their hot wings and shrimp. The owner of the station, Pete, met them with anticipation. Pete loves Wednesdays when The Food Radio Hosts show up with their culinary concoctions looking for tasters. He's always willing to oblige.

Zimm's Hot Sauce was awesome. Todd Zimmer got his start in the restaurant business in Buffalo, New York, home of the Buffalo Wings, so he knows a thing or two about hot sauce. At first bite, I tasted a sweetness from the molasses, then the heat began its slow burn and the spiciness kicked in. A great combination. Everyone in the studio, from the owner to the engineer, tasted Todd's samples and all agreed, it was "Kicksas"! (That's the name of one of the sauces, the hotter of Buffsas and Kicksas sauces.)

Visit the Zimmers web site at http://www.zimmshotsauce.com/. Great product, made and produced in our great city, Kansas City, where we know a thing or two about sauces.

Snow Day!

2011-02-02T03:08:00.000-08:00

Well, it's the blizzard of 2011. I'm snowed in with over 15 inches of snow falling so far. My car is quickly disappearing in the snow drifts, my poor husband looks like a cartoon character shoveling snow in his red cap and gloves that contrast the snow like Rudolph"s red noise! I've got to put some food out for the birds and small animals. How will they find food in all this snow? I feed everything and everyone. Raccoons, deers, birds, chipmunks, neighbors, family...it's an obsession. Food comforts me, so surely it must be good for everyone else! Right?

Snowed in. What does a Chef do when they can't do anything? They cook! I put on a pot of Chicken Soup, baked some Parmesan Biscuits and a Peach Cobbler, and nestled in to ride out the 40 mile an hour winds and look forward to Sunday when it should be above freezing. Get these recipes at my web site http://www.perfect10cookbooks.com/. The Parmesan Biscuits are so easy, using a canned biscuit.

Los Angeles County Fair Blue Ribbon Winner

2011-01-23T06:25:00.000-08:00

My latest hunt turned up a very cool First Edition of the Los Angeles County Fair Award-Winning Recipes; Circa 1978.

The pages in this book are yellowed with time but they have no signs of being used while cooking. There are no drip and splatter stains, no dog ears, no handwritten notes or sidebars.

It appears as though someone had this in their collection more as a souvenir than for cooking. (Or perhaps they were just a very organized, clean cook!)

I love the County Fair Winners cookbooks. These books chronicle the family treasured recipes of the era gone by. They are the foods that fed generations of hungry working men returning home to hot suppers after a long day of work, surprised school children with freshly baked treats and the heartwarming smells of home after a long day of studies and made holidays so special with traditional foods that could only be enjoyed at their mother's table.

This book highlights the home baking of 1978 Los Angeles, as the city's best cooks brought their treasured recipes, one by one, to the judging table for a chance at the coveted Blue Ribbon. I can only image the contestant's high anxiety as they discretely eyed the competition's cherished entries, yet with confindence, they proudly presented their best creation.

The Blue Ribbon Winners for that year in the Bread category were:

Clemma Avis Harrison for her 100% Whole Wheat Bread
Clemma Avis Harrison for her Oatmeal Wheat Bread
Dorothie Crowley for her Rye Bread
Dorthie Crowley for her Whole Wheat Rolls
Dorthie Crowley for her 60% Whole Wheat Rolls
Jim Chilton for his Flemish Marble Bread
Jean Henry for her Best Ever Bread
Betty Mancuso for her Russian Black Bread
Mavis A. Swan for her Sourdough Bread
Mrs. Alfred Ohrmund for her Honey Banana Bread
Mrs. Alfred Ohrmund for her Honey Nut Bread
Bunny Amedola for her Carrot-Pineapple Bread
Bunny Amedola for her Onion Turbans

Sharon Fowler for her Light Zucchini Bread

Sylvia Atherton for her Zucchini Bread
Joyce A. Ksiazek for her Pumpkin Bread
Lorraine Bolsten for her Date Nut Bread
Jan Grizel for her Peachy Pecan Bread
Barbara Hartley for her Old Fashioned Apricot Bread

Obviously there were some very good bakers in 1978 as individuals like Clema, Dorothie and Bunny claimed multiple Blue Ribbons.

If you are interested in receiving copies of any of these recipes, email me at recipes@perfect10cookbooks.com. I will be more than happy to share them with you.

Connect with The Recipe Hunter

2011-01-20T04:54:00.000-08:00

Don't miss the exciting adventures of The Recipe Hunter. Join Debbie Kraft as she discovers America's secret recipes.

The Food Radio Show

2010-12-30T06:23:00.000-08:00

I am now the co-host of The Food Radio Show in Kansas City. My co-host, Darren Smith and I will bring you awesome recipes each week as well as reviews on local and regional family owned business.

We are having a great time with our call-in listeners. You can listen to our broadcast several different ways; prerecorded, live and at KCXL 1140 AM or 102.9 FM on Saturday mornings from 9-10 a.m.

Visit our facebook page at The Food Radio Show. Become a Fan and receive all of our updates, recipes and guest announcements.

It's a great time for people who love food. Join us this week.

Recipe Hunter Results

2010-10-21T05:16:00.000-07:00

My name is Debbie Kraft. They call me the Recipe Hunter. I travel the country seeking America's lost recipes and family secrets and vintage cookbooks. I'm the author of the Perfect 10 Cookbooks, Family Secrets and I want to share the results of my latest hunt with you.

Yesterday I met with family of a woman that was liquidating her estate. I was disappointed that she was not there, as I love to talk with the people to discover their stories and secrets. I am seeking, of course, recipes; heirloom recipes, original family recipes, hand-written ones, and cookbooks.

When I first visit a family, I can tell with one glance into the kitchen whether or not this was a home with a great cook. The telltale signs may include, cannisters of sugar and flour on the counters, pots on the stove, a crock of cooking utensils nearby, a standing mixer or Cuisinart, cooking clutter on top of the refrigerator, spoon rests on the stove, tea towels drapped over a towel bar or stove handle, spice racks, a mat on the floor in front of the sink or stove, and of course, cookbooks. At first blush, I could tell a great cook lived there.

Her name was Dorothy and she loved to cook. Her family brought out 2 large boxes of what appeared to be miscellaneous cooksbooks. As I dug down through the boxes, at the very bottom, I found the treasure.

An large, old album, with yellowed paper that crumbled when it was disturbed. It was stuffed with hundreds of hand-written cooking notes and recipes along with newspaper clippings. The clippings dated back as early as the 1930s and as late as 2009 and were from many different sources; newspapers in Texas and Missouri, product packages, magazines, and copies of favorite recipes from friends and co-workers.

Dorothy loved baking. She especially loved Banana Nut Bread, as I found no less than 15 hand-written recipes for the quick bread. She was also meticulously detailed. She made lists, checked them off, wrote countless notes on recipe measurement conversions and rated each recipe as she made them.

"Good," she wrote on many. "I've tasted better," she noted on a Gingerbread recipe. "Terrible" was denoted next to a Buttermilk Scone recipe. Yes, Dorothy loved to cook, and she was a sister recipe collector.

Among the recipes that I will test for my web site (http://www.perfect10cookbooks.com/) and post under the Retro category are Pecan Pie Cookies and Black Walnut Brownie. Hundreds more recipes will be reviewed carefully and considered, including one of the Banana Nut Bread favorites.

In the second box I discovered the First Edition of the Betty Crocker's 1950 Picture Cookbook. What a popular book it was in its time. Smaller than today's Betty Crocker's Cookbooks but with the familiar red cover. It is amazing to see how so many of our popular food today had their genisis in our early American cookbooks. The old is forever new!

Recipe Hunting

2010-10-17T07:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a beautiful day for a Recipe Hunt! The weather here was a mild 75 degrees with plenty of sunshine, and very little wind, except for a brief breeze that blew the colorful leaves across my path. I gassed up my black convertible Saturn Sky, and with the rag top down, and my GPS on, I was on the road again. Destination: Back roads of Missouri.

Days like this encourage people to have yard sales, estate sales, garage sales and just about any venue to rid themselves of the "clutter" in their homes. I was hunting recipes. (I almost sound like Elmer Fud!) Those golden old recipe books with yellowed, food stained pages and small handwritten notes that mark a moment in time when someone created something wonderful.

My trip took me to Lexington, Missouri. Lexington is an old Antebellum town set on the banks of the Missouri river. It is a moderately quiet town where everyone knows the business of the day. The historic homes of the mid-to-late 1800s were incredible. Mansion-like, with ornate gingerbread adorning the facades, carriage houses, and sprawling landscapes, these homes were reminiscent of some I had seen in old South. Surely, somewhere in this town I can find some heirloom recipes.

I was excited to find that the beautiful day had encouraged many estate and yard sales. One stop after another, I was searching through stacks of old magazines, library books and watermarked boxes. The people I met were so friendly and always had a wisdom to share. When I told them about my hunt, they confessed to having their own cherished books and hand-written recipe cards from mothers and grandmothers, however, they were not for sale! Most never are, but the people I meet are always willing to tell me the stories about how food played a memorable roll in their families, and every once in a while, they share a family recipe with me. My quest for the day is then satisfied.

After a long day of stopping at one property after another, nearly ready to head home, I spotted a pale-yellow house with a disheveled yard on a one-way street; one shutter hung crookedly and was in much need of a new coat of paint. An elderly lady sat in a rusty lawn chair in the front yard admiring the golden leaves above her head.

As I approached her crumbling driveway, she looked inquisitively at my car. She smiled at me and said, "Come on in, not much left." After much small talk about the town and its history, I finally asked her if she had any cookbooks or old recipe cards she was willing to sell. (As I saw none on the two nearly empty tables left on the walkway.)

Her response made me want to load her in my car and take her home with me! She smiled again, this time with a slight far-away glaze in her eyes.

"Oh, I have lots of recipes, but I haven't used them in a long time," she sighed. "I raised nine children in this old house, but they're all grown now and moved away. My husband's gone, too. I sure cooked 'em great meals during the day. Most my stuff is in the attic, if you care to take a look."

She lead me through several corridors to a small doorway with a latched hook. As the plywood door was opened, I encountered a narrow, very steep staircase, leading to the rafters of the home. As I took each step, I could smell the muskiness of the years gone by, as her life's treasures lay eerily still in this fortress.

Stepping over trunks, hat boxes and vintage toys, she pointed to a dark corner and said, "Over there. That's where I keep 'em."

There were a dozen or so boxes in the area so I asked her, "Which box?" She smiled again and nearly whispered, "All of them."

That was one of those rare moments when the heavens opened and the angels sang and a ray of light came pouring from the heavens. I know I heard music! (I think it was Elvis!)

As I began digging through the boxes, one after another revealed their cache; hundreds, perhaps a thousand, recipe clippings from newspapers from around the country dating as far back as the 1930s; hundreds of hand-written recipe cards, categorized and neatly filed in labeled tins; cookbooks and magazines from every era. And then I discovered the cookbooks! I think I stopped breathing.

One by one I gently pulled the treasures out of the storage boxes. Julia Childs, Fannie Farmer, Irma Rombauer, classic Betty Crocker, James Beard, they were all there. Yes, Mastering the Art of French Cooking was there, too!

I raised myself from the floor of the dusting attic and put my arms around the aging woman. No words were spoken. There was no need. It was the communication of two souls; one mother to another; one woman to another; one passionate cook to another. She had been a Recipe Hunter, too. And she was ready to entrust her cherished recipes to someone who would allow them to live another generation. She sold them all to me. And I will share them with you.

Visit my web site at http://www.perfect10cookbooks.com/ for vintage and contemporary recipes collected from family archives around the country.

Perfect 10 Cookbooks Honors Veterans

2010-10-15T06:42:00.000-07:00

During this time of economic uncertainty and the ever present sense of vulnerability, the people at Perfect 10 Cookbooks take a moment to honor some of our nation's bravest men and women, our American Veterans of War.

We never want to forget, or become immune to, their sacrifices and roles in our freedom and national security. Many thanks go out to every brave soul that has, and are, serving our country. Without their dedication and service, America would be quite a different place.

Our servicemen and women have given me the freedom to own my own business; to raise my family according to my beliefs and philosophies; to worship as I desire. At every opportunity, I, along with the Perfect 10 Cookbooks staff, take a moment to say thank you.

Perfect 10 Cookbooks bakes up a special batch of their signature Sugar Cookies and delivers them to the the Illinois Veterans Home in Quincy, Illinois. The Home of the Brave!

"High Five's" For Our Vets

Perfect 10 Sugar Cookies
Special Delivery

Home of the Brave
Illinois Veterans Home
Quincy, IL

Mealtime Treat

Veteran's Wife
All Smiles for Sugar Cookies

America's Recipe Box

2010-03-01T05:05:00.000-08:00

I've been on a whirlwind tour promoting my new book, Perfect 10 Cookbooks, Family Secrets. I love talking to people about their culinary interests and food preferences. It seems there is a real resurgence among home cooks to prepare nostalgic recipes with contemporary adaptations. You know, real food, with ingredients that you would have stocked in your pantry. Food that is comforting, satisfying and makes you want to hug someone! Watch your favorite celebrity chef shows and you’ll find them making such recipes as Mac & Cheese, Mile High Lemon Pie, and Chicken Fried Steak. Create TV has even started showing reruns of Julia!

In my quest for those perfect recipes, I spend my few days off each month chasing down auctions, estate sales, and yes, even garage sales. I’ve become an expert at identifying which ones will hold my next treasure. I know exactly where they’ll be hiding and seek them out quickly, because recipe hunting is becoming quite a trend.

Our incredible culinary predecessors have left us legacies and stories, if we just care to listen. I have been known to openly yelp with excitement when I discover a cache of personal recipes hidden between the pages of old cookbooks, or sealed in yellowing envelopes.

I once discovered the personal records of an accomplished chef from Arizona. Over 280 hand-written recipes from the 60s and 70s (that was the “yelp” time!) His chocolate cake recipe was the best I’ve ever made and needed very little substitutions.

Another time I discovered a collection of Gourmet’s annually bound, hard-cover magazine collection, circa 1953 to 1973, in pristine condition.

I regularly monitor eBay for old recipes, too, but they are very hard to win because there is such a demand for them. Recently I was outbid time and again for four recipe boxes of hand-written recipe cards, circa 1940s. I had bids on five other hand-written recipe books and cards, and was consecutively outbid each time. I have no idea what the final price merited, I just know I stopped bidding at $40, $50 and $60!

Recreating my favorite recipes when I get back to the kitchen is the best part of the hunt. After updating a few basic ingredients with more health conscience alternatives, (i.e. no lard; even though it makes the flakiest pie crust in the world and cooks fried chicken like nothing else) I seek to prepare those dishes that deserve to be enjoyed across timelines.

I, for one, refuse to let our culinary legacies of the passing generations go silent. I embrace the new, but will never forsake the past, as this is where the cornerstone of today’s culinary foundation was laid.

Follow Me on Blogger. Today, Cinnamon Rolls

2010-01-16T04:58:00.000-08:00

I have been busy working on my second edition of the Perfect 10 Cookbooks. It's going to be very special.
So confidential at this point. I have about 400 recipes that have been preliminarily selected. Now I'm well underway in the cooking, testing, judging and eating part. I give away a lot of my prepared recipes because, I'm mean really, who could eat all this food? The judges love being called over for a testing because they know they'll be taking most of it home.

I just completed the Appetizer & Beverage section. Been working on that for about three months now. These recipes were the easiest, and the most fun, especially the Beverages!

Today, baking! Yeah! I love to bake. There's just something so comforting about the aroma of yeast breads, cinnamon rolls, pies or cakes baking away. And it's Saturday. Nothing better than Cinnamon Rolls for a leisurely weekend morning.

I have a very good recipe for Cinnamon Rolls posted on my Facebook page. It's easy and uses a boxed roll mix for the base, plus the rolls rise overnight in the refrigerator. You wake up, pop them in the oven, and in 30 minutes, you have fresh cinnamon rolls. Find it on FB at Perfect 10 Cookbooks.

For my book, I'll be selecting a recipe that is totally from scratch. So, let's see. Which one will it be? I have five I'm considering. One sounds really good - has vanilla pudding in it. The second one sounds good, but requires kneading for...20 minutes!? Well, I do have a KitchenAide with kneading hook. Is that cheating?

Choosing the one with vanilla pudding, and one with two packets of yeast and extra sugar. Battle of the Cinnamon Rolls begins.

Making the one with vanilla pudding first...

Proofed the yeast, one packet; love the smell of yeast. All ingredients in, including the one egg. ALWAYS, ALWAYS break your eggs into a separate bowl, then add them to the recipe. This prevents shells from making your final product a little crunchy, plus, in the event of a bad egg, you won't spoil your entire mixture.

In all the years I've been cooking that has happened to me ONCE! I was making a very important recipe on a tight schedule and I started taking a few short cuts in prep. I started to crack the egg directly into the batter, and I remembered the rotten egg rule, so I reluctantly pulled a small ramekin down from the shelves and cracked the egg directly into it. I was shocked as a black egg emerged from a pristine looking shell. Not so much smelly, just very obviously a BAD EGG! It has never happened to me since, but I faithfully crack all my eggs first into a small bowl, then add to me recipe.

This first recipe is so thin! Surely it needs more flour. But, I'll stick to the recipe for now.

"Roll out on floured surface and knead for 10 minutes..."
This dough is so sticky it's going to be difficult to get it out of the bowl, let alone knead it! I'm going to spray my hands with PAM first. That helps, but as I try to pull this dough together, I have to add more flour, just a little at a time to make it workable. Too much flour will make the final product tough. Aah, that's better.

After refrigerating the dough for several hours, the fun part starts. Rolling it out and filling with a brown sugar, cinnamon mixture. I go a little heavy on the sugar part. I like sweet rolls.

Tightly roll up and slice. I wish you could see these beauties. Brown sugar spirals and very delicate dough. I think these babies are going to be great. After a second rising they go into the oven.

Final product, incredibly light, golden brown and frosted with a cream cheese icing. Pure heaven.

Made the other recipe and just as I thought, the dough was heavy and tough. Too much kneading. I will make the first recipe one more time with the changes and then call the tasters. I think it's going to get a Perfect 10 score.

Made two more batches of the first recipe. Rolled one batch into giant rolls and the other into "Cinni-Minis", about 2-inches in diameter. This is a "David and Goliath" battle of the Cinnamon Rolls. Which one will the testers like?

After much deliberation, and a lot of tasting, the Perfect 10 Cinnamon Roll winner..... the "Cinni-Minis!"

Soft, delicate, full of flavor and so much fun to eat. Just pop them into your mouth and chase with your favorite blend of coffee or tea. Kid sized, too. And anyway, isn't the best part of the Cinnamon Roll the center? These are just like having dozens of soft centers pieces to eat with no fuss of plates and forks.

Look for the recipe for "Cinni-Minis" in the second edition of the Perfect 10 Cookbooks.

Testing Chicken Soup Recipe

2010-01-08T13:31:00.000-08:00

Okay, it's freakin' cold! I have snow drifts of up to 2 feet here at my back door! The country seems to be in a deep freeze. (Weatherman says it may snow in Orlando - hello, does Mickey have a coat?)

With all this winter weather, I decide to work on the "soups and stews" section of my book. Self-serving, I know, but since I have to taste it, and my family will be extra hungry when they get home, I think I'm going for a Chicken Soup recipe. I found the recipe in a cookbook I purchased at a yard sale. No really, I treasure hunt throughout the region and country when I travel and discover classic and unique recipes to share with others. I discovered this book that belonged to a chef in Arizona. It was old, (about 1965) but I believe that the old is forever new, and I plan on putting a few updated twists on it.

The recipe calls for making the chicken stock first. Though I frequently make chicken stock from scratch for all kinds of soups, gravies and recipes, tonight....forget about it! I'm going for the boxed stock to see if I can get good results with less work. I want a comfort cuisine dish that warms the hearts and tummies of my readers and can be put together in under 30 minutes when they get home.

Here's some of the ingredients I'll be using for the recipe. Instead of homemade stock, I'll be using boxed stock. (Emeril, your stock box is hard to open!) Since I'm not boiling or roasting my chicken, though the thought of a hot oven heating the kitchen temps me, I'm opting for canned white meat chunk chicken. Of course we've got to have celery, carrots and onions to further flavor the stock and the herbs called for are bay leaf, thyme, parsley, so I'll make a bouquet garni to add to the stock.

...what's a bouquet garni, you ask? Simple. Just tie all your herbs and spices in a piece of cheesecloth and drop it into the stock. It keeps your stock clean and is easy to remove.

(Taste Time): needs a little more salt, and I'm going to add my secret touch, Herbs de Provence, but just a pinch or two. I love the herbs and spices that are combined to make this special blend. Thyme, fennel, basil, savory and lavender. Perfect!

Okay, I've got the stock going now. Seasoning with salt & pepper (plus I'm adding a pinch of garlic salt...gives it depth of flavor). Simmering for 20 minutes. Now the recipe calls for homemade egg noodles; yeah, not tonight, my hands are frozen and I don't think I could roll the dough with these gloves on!

Need to dice the veggies. My chef's knife needs sharpening. Where's my steel? Can't chop veggies with a dull knife.

Celery, carrots and onions. cut into a 1/4-inch dice. Will saute them in butter then add to the broth. (I use a lot of butter in my cooking, so get used to it!) My idea of a healthy recipe is one stick of butter instead of two! Flavor, flavor, flavor!

Veggies have been added and simmered and are now tender. Now let's add the packaged egg noodles. Oh, they look so good bobbling in their cauldron. I'll let those cook for another 10 minutes or so, until nice and tender. The chicken is added during the last 5 minutes. Don't want them to fall apart in my broth, just warm them up a bit.

(Taste Time): Oh yeah! Get the ladle. Soup's on.

Serving with Garlic Bistro Bread (recipe on my Facebook page at Perfect 10 Cookbooks.)

Tasters gather to rate the recipe on a scale of 1-10. Got one "10" and two "9"s. I give it a solid "9." Very good, but won't be good enough for my Perfect 10 Cookbooks. Next time I'll prepare it with the homemade noodles. I think that will elevate it to a "10".

Now, where's my dishwashers?...Oh, there they are, one's sitting in front of the TV and the other is on his cell phone...oh, no, they didn't just ask about dessert, did they? How about Snow Ice Cream, after shoveling my driveway!

Writing A Cookbook

2010-01-08T04:58:00.000-08:00

They say it's not the destination, but the journey that makes every effort worthwhile. I have spent the last two years writing the first of the Perfect 10 Cookbooks. What a labor of love. The hundreds of trial recipes, the searching through thousands of recipes and referrals for the "Perfect 10" recipe candidate, waking at 3 a.m. to document a thought or note for the book, the writing, revisions, working with graphic designers and publishers! And don't even get me started about the weight gain as I tasted, tested and consumed hundreds of recipes. I loved every minute of it.

The book has now been published and launched, and is available in the Kansas City Barnes and Noble stores and some of Kansas City's finest culinary and gourmet stores. I have been doing book signings non-stop since October.

I have a Facebook Page at Perfect 10 Cookbooks. At last count, I had 540 Fans. I share free recipes with my Fans each week and interact often with them. One question frequently asked is what writing a cookbook is all about. They want to know how I find such great recipes, the testing process, and why certain recipes are chosen for the book.

So, I have decided to document here on my Blog, the experience of writing my next cookbook. I'll take you through the journey with me, as I write the second book in the Perfect 10 Cookbook collection. (Can't reveal the title yet - it's going to be very cool!) I'll take you through the joys, the pains, the victories and defeats, and believe me, there are more defeats than victories as we get the recipes to the Perfect 10 level.

Who knows? You may be able to improve your own cooking skills, as I write about the techniques, recipes and my personal thoughts throughout this journey.

Come along. We're going to have a great ride!

Introducing

2009-09-05T19:31:00.000-07:00

New Perfect 10 Cookbook just released. Great #recipes for family and entertaining. Contempory, retro and heirloom #recipes. www.perfect10cookbooks.com