Host Jonathan Bennett and judges Shinmin Li and Jason Smith are back on Food Network with new series Holiday Wars and “Stealing the Naughty List” epitomized the holidays. This is exactly what I want to see out of a baking competition to put me in the Christmas spirit. The set decorations alone had my inner […]
This week on Food Network‘s Holiday Baking Championship, we got to see host Jesse Palmer strip (yes, I said strip) and challenge the remaining six contestants to repurpose the most delicious (in my opinion) holiday sweet bread “Panettone” – something my family has every Christmas. I was very excited to see how the competitors would […]
This week on Food Network‘s Holiday Baking Championship, host Jesse Palmer challenged the remaining 7 contestants to create mini pies from brie and homemade jam and incorporate uninspiring prepared ingredients in to delicious cakes. While Palmer enjoyed his brie a little too much, the judges Nancy Fuller, Duff Goldman and Lorraine Pascale were in some […]
The final episode of Food Network‘s Ultimate Thanksgiving Challenge had the remaining three contestants expressing touching moments of inspiration and creating intricately beautiful meals to represent their family Thanksgiving. Host Giada De Laurentiis tasked them to use squash as their muse and all three created meals that made my mouth water. Judges Alex Guarnaschelli, Carla […]
This week on Food Network‘s Ultimate Thanksgiving Challenge, the four remaining competitors were tasked with working together to create the best “Friendsgiving Dinner”, a perfect dish highlighting goose and hen. One team conveniently coined themselves “Batman & Robin” and they were a “dynamic duo”, working exceptionally well together. Things did get a smidge out of […]
This week on Food Network‘s Holiday Baking Championship, host Jesse Palmer challenged our remaining eight contestants to impress judges Nancy Fuller, Duff Goldman, and Lorraine Pascale with apple cider donuts wrapped in fall themes, and decadent thanksgiving roll cakes. As is the theme this season, during “Pre Heat”, contestants really took the challenge to the […]
This week on Food Network‘s Ultimate Thanksgiving Challenge, the remaining five competitors were challenged with thinking outside the box using some nontraditional food items and transforming them into Thanksgiving comfort food. Host Giada De Laurentiis encouraged them to express their creativity to reinvent items like pizza, lasagna, and tacos 0 while judges Alex Guarnaschelli, Carla […]
This week on Food Network‘s Holiday Baking Championship, host Jesse Palmer challenged the remaining nine contestants to show off their pie baking skills using holiday spiced nuts and harvest ingredients. What I wasn’t expecting out of this episode was the contestants and myself getting hot flashes as we indulged in watching Palmer’s hard nipples as […]
Food Network’s Holiday Baking Championship is back and putting us immediately in the holiday spirit, so welcome egg nog, Rudolph, Santa’s helpers, and Krampus? Host Jesse Palmer welcomes 10 new bakers to the arena to battle it out for a chance to win $25,000. Consisting of some professionals and some just hobbyists, the competitors, have […]
With Thanksgiving being a few weeks away, and thoughts of food, family and post-holiday gym memberships on our minds, I geared up to watch Food Network‘s Ultimate Thanksgiving Challenge. Full disclosure: as much as I enjoy the show, I do watch it to inspire my holiday menu, especially with ingredients being low cost and meals […]
The season finale of Food Network‘s Halloween Baking Championship was probably the best episode of the season, and thankfully so. “A Haunting We Will Go” wrapped up with ghosts, zombies, and blood – lots and lots of blood. Between the grotesque cake creations and the set décor the episode truly wowed for the Halloween week. […]
The season finale of Food Network‘s Halloween Wars “Scary Tales II” had great concepts but struggled in execution – especially in the first round. Both “Small Scare” and “Spine Chiller” forced the contestants to think outside the box and they really (theoretically) got into the Halloween spirit. In reality, some of the ideas didn’t translate […]
This week’s edition of Cooking Channel‘s Freakshow Cakes was inspired a sizzling fire eater, with contestants charged to create their best “Flame Show” sculpture with a tasty “kissed by the heat” treat. They went all-out, with spinning displays and sparklers. I will say, I was hoping that a blow torch would somehow be incorporated into […]
This week’s episode of Food Network‘s Halloween Baking Championship offered up one of my favorite themes, Grave Robbing. “Gravely Delicious Desserts” had the contestants digging through dirt for… vegetables? Not exactly where I thought that was going: limbs, insects possibly, but not carrots, fennel, beats and sweet potatoes. Were they grave robbing or digging in […]
This week’s episode of Food Network‘s Halloween Wars “Other Holiday Mascots Go Trick-or-Treating” definitely didn’t bring down the house in the “Small Scare” round. Given a task like “Vampire Makeover,” contestants created sculptures that ended up needing makeovers of their own. Contestants did step up their game in “Spine Chiller,” impressing host Jonathan Bennett as […]
To its credit, Cooking Channel‘s Freakshow Cakes continues to impress with mind-blowing horrific concepts. The contestant’s creativity just gets better with every episode, although this week some might have bit off a little more than they can chew and struggled with time management. This week’s episode “Misfortune Teller” had the competitors create “Mistress of the […]
This week’s episode of Food Network‘s Halloween Baking Championship had me falling in love with John Henson. His humoristic antics are becoming a much needed enjoyable treat throughout the episode. “Creepy and Crusty Creations” starts off with Henson sitting on a couch Freud-style, reflecting about his “Mummy” issues to inspire our contestants on their “Pre-Heat” […]
This week’s episode of Food Network‘s Halloween Wars was definitely an improvement from last week. Although the “Small Scare” challenge during “The Swarm” was uneventful, the contestants brought their serious “A-Game” in the “Spine Chiller” round. Host Jonathan Bennett (with judges Shinmin Li and Todd Tucker and guest judge Harley Quinn Smith) were impressed by […]
On this week’s Food Network Freakshow Cakes, contestants brought us horrors in snake handling gone seriously wrong. The carnival allure of the backdrop, the creepy music and the enthusiasm for all things abnormally enticing made Snake Charmer Showdown another very enjoyable episode. Hosted by Zac Yung and Vivian Chan, 3 passionate “freaks of nature” create a […]
I was very excited for this week’s episode of Food Network‘s Halloween Baking Championship, although a bit thrown off by the title. “All Things Weird and Wonderful” was inspired by The Addams Family, and made me nostalgic for the time I won best Halloween costume as Wednesday Addams in elementary school – so there’s that. […]
