Beignet Recipe: Make Beignets For Mardi Gras

Celebrating the Carnival season, Mardi Gras (“Fat Tuesday”) has been a state holiday in Louisiana since the 19th century. So evoke Mardi Gras and New Orleans with a batch of homemade beignets. National Beignet Day, September 17th, was declared in 2024 by the Ralph Brennan Restaurant Group.     WHAT’S MARDI GRAS? The Carnival season…
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RECIPE: Easy Gumbo For Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras begins tomorrow. If you’d like to celebrate with the taste of New Orleans, whip up a gumbo. This recipe is from Chef David Venable of QVC, who calls it “an easy-to-tackle version, filled with great Louisiana flavor and spice.” Gumbos have a lot of ingredients, but the cooking technique isn’t demanding. Says David,…
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TIP OF THE DAY: Fast Decorating With Chips

Need a quick dessert, but want a touch of both fancy and homemade? Grab store-bought cupcakes or cake and a bag of baking chips, regular or mini. They’re available in a rainbow of flavors/colors: butterscotch, cappuccino, caramel, cherry, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, mint, peanut butter, peppermint (white chips with bits of candy cane) and vanilla…
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National Banana Creme Pie Day (Also Spelled Cream Pie)

March 2nd is National Banana Creme Pie Day. But is it banana creme or banana cream? Crème, pronounced crehm, is the French word for cream. As recipes evolved in the U.S., the trend was to emulate French spellings to give the recipe a cachet. Doesn’t soupe du jour (typically misspelled as soup du jour) sound…
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TIP OF THE DAY: Good Carbs Vs. Bad Carbs

March is National Nutrition Month, so we’re opening with a mini-tutorial on carbohydrates. Most people will concur that “carbohydrates are bad for you.” But just as there are good oils and bad oils, there are healthful and bad carbs. COMPLEX CARBS = GOOD CARBS “Good carbs,” more scientifically called complex carbohydrates, are important in your…
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