Rachael Vs. Guy Celebrity Cook-Off - Season 3 Cast Announced

Now that Rachael Vs. Guy: Kids Cook-Off is over, the Food Network has announced the cast of the third season of Rachael Vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off.

• Judy Gold (actress, comedian - has appeared on celebrity edition of Chopped)
• Florence Henderson (actress - The Brady Bunch, singer)
• Penn Jillette (magician, comedian)
• Chris Kattan (comedian, actor - SNL)
• Jake Pavelka (reality star, The Bachelor)
• Tiffany (singer, actress)
• Vanilla Ice (pop icon, rapper and reality star)
• Herschel Walker (former NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner, MMA fighter)

The 6-episode season will not begin until January, so you have some time to prepare yourself.  Lou Diamond Phillips won the first season, and Dean McDermott won the second season and actually went on to host Chopped Canada.

As a commenter pointed out, the last time(probably) Chris Kattan and Vanilla Ice were in a room together, things got a little crazy.  Vanilla Ice destroyed the set on the MTV show 25 Lame, and had Chris screaming "No Vanilla! Vanilla!"   Video is after the break:

The Great Food Truck Race - Winner Crowned Tonight

Photo - Food Network

Tonight is the Season 4 finale of The Great Food Truck Race at 9pm ET/PT on the Food Network.  The remaining three teams are Philly's Finest Sambonis, Aloha Plate, and Tikka Tikka Taco.  The first part of the episode will be set in Annapolis, MD, and one of the final three teams will be eliminated before heading to Washington, DC for the final challenge.

If you read the spoilers from the beginning of the season, all of the eliminations were correct, and it has the final two teams that will be competing in Washington, DC.

The winner of this season will win $50,000 and their own food truck, and I will update this post with the winner after the episode airs.  Who are you rooting for in the finale?

Damaris Phillips Show - Southern at Heart

As already mentioned on here, Damaris Phillips show will premiere on October 27th at 10:30am ET/PT on the Food Network.  The pilot of the show was Eat, Date, Love, and the working title of her show was called The Damaris Project.

Now, the official name of the show is called Southern at Heart and it will be a six-episode series.  The description of the show states:

Throughout the season, Damaris takes on the traditions of the South with easy, approachable recipes designed to help build confidence for new cooks looking to impress that special someone. Damaris adds a contemporary edge to Southern cuisine, combining complex flavors and locally grown ingredients to dress up the traditional fare, all the while keeping the food deliciously simple.

Eater.com had some pictures from Instagram (they were later taken down) of the filming of the show if you are interested (one is pictured above).

Full press release about the show is below:

Restaurant Express with Robert Irvine - Will The Prize Be Worth It?

Photo - Multivu

The Food Network issued a press release about Restaurant Express with Robert Irvine, which is scheduled to begin on Sunday, November 3rd at 9pm ET/PT.  The basic premise of the show is 9 chefs travel around on a bus competing in challenges until there is one chef left standing.

What I thought was interesting is a line from the press release about the prize, which stated:

"The final contestant standing wins an opportunity help launch and become the executive chef of a restaurant at the M Resort Spa Casino, just minutes away from the Las Vegas Strip."

(I think the word "to" is missing between 'opportunity' and 'help')

Anne Burrell's New Hair

Food Network chef Anne Burrell is often known for her spiky blonde  hair.  Anne recently celebrated her 44th birthday by deciding to change her signature style and get a "faux hawk w pink hi lites." She documented the progress of the haircut on Twitter from start to finish.  The picture to the right is the first picture, and continue reading to see the progress and the finished product.

Food Network's October 2013 Programming Highlights

The Food Network has put out a press release detailing the programming in October on the channel, which includes a lot of new and returning series.  Some of the highlights include:

• The series premiere of Guy's Grocery Games (Most likely referred to as Triple G) on Sunday, October 20th at 8pm.
• As previously reported, the premiere of Food Network Star Damaris Phillips daytime cooking show on October 27th at 10:30am.  That show is currently filming in Kentucky.
• The Iron Chef America special battles of Oktoberfest and Halloween (previously reported)
• Primetime season premieres of Halloween Wars (Sunday, October 6th at 9pm) and Restaurant Impossible (Wednesday, October 23rd - Back to Wednesday Nights)

Food Network Starting To Air Cooking Channel Shows

Some people may have noticed some shows being aired on the Food Network that have never been on or advertised before.  These aren't new shows, but are shows that have aired on the Cooking Channel.  For example, you may have seen Donut Showdown, which is pretty much Cupcake Wars, but with donuts.  The contestants on the show compete for $10,000 and more episodes will air tonight at 7pm ET.

Another Cooking Channel show, Save My Bakery is actually being aired in a primetime spot on Wednesday night at 8pm ET on the Food Network.  This show is a bakery makeover show that has Kerry Vincent making over struggling bakeries both inside and out.

Finally, on Friday, Mo Rocca's My Grandmother's Ravioli will have 8 episodes aired between 2pm and 6pm EST.  My Grandmother's Ravioli has already been on for a whole season, and its second season begins October 2nd on the Cooking Channel.

So for people that do not have both the Cooking Channel and Food Network, this gives you a chance to see some of the shows you're missing (or wouldn't watch).  I am not sure if they will start airing more shows from the Cooking Channel, but it will be something to keep an eye on.

Paula Deen Cooking Classes - Coming Soon

Paula Deen sent out a tweet today that said "It's back, y'all! My Cooking School shows are finally coming back to Lady_and_Sons," and provided this link with information on "Paula Deen's Cooking School"

The description of the cooking school states: 

Welcome to Paula Deen's Cooking School! Come join Paula and friends for a three-course cooking class in Savannah, Ga. Learn how to cook like the Queen of Southern Cuisine, and sample her sweet and savory dishes for yourself in this unique and interactive experience.

*Paula Deen's Cooking School is a fun, intimate and interactive cooking demonstration, however, it is not a traditional cooking class. Participants will not  prepare their own dishes.

Jamie Deen and Sunny Anderson Book Tours

Both Jamie Deen and Sunny Anderson released a cookbook today, and have book tours planned for signings.  Jamie's book is called Jamie Deen's Good Food: Cooking Up a Storm with Delicious, Family-Friendly Recipes, which has 125 family recipes including a special section in the back called Rooster’s Café that has a handful of Jamie's son Jack's kid-friendly recipes.  The foreword is also written by Paula Deen.

Sunny's book is called Sunny's Kitchen: Easy Food for Real Life, and features American classics made with her influences.  This is Sunny's first cookbook that she he has released.

(In each of the links above, if you click on the book that says Look Inside, you can look at many of the pages of the cookbooks)

The locations, dates, and times of each of their book tours are below if you are interested in seeing them.  Neither of them plan to go to the West Coast, which seems to be the case with most of the recent book tours.

Guy Fieri - New Spokesman For Rolaids

Photo - Multivu

Rolaids are being reintroduced to the United States after a 3 year hiatus, and are using none other than Guy Fieri in their advertisements.  If you aren't familiar with Rolaids, they are an used to relieve heartburn and acid indigestion, and they will compete with Tums in the US market.

This is reminiscent of Paula Deen cooking fatty and buttery foods, then linking up with Novo Nordisk to promote diabetes products.  Guy Fieri cooks foods that will give you heartburn, and now is pushing Rolaids to the American public.  A match made in heaven.

Video of the Rolaids commercials featuring Guy Fieri are after the jump.

Heartland Table With Amy Thielen Premieres Tomorrow Morning

Photo - Food Network

The Food Network is adding some more Midwestern programming to their network starting tomorrow with Heartland Table which stars Amy Thielen.  It will be a six-episode season that will air on Saturday mornings at 10:30am ET/PT and 9:30am CT on the Food Network.

Amy Thielen was born and raised in Minnesota and she will be sharing Midwestern food and recipes from inside her log cabin.  She is a James Beard Award winning writer, and has cooked professionally in some of the top kitchens in New York.  So unlike Ree Drummond and the Pioneer Woman show, there probably will not be any can opening in these Midwestern recipes.

Random House is actually producing this show and also published her book, The New Midwestern Table: 200 Heartland Recipes which is scheduled to be released shortly on September 24th.  So they are planning a simultaneous launch of the show and the book, which is a first for them.

The press release about the show and the book is below.  Also, let me know what you think of the show after it airs.

Restaurant Stakeout Returns & Thieves Inc. Premieres Tonight

Photo - Food Network

The 4th season of Restaurant Stakeout is beginning tonight on the Food Network at 9pm.  Somehow, this show continues to draw good enough ratings for it to be renewed for more seasons.  Despite the show having a lot of 'fake reality', it consistently draws over 1 million viewers.

Regarding the fake-ness of the show, many restaurant owners have come out after their show aired to tell their story about how fake the filming was and that many of the situations are set up and there were also paid actors working.  A lot of times, the show actually reaches out to the restaurants to see if they want to be on the show, rather than the other way around.

A NorthJersey.com article earlier this week had the owner of Michael's Roscommon House saying "even the fake was fake," and he revealed things such as:

Marcus Samuelsson - New Judge on 'The Taste'

Photo - Food Network

People.com reported today that Chopped judge Marcus Samuelsson will be the new judge/mentor on the 2nd season of ABC's The Taste.  It was also announced on The Chew today.  He will be joining Anthony Bourdain, Nigella Lawson, and Ludo Lefebvre who are all returning from last year.  Marcus is replacing judge/mentor Brian Malarkey, who was told back in June that he would not be invited back to be a judge.

Many people were surprised to see The Taste renewed for a 2nd season after producing bad ratings toward the end of its first season.  There has been no air date announced for the upcoming season yet.

Marcela Valladolid Launching Food Line

It looks like Marcela Valladolid will be launching a food line that will be available at Safeway's and Vons supermarkets judging by the comments she has made on her Facebook and Twitter pages.  Marcela posted this status on her Facebook page yesterday:

"Ok facebook friends, Headed to The Talk tomorrow to tape a segment and let you guys in on a big project I've been working on for the last year! Please tune in on Wed! I've been working really hard and am very proud of hat's being announced, I sincerely hope you like it!"

Also, yesterday, Marcela retweeted a photo that someone posted on Twitter (photo to the right), which was of her Marcela Valladolid tortilla chips.

Good Eats Episodes Now Available on Amazon

Back in February, Scripps Networks reached a deal with Amazon to make many of the Food Network shows available on Amazon Instant Video.  Good Eats was not one of those shows, and fans of Alton Brown are always asking when Good Eats would be available on things such as Amazon, Netflix, etc.

Well, now it looks like they have released some seasons of Good Eats on Amazon Instant Video (Link). Seasons 9 through 14 are available, and Seasons 12 through 14 are all free if you have an Amazon Prime Membership.  Season 9 has 22 episodes, Season 10 - 20 episodes, Season 11 - 20 episodes, Season 12 - 15 episodes, Season 13 - 19 episodes , and Season 14 - 22 episodes.

You can always Join Amazon Prime for a free 30-day free trial if you do not have a membership and want to watch some episodes.  Also, some other free episodes are available on Hulu (5 episodes), Food Network (6 episodes) and on Youtube (All episodes, but a lot have been removed due to copyright issues).  So, for all the people wanting Food Network to replay Good Eats episodes, there are some options out there to get your fix.

Iron Chef America Holiday Specials - Iron Chefs Team Up

Photo - Facebook

Back in July, Donatella Arpaia posted a bunch of pictures of the filming of upcoming Iron Chef America episodes (found here), which included Iron Chefs competing on the same team.  At the time, it wasn't known when these episodes would air or why the Iron Chef's were on the same team.

Now, it appears these episodes will each be Holiday Specials, which will start in October and will air on Saturday nights at 10pm on Food Network.  It looks like there will be five holiday specials which include: Oktoberfest, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Iron Chef/Cooking Channel Holiday, and a Winter Ice Battle.

The matchups and air dates for each of the specials are as follows:

• Oktoberfest - October 12th - Michael Symon and Geoffrey Zakarian face off against Chef Bernhard Mairinger from BierBeisl in Beverly Hills, CA

Giada De Laurentiis and Michael Symon Release Books & Have Upcoming Signings

Back in March, it was announced that Giada De Laurentiis would be writing a series of children's books designed for children ages 7 to 10.  Yesterday was the release of the first two books of that series, which is called the Recipe for Adventure series.  The first one is titled Naples! #1 (Recipe for Adventure) and the 2nd one is titled Paris! #2 (Recipe for Adventure).  The third book in the series is Hong Kong! #3 (Recipe for Adventure), however that is not scheduled to be released until January 7, 2014.

Michael Symon also released a book yesterday titled Michael Symon's 5 in 5: 5 Fresh Ingredients + 5 Minutes = 120 Fantastic Dinners, which seems pretty similar to Claire Robinson's concept of 5 Ingredient Fix. 

Both Giada De Laurentiis and Michael Symon both have some book signings planned, so if you are interested in seeing if they are in your area, I have the dates and locations listed below: