Our Taste of Home Cooking School Tradition

Yesterday from two to ten I got to spend time with three of my favorite people at one of my favorite places, a Taste of Home Cooking School Show! This is the third show I’ve been to and it is definitely not going to be the last! My mom, my aunt, my cousin (Amanda), and I try to make it to the yearly shows, last time it was just Amanda and I so it was fun for all four of us to go together this time. No the show is not 8 hours long! At the Cooking shows in our area the doors usually open two hours before the show starts. The show lasts about 2 hours with a short break in the middle. When you first get there and hand in your ticket (it only costs $10 to go!) then you get your goodies bag! This year they were a pretty pink color. The bags are filled with coupons, taste of Home magazines, recipes and other fun things.

We found nice big Campbell’s Soup magnets, Pillsbury Post-It Notes, and a Kitchen Scraper in them this year! After collecting our bags we headed to the gymnasium where there were many local vendors set up to pass out samples and information. We filled our goodies bags even further with 3 boxes of Kitchen basics Beef broth (can’t wait to try the recipes on the side! Last year’s Butternut Squash Soup was delish), a grab bag from The Party Store (cute reindeer plates!), a Yummy Andes Mint cookie (sorry I ate that before I got a picture) with recipe and some candy, It feels like Trick-or-treating for adults! lol. We also got to sample some delicious Chili and Potato soup, and enter for more door prizes along the way.

By the time we browsed all of the booths it was time to find a good seat in the auditorium. The show is always MC’d by the comical DangerFrog from Froggy Country 100.3 FM, there were several other radio personalities there as well. Our Cooking School staff member was a man for the first time! Michael did a great job. He has been on the road for 48 shows, ours being the last of the season! Whew! That’s a lot of traveling and cooking! Having the assistants search for the bread for the first dish, misplacing the remote, and telling stories added to the charm of Cooking School!

Michael took us through ten recipes found in one of the Taste of Home Magazines in our goodies bag. We watched him prepare delicious dishes like Upside Down Banana Pecan French toast (pg26), Gingered Carrot Soup (pg30), Bacon, Cheddar, and Chive Scones (pg35), Buffalo Chex Mix (pg23), Cornbread Stuffed turkey Breast (pg43), Sausage Stuffed Peppers (pg44), Cookie Dough truffles (YUM! (pg 52), Chicken Balsamico (pg48), Apricot Beef Stir-Fry (pg38, and french Cranberry Apple Pie (pg57). All of these recipes are in the autumn issue of the  Taste of  Home Cooking School Brand name Cookbook Magazine.

I cannot tell you how good it smelled in that room! I am excited to try these recipes in my own kitchen and I even learned a few things along the way! Apparently I’ve spent my entire life peeling bananas the wrong way! You’re supposed to peel them from the bottom up so you don’t get any strings ( I tried it and yep they’re right darn it!! Did you know this? Live and learn right! A few more fun facts:

• You don’t have to peel ginger before slicing!
• Don’t peel your carrots! Most of the nutrients are in the peel! Woot less work lol :)
• There are 40,000 varieties of rice, WOW!
• King Arthur flour has been around for 220 years! (cool youtube video about it) It’s the preferred flour of top chefs because they only use the best part of the wheat, all of the other companies actually buy the cast offs from King Arthur to make their flours! Crazy huh?
• Taste of Home is owned by reader’s Digest! Did not know that!
• Wheat Chex has been around since 1890! The current shape came to be in 1933.
• 1 tsp of dried herbs = 3 tsp fresh (knew this but still a good fact!)
• Campbell’s Soup’s slogan, “Mmm Good!” was coined in 1978 but the company was founded in 1869!

At the end, and during the entire show, tons of prizes are given away, including the prepared dishes and serving accessories! No one in our group was fortunate enough to win anything but we always have high hopes for the next time! You really must attend one of these fun events! Locate a show in your area! It makes for a fun night out! After wards we were of course starving! So we went out to eat at King’s Family Restaurant. Oh my were the sweet potato fries ever good! The Broccoli Cheese soup is out of this world!

Gift Idea! Taste of Home magazines and cookbooks  make a wonderful gift for the cook in your family!