Anne Tegtmeier, Food Network Star

OK, I have officially passed the "novice" level of blogger-dom. I actually copied this photo from the Food Network site and posted it here!!!!
You can read about the Ultimate Recipe Showdown on foodnetwork.com - Anne's recipe is posted there too.
Who will win the $25,000 Grand Prize!?!?
STAY TUNED SUNDAY NITE TO SEE!!!!

Anne Tegtmeier, Superstar

This article ran in the Hartford (Conn) Advocate today 2-26-08
I couldn't get the photo to post - sorry You can view the whole article with picture at :
www.hartfordadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=6101



The Comfort Food Queen Windsor resident Anne Tegtmeier battles for victory

Ultimate Recipe Showdown
"Comfort Food" airs March 2 on
the Food Network
Home cooks have always been fiercely competitive about their kitchen creations. Before the Food Network served up Iron Chef America and Bravo dished Top Chef, yuppies competed with each other to serve the most authentic tuna sushi with wasabi-encrusted smugness and mothers yearned to hear neighborhood children say their chocolate-coated play-dates were the best on the block. Even Marge Simpson entered her recipe for dessert hotdogs in Springfield's Oven Fresh Bakeoff, narrowly edging out Ralph Wiggum's "grilled crayon sandwich."

Ultimate Recipe Showdown, which premiered Feb. 17 on the Food Network, solicited thousands of recipes from amateur cooks for categories such as burgers, pasta, cakes and cookies. Each episode showcases the best recipes by nine contestants who compete in a kitchen arena to win $25,000 and prove their dish reigns supreme in each class. The show is hosted by FN's "food dude" Guy Fieri and Marc Summers (from Unwrapped), and judged by a panel of food professionals led by Katherine Alford, director of FN's Test Kitchen.

"Comfort Food," airing March 2, features Windsor resident Anne Tegtmeier, a trained dancer and licensed massage therapist working in West Hartford. Tegtmeier submitted just one recipe, "Ultimate Vegetarian Chili," to the contest. "It was one of those classic cliché things where I'd almost forgotten that I submitted it. Out of thousands of recipes across the country, to be one of three in the chili category, those are crazy odds," Tegtmeier said.

In 1999, Tegtmeier reconnected with her birth mother, Donna Kelly, 27 years after her adoption. She credits cooking as being a key element to building their relationship. Kelly, a child-abuse prosecutor and cooking fanatic, also had experience in food competitions. "One of the first things early on that we exchanged was a recipe for her original cheesecake that she'd won a blue ribbon for in a fair," Tegtmeier said.

The two later went on to co-author 101 Things to Do with Tofu. Tofu is a favorite ingredient of Tegtmeier, who explained, "People hear how healthy it is, how good it is for you, how versatile it is, and then they buy this bland white block, take it home, and they don't know what to do with it." Kelly was cheering from the audience during the taping of Ultimate Recipe Showdown and, unknown to either woman at the time, Tegtmeier was a week pregnant while competing on stage; she is expecting her first child in early May.

"My vegetarian chili comes from trying lots of different recipes at home and in restaurants over the years and taking different elements that I liked the most out of each of them," Tegtmeier said. This includes a surprising ingredient: cashews, an item she collected from Trident Booksellers & Cafe in Boston. "The recipe is idiot proof. I think what makes it good is that I've come upon a really good combination of textures and flavors and a good combination of ingredients."

Regardless of the contest's outcome, Tegtmeier's recipe will be featured on the Food Network's Web site. "Who cares about the money? Who cares about winning? It's amazing to be on the Food Network, period," Tegtmeier said. "I will cherish my Food Network apron with my name on it forever."

ULTIMATE RECIPE SHOWDOWN

Tune in on Sunday, March 2nd (yes, THIS Sunday) to watch Anne on the food network with Donna standing by supportively.

The show is "Ultimate Recipe Showdown", and Anne will be making the "Ultimate Veggie Chili" from our "101 Tofu" book. Out of 4,000 recipes submitted, hers made it to the top NINE. I am so proud of her!!!

Better yet, make the chili to much on while watching the show!!!

Here's the recipe:

ULTIMATE VEGGIE CHILI

1 each yellow onion and green bell pepper, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
2 teaspoons chipotle chili powder
14 ounces extra firm tofu, frozen, thawed and drained
1 can (14 ounces) diced tomatoes
1 can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes in puree
2 cans (14 ounces each) black beans, drained
1 can (14 ounces) kidney beans, drained
1 cup fresh or frozen corn
1 cup diced roasted cashews
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large stockpot over medium high heat, sauté onion, bell
pepper and garlic in oil until softened. Stir in spices. Crumble in the
tofu and cook 5 minutes more. Stir in remaining ingredients. Reduce
heat to low and cover and simmer 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
Serve hot garnished with sour cream, cheese, cilantro, etc., if desired.

DON'T YOU FEEL HEALTHIER ALREADY???

Zippety Doo Dah!!

 

Ok, sorry about being the last to post. It's been an insane week.

This was the Kelly Family's 10th trip to the Magic kingdom - and it was magical, as always.

It was so fun to have JP and Kristina, now seasoned Disney park veterans, with us.

And, so fun to have, on the other end of the spectrum, Derrick who had never been to The Happiest Place on Earth.

Here's to Micky and Friends and to making many more great memories in the years to come!!!!

Next trip: Cancun May 2008!!!! Stay tuned, bloggers, for great pics from the Yucatan!!!

California Dreamin'

We all crammed into a 15 passenger van and headed to sweet-sweet southern California to celebrate Lincoln & Washington's birth. We started out in San Diego with stop for me at USD law school & then on to La Jolla beach.Seeing as this large Bertha was our mode of transport, we got a lot of "quality time" in. Like having Matt crammed into the crack. Good times were had by all.

Happy VALENTINES Day!!

Hey Everybody!! Just wanted to wish a Happy V-Day to all those who I love! To quote one of my top five favorite musicals Les Miserables, "To Love another person is to see the face of God." And here is one of my favorite Mother Teresa pieces of Wisdom:

"Spread love everywhere you go: first of all in your own house. Give love to your children, to your wife or husband, to a next door neighbor... Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting."

Family MATTERS

Jim and I went to the church broadcast on Saturday morning about the family -"Raising a Righteous Posterity" I think it was called. They talked about family and why it is the most important thing, and I want to "Amen" that thought, and give some of my own. (OK, I'm a lawyer, it is an occupational hazard to be opinionated!)

Vince Lombardi once said "Winning isn't the main thing - it's the ONLY thing." or something to that effect.

He got one word wrong. The quote should have said:
"FAMILY isn't the main thing, it's the ONLY thing."

I have been pondering this since Saturday morning. Really, love is the only thing that motivates us for good. I don't want to go to heaven to be comfortable, or rich, or sit on clouds and play harps. I want to go to be with my loved ones forever. That is what motivates me the most. I never want to do anything that would keep me from being with my family, and they are ALL celestial material, so I need to be a celestial person, too, to be with them.

Also, I am a better, more celestial person because I am acutely aware of the example I set for those whom I love. I want to be a good person for them to see what joy being a good person brings to you. Prssident Kimball once said "The more service you perform, the more substance there is to your soul." Wow. There are a lot of folks walking around today with ghost-like almost non-existent souls, because they are so focussed on themselves and their own needs, often to the detriment of others. They will pay a dear price for their selfishness. There are even religions which preach selfishness: just go meditate upon the mountaintops to get yourself to heaven. I disagree. You would be better off serving lunch at a soup kitchen than sitting alone on a mountain top focussing on yourself.

I give the example of one very celestial day Jim and I had a few years ago: It was a Saturday morning and all FOUR of our kids had baseball/softball/tball games that day. Jim and I split up and literally ran and drove frantically back and forth so we could at least get a few cheering words in for each kid. Matt hit a Grand Slam home run that day, which we both miraculously saw. All the kids did great - even Jake who was so excited at his first T-ball game that he hit the ball to the outfield and then ran to THIRD BASE! We all went out for pizza afterwards and laughed and talked and High-5'ed each other. A truly celestial day.

I would lay down my life for any one of my kids or husband if called upon to do so. If any one of them needed a heart transplant, I would gladly let the doctors cut mine out. But, thankfully, God does not call upon us to do that but rather calls upon us to give up our lives one day at a time by living for each other. Much more joyful! God must be a pretty smart guy.

Farewell Sweet "Grandpa"

We are going to miss President Hinckley so much!

The Salt Lake Tribune called him the most significant LDS church president since Brigham Young. They may be right. He has been such a kind, loving and open leader - not afraid of comments and questions from the media and other religions. I will never forget his appearance on Larry King Live a few years ago - he was incredible. And also he has put such an emphasis on temples and making them so accessible to church members.

I'm sure others have written much about him already, but I just wanted to post my own mini-tribute to him, a personal one.

There are two things about President Hinckley's example that have made me a better person.

First, he is an unconditionally loving and positive man- always looking for the good in everyone. Sort of like a very kindly sweet "grandpa" for all of us. I have one of his quotes on my fridge:
"Things will work out! Keep trying! Keep believing! Be Happy! Don't get discouraged. Things will work out!" And, he not only said it, he lived it!

The second thing that has most influenced me is what a perfect family man and father he is. I will never forget his talk a few months after Marjorie died. He had met her before he left on his mission as a young man and called her "the girl of my dreams," because he missed her and dreamed about her while he was in England. Then after she died, he said "She has once again become the girl of my dreams."

I never saw them together when he wasn't holding her hand. I heard her talk once and she said that he had treated her like a queen every day of their 60-plus year marriage.

I love the thought of them together once again hand-in-hand!!