With thousands of recipes submitted from home cooks across America, Ultimate Recipe Showdown returns for its third season of delicious competition as the top 24 contestants slice, dice and battle head-to-head for national glory.

Hosted by Guy Fieri (Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives, Guy’s big Bite), the series features six categories: Comfort Food, Party Food, Hot & Spicy, Burgers, Cakes & Desserts and Hometown Favorites.

Each week, three judges crown an “ultimate” winner who receives $25,000. Find out more at FoodNetwork.com

HERE’S YOUR CHANCE TO WIN!!

Food Network is generously rewarding an Ultimate Kohls Prize Package to one of OUR lucky readers:

• Food Network Pizza Wheel – Stainless steel blade with air pockets provides easy food release, and soft-grip handle ensures comfortable control. Price: $19.99 – Episode Category: Comfort Food
• Food Network 4-pc. Square Bowl & Bamboo Serving Tray Set – This Food Network square bowl and bamboo serving tray set keeps every party chic with sleek line that add a contemporary touch to any table. The dishwasher and microwave save square bowls hold condiments, appetizers and more. Episode Category: Party Foods
• Food Network Conical Box Grater – Unique conical design provides comfort and stability while grating, and stainless steel construction lasts for years without staining or rusting. – Episode Category: Hot and Spicy
• Bobby Flay Ultimate Spatula -This stainless steel spatula is a must-have for all grilling needs. Durable stainless steel construction ensures long-lasting use and serrated edges aid in cutting and cooking. Built-in bottle opener adds even more versatility. Wooden handle provides a safe, comfortable grip.- Episode Category: Burgers
• Food Network Dough Scraper -Long-lasting stainless steel construction maximizes use, while a ruler on the blades edge makes measuring easy. -Episode Category: Cakes & Deserts
• Food Network Digital Thermometer & Timer -Digital readout tracks time and temperature simultaneously, and versatile setup allows for wall mount, magnetic mount, or countertop use. -Episode Category: Hometown Favorites

*Approximate Retail value of Prize Pack is $130.00*

HOW TO ENTER:

You will have 4 weeks (April 11th) to enter! Simply write about your favorite Ultimate Recipe available at FoodNetwork.com and post it in the comment section below. Very Easy!

I will run a few contest reminders over the next few weeks. Enter as many times as you like! good luck!

Rick Massa’s Five-Cheese Mac and Cheese takes the top comfort-food honors. this video is part of Ultimate Recipe Showdown show hosted by Guy Fieri . SHOW DESCRIPTION :with more than 12,000 recipes submitted from home cooks across America, Ultimate Recipe Showdown returns for another season of delicious competition as the top 24 contestants battle head-to-head for national glory. Hosted by Guy Fieri (Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives; Guy’s Big Bite), the series features six categories: Comfort Food, Burgers, Cakes, Hot and Spicy, Desserts, or Hometown Favorites. each week, the judges crown an “ultimate” winner who receives $25,000 and the chance to have his or her recipe featured nationwide at T.G.I. Friday’s® restaurants.

Duration : 0:3:27

Technorati Tags: competition, Food Network, Guy Fieri, Ultimate Recipe Showdown

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA–(Marketwire – 02/10/10) – Valentine’s Day signifies love and what better way to celebrate with loved ones than with food? gardein, the maker of healthy and great-tasting plant-based foods, has joined with Partner and Executive Chef J. Scot Jones of VegiTerranean restaurant in Akron, Ohio, to provide home cooks with a very special Valentine’s Day dinner that is sure to delight the ones you love.

The “Love at first Bite” menu features delicious heart-filled foods that are free of any animal or dairy ingredients, including:

- Artichoke and tomato bisque

- Pine nut and basil crusted gardein chick’n scallopini over braised escarole blood orange beurre blanc

- Hot Italian banana peppers stuffed with fresh herb risotto and soy mozzarella with fresh basil lime sauce

Complete recipes for “Love at first Bite” are available for download at www.gardein.com/valentines.php.

VegiTerranean is Ohio’s first upscale vegan restaurant that is owned by Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders. It serves vegan fare with an Italian flare. to learn more, www.thevegiterranean.com.

About Chef J. Scot Jones

A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, Chef J. Scot Jones specializes in regional Italian cuisine with French influence and has more than 20 years of culinary experience. Today, he serves as Partner and Executive Chef of VegiTerranean in Akron-Ohio’s first upscale vegan restaurant with Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders. Chef Jones has also cooked for members of the National Football League (NFL) and served on the boards of Chairedible and Meals on Wheels. He holds a degree in Restaurant and Hotel Management from the University of Akron.

gardein (garden + protein) is a line of tasty plant-based foods with a meaty texture. gardein offers all the health benefits of eating less animal-based protein without sacrificing the texture and taste that many people crave. gardein is a plant-based protein made from soy, wheat and pea proteins, vegetables and grains. gardein is free of cholesterol, trans fats and saturated fats, and the majority of gardein products provide a good source of fiber and are low in fat. Today, gardein is available in the fresh and frozen sections of 8,500 grocery stores across the United States and the fresh sections of grocery stores in Canada. For more information, visit www.gardein.com.

Editor’s Note: food photos and recipes available upon request.

When I think of the most memorable foods I have tasted around the globe, it’s not the decadent, multicourse, four-hour dinner in a Michelin-starred Paris restaurant I dream about – it’s the perfectly tender crepe, sparingly graced with cinnamon and sugar and just enough sweet butter to melt it into a slick of caramel, that I bought from a street vendor in the 7th Arrondissment for 1 euro.

I long for the charred, sweet and salty aroma and flavor of the just-plucked-from-the-sea lobster, grilled with chiles and lime and tucked into a fresh corn tortilla with a few slices of avocado and crema, that I ate on a beach in Mexico.

One of my most elemental food memories is the steaming, aromatic bowl of pho bought on a street corner in new York City, pungent with fish sauce and brightly laced with ginger, star anise, cloves, and fresh herbs.

I’m talking about street food – the deliciously diverse, down-home comforts sold from food carts and street stalls all over the world.

At my cooking school in Haddonfield, I teach a popular class for home cooks on preparing street foods: Vietnamese pho, Cuban sandwiches, shrimp satay. (See accompanying recipes.) The recipes we use are classics, or my interpretation of foods I have eaten on my travels that have stayed vibrant in my memory.

Often I’ll have to make adjustments or substitutions for hard-to-find ingredients, but if I remember a dish as a blazing inferno in my mouth, that’s what we re-create.

Some recipes have been given to me by friends. The pho recipe is based on a family recipe that my friend Hien Ngo gave me in 1976.

A former miss Vietnam, she and her younger brother came to our country in one of the first waves of immigration from that country. I met her in Washington, when we worked together at Bistro Francais, and she taught me how to eat and cook Vietnamese food.

How well I recall the fragrant and abundant drift of fresh herbs and chilies that accompanied each dish, and the utter shock to my very French American palate from that first taste of fish sauce!

Each city has its own street-food specialties, and Philadelphia’s extend well beyond pretzels and cheesesteaks: from the exquisitely authentic Chinese fare at a truck near the Penn campus to the falafel trucks in Center City, to paper-thin crepes in West Philadelphia, to the pork tacos al pastor at the Head House farmers market.

And while street food was once thought to be the lowest rung of the dining hierarchy – after all, it was the province of the home cook, not trained restaurant chefs – it has gained such popularity that chefs have adapted it for restaurant menus. (It doesn’t hurt that these offerings are often cheap to produce and priced appealingly low in a tough economy.)

Locally, we have the new Northern Liberties restaurant Kong, which offers the street foods of Hong Kong, the new Sampan’s Vietnamese hoagie, and old standbys such as the tasty Cuban sandwich from Mixto and the mahimahi taco from El Vez.

What people have in common the world over is that we all must eat, and it is said that a country’s food is a window into its people and culture.

Preparing versions of street fare at home lets us be stove-top travelers, and makes the world a more interesting, not to mention delectable, place to be.

Slow Cooker Beef Pho

Makes 4 to 6 servings

For the broth:

4-5 pounds beef bones (do not use marrow bones)

1 teaspoon fennel seeds