Some of the first vegetable carvings that I made were for a Thanksgiving centerpiece. It was a bouquet of vegetable flowers. If I could make this my first time, you can, too.

I show you step-by-step how to make the yam (orange) and turnip (white) flowers as well as cucumber leaves in my video lesson, Yam and Turnip Flowers Made with U-cutters. And, you can learn how to make the beet roses in my video lessons, Hearts and Roses.  It’s easy once I show you  how.

Carved Root Vegetables Make a Beautiful Thanksgiving Centerpiece.

My first vegetable bouquet - used at Thanksgiving

I carved and assembled this bouquet continue reading…

Here is my recipe which is my take on a wonderful cookie that is sold at Wolfgang Puck’s Jai restaurant at the La Jolla Playhouse in La Jolla. It is essentially a soft chocolate chip type cookie but with white chocolate chunks and tart dried cherries. The tart cherries add a nice contrast to the sweet white chocolate. I hope that you enjoy the cookies that you make with this recipe. continue reading…

With the leftover white chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate used for the chocolate dipped strawberry bouquet that I showed in my two previous video mini-lessons, you can make some tasty white chocolate bark with this super simple recipe. continue reading…

When carving beet roses or preparing beets for a meal, don’t throw away the beet greens. They are surprisingly delicious when cooked.

The same sweet taste of the beets is brought out in the cooking of the beet greens. They can be cooked much like spinach and collard greens. continue reading…

Looking for a beautiful and delicious recipe for Valentines Day? This free video will show you a recipe for a really tasty beet salad with goat cheese. The combination of sweet beets, creamy goat cheese and crunchy walnuts makes for a really flavorful salad. The deep rich red of the beets is fitting for Valentine’s Day.

Beet salad with carved beet rose makes an eye catching Valentines Day presentation.

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It is not common knowledge but today is National Watermelon Day in the United States. Refreshing, delicious. sweet watermelon. Yum. Why not have celebrate national watermelon day while watermelons are at the peak of their season? They are plentiful and inexpensive right now. I just bought a huge one today for only $1.99!

The following are some great ideas in honor of National Watermelon Day.

Watermelon Lanterns

If you are planning a luau or summer party that will go into the evening hours, you can create dramatic, glowing watermelon lanterns much like a Halloween Jack-O-Lantern – but prettier!  Your carved watermelon can be beautiful by day and night. Here are photos showing a carved watermelon that I made before and after turning it into a lantern. You can light your watermelon with a flashlight, or other battery powered light. You might try lighting with battery powered candle type lights. You can even light with a real candle as long as you open up the top or create holes to allow enough oxygen so that the flame will burn.

Besides carving, there are so many other things you can do with watermelon. Here are a few delicious, fun, unusual and downright silly watermelon ideas you may want to try.

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