Cranberries inspire Bake-Off winner
The grand prize winner of the 48th Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest says her mother's recipe for cranberry salad inspired her Bejeweled Cranberry-Orange Rolls. Amy Nelson of Zionville, N.C., earned the top prize among four category winners. (Hers was the Cozy Breakfast category.) She paired the salad-inspired filling with Pillsbury Orange Rolls to earn a kitchen makeover from GE Appliances and $50,000 in cash.
Other category winners were: Appetizers for Any Party: JoAnne Tucker of Tampa, Fla., for her Toasted Spinach Pesto Ravioli; Dinners With Heart: Sarah Campbell of Palm Bay, Fla., for her Oktoberfest Pizza, and No-Fuss Desserts: Sandy Reiter of San Mateo, Calif., for her Cookies and Cream Caramel Layer Bars.
For all the recipes, visit pillsbury.com/bake-off-contest.
The link also has state-by-state winning recipes, including Minnesota's iconic entry, Magic Marshmallow Crescent Puffs.
Dame It! returns, with a cake walk
The Minnesota Chapter of Les Dames d'Escoffier's (LDEI) annual salute to Minnesota's women chefs will be April 8 from 2-5 p.m., at Solar Arts by Chow Girls, 711 15th Av. NE. (third floor), Mpls. The taste-around, in its third year, helps raise money to fund a variety of local LDEI causes, including academic culinary scholarships for women, supporting the youth farming program Urban Roots, and micro-grants for food professionals. Mingle and chat with the chefs while sampling an array of savory small plates, wines, craft cocktails/mocktails and sweets. New this year: Wall of Wine, a Spin the Dame It! Wheel, and a Cake Walk with cakes baked by some of the best. Tickets are available via Eventbrite; order by March 30 and save $10. Or visit eventbrite.com and type in "Dame It!"
Fight hunger with March Out
March Out Hunger is teaming up with Minnesota FoodShare's March campaign for a statewide grass-roots food drive in which every dollar, along with all donated food, goes to local food shelves. There's an Irish tie-in linked to that country's historic famine: Schools, businesses, families and organizations may bring their donations to the 52nd annual St. Patrick's Day Parade, which starts at noon in downtown in St. Paul. New partner this year is Finnegans Beer, so look for the green Finnegans Reverse Food Truck along the parade route to collect your donations.
Most needed: all types of food, paper, personal hygiene items and cleaning products. Also, cash donations can stretch goodwill further, enabling access to discount products and programs, and more flexibility to acquire perishable items like fresh produce, meat and dairy products. To learn more, visit marchouthunger.org.
Graze 4 Good helps housing
The Graze 4 Good fundraiser on April 15, hosted by the Minneapolis Foundation's Fourth Generation program, supports grants to local organizations that focus on affordable housing, which is Fourth Generation's grantmaking issue for 2018. The event features food by top chefs from Bull's Horn, Fat Chance, Grand Cafe, Restaurant Alma and Brasa, Travail and Zen Box Izakaya. There are VIP and "general grazing" tickets for the event from 5-8 p.m. at Aria, 105 N. 1st St., Mpls. Tickets are available at http://bit.ly/2oUeoML. To learn more about the grantmaking program, visit fourthgenfund.org.
KIM ODE
